Scrutinizing the Standardized Worker: International and Comparative Perspectives Ania ZBYSZEWSKA, Alysia BLACKHAM & Miriam KULLMANN The erosion of the standard employment relationship, the proliferation of diverse work arrangements, and the resulting gaps in legal coverage and protection are topics that have dominated debates within labour law scholarship for at least three decades. The notion of a ‘standardized worker’ has been similarly scrutinized, with challenges to its subjectivity coming from a range of vantage points. To feminist legal scholarship, for example, we owe our now mainstream understanding of the gendered nature of the subject of the labour law model, who has historically been presumed to be unencumbered, always available, and male. The exclusionary effects of this particular legal subjectivity underpinning standard norms, and the consequences of these norms for access and opportunities for women in labour markets, have been demonstrated time and again. Both within and beyond feminist scholarship, critical work has been done in relation to a plethora of non-standard workers, recognizing that the model worker has historically also been marked by race and other social relations. As these critiques have made apparent, the pool of workers has never been as homogenous as the standard norms presumed. These critiques have sought to problematize and expose the consequences that narrowly drawn standard norms carry for those who do not fit them. They have ultimately been driven, though, by a desire to develop better norms, so as to extend legal protection to those falling outside the narrow scope that the law drew around its privileged subject. Building on and seeking to contribute to this well-established scholarship, the articles in this special issue address the concept of the standardized worker in a range of ways, with attention to various national or comparative case studies. The special issue brings together papers delivered at or inspired by a two-day workshop held at Maastricht University in the Netherlands in December 2016. The work- shop aimed to encourage critical and interdisciplinary perspectives on the theory of labour law, and to promote an inter-generational dialogue by featuring papers from established and emerging scholars. We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the International Collaboration Fund at Melbourne Law School, Maastricht Zbyszewska, Ania, Blackham, Alysia & Kullmann, Miriam. ‘Scrutinizing the Standardized Worker: International and Comparative Perspectives’. International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations 34, no. 4 (2018): 345–350. © 2018 Kluwer Law International BV, The Netherlands