Faces of Precarity: Critical Perspectives on Work, Subjectivities and Struggles

Description

The words ‘precarity’ and ‘precariousness’ are widely used when discussing work, social conditions and experiences. However, there is no consensus on their meaning or how best to use them to explore social changes. This book shows how scholars have mapped out these notions, offering substantive analyses of issues such as the relationships between precariousness, debt, migration, health and workers’ mobilizations, and how these relationships have changed in the context of COVID-19. Bringing together an international group of authors from diverse fields, this book offers a distinctive critical perspective on the processes of precarization, focusing in particular on the European context. Front Cover Faces of Precarity: Critical Perspectives on Work, Subjectivities and Struggles Copyright information Table of contents List of Figures and Tables Notes on Contributors 1 Introduction: Critical Perspectives on Precarity and Precariousness The rise of precarity and precariousness A critical intervention The thematic structure of the book Notes References PART I Conceptualizations, Subjectivities and Etymologies 2 Précarité and Precarity: The Amazing Transnational Journey of Two Notions Unable to Form a Proper Concept in English Introduction Out of a notion in French culture, a renewed view of labour markets in Europe’s ‘Latin’ countries A key symbolic element of 1970s French political culture Latin countries versus Germany, the UK and Denmark – the 1980s to the early 2000s Awareness of employment precariousness spreads cross-nationally from 2005: Germany and the UK Prekarität formally enters the German Öffentlichkeit (public space) Vulnerable workers in the UK draw increasing attention Transnational multidisciplinary new meanings emerge from an initial mistranslation Franco-English ‘precarity’: almost a private joke ‘Precarity’ favoured by activists across the world Precarity today: polysemy and the fuzziness of international English Notes References 3 Conceptualizing Precariousness: A Subject-oriented Approach Introduction Precariousness as the production of subjectivity The precarious subject as a self-entrepreneurial subject Precarious subjectivity and digitalization in the time of a pandemic Reclaiming bodies and social relations to resist precariousness Conclusion Note References 4 The Experience of Precariousness as Vulnerable Time Introduction The historical advent of the abstract time The advent of powerless, accelerated and fragmentary temporality Precariousness as temporal vulnerability Precariousness and the extension of the present Frail future, vulnerable temporalities Conclusion Notes References PART II Class, Work and Employment 5 Above-Below, Inside-Outside: Precarity, Underclass and Social Exclusion in Demobilized Class Societies Introduction The fundamental concepts of exclusion and precarity Blind spots of theories of class Social exclusion Precarity On the political construction of new underclasses At the threshold of social respectability The formation of underclasses through devaluation Social exclusion: class-theoretical perspectives Competing classes Precarious full-employment society Requirements for a critical theory of precariat and underclass formation Note References 6 Class, Classification and Conjunctures: The Use of ‘Precarity’ in Social Research Introduction Precarity, classification and conjunctures Labour-capital relationships and the conjuncture Precarious conjunctures Conclusion Note References 7 The Problem with Precarity: Precarious Employment and Labour Markets The rise of precarity A parsimonious definition Precarious employment in selected OECD countries The political economy of labour markets Conclusion Notes References 8 The Social Foundations of Precarious Work: The Role of Unpaid Labour in the Family Introduction Moving ‘work’ beyond the inside and outside the market debate Unpaid in paid work: implications for the household Unpaid in paid work: implications for reproductive labour Conclusion Note References 9 Precariousness in the Platform Economy Introduction Employment relations in the platform economy The shifting of risks Regulatory avoidance Fragmentation Earnings and economic security Precarious work or precarious workers Conclusion References 10 A Pandemic-related Turning Point: Precarious Work, Platforms and Utopian Energies The pandemic and outsourcing Digitalization, platforms and precarious work The halo of precariousness around digital technology New precarious subjectivations A precarious world? References PART III Experiences, Concretizations and Struggles 11 The Embodiment of Insecurity: How Precarious Labour Market Trajectories Affect Young Workers’ Health and Wellbeing in Catalonia (Spain) Introduction Methodology Results Diversity of youth labour market trajectories and implications for health Explaining the relationship between precarity and young people’s health Stable trajectories Precarious trajectories Conclusion Notes References 12 Precarity and Migration: Thai Wild Berry Pickers in Sweden Introduction Migration and precarity: structure, agency and time Precarity of Thai wild berry pickers in Sweden Precarious structures Precarious agency Precarity during COVID-19 COVID-19 and the wild berry industry Precarious conditions Conclusion References 13 Revisiting the Concept of Precarious Work in Times of COVID-19 Introduction A multidimensional approach to precarity Revisiting precarity in times of COVID-19 Health and safety at work Telework as a flexible work arrangement Precarity as a gendered phenomenon Conclusion Note References 14 Precarious Workers and Precarity through the Lens of Social Movement Studies Introduction Looking for collective identities in precarious workers’ movements The organizational features of precarious workers’ movements The reinvention of public protest in precarious workers mobilizations Some reflections on platform labour Conclusion References 15 Organizing and Self-organized Precarious Workers: The Experience of Britain Introduction Dimensions of precarious work Strategies of trade unions and social actors Case studies of struggles Women carers: low pay, precarious livelihoods Cleaners: the dirty work of neoliberalism Inhospitable workplaces in the ‘hospitality’ sector The Sports Direct warehouse: hyper-flexibility through agencies Lessons and reflections Notes References 16 Afterword: A Pandemic of Precarity Ecological strains Neoliberalism in question? A digital future? Precarious agency? Conclusion References Index Back Cover