Insecurity, Precarious Work and Labour Markets: Challenging the Orthodoxy

Description

Precarity is a key theme in political discourse, in media and academic discussions of employment, and within the labour movement. Often, the prevailing idea is of an endless march of precarity, rendering work ever more contingent and workers ever more disposable. However, this detailed study of the UK labour force challenges the picture of rising precarity and widespread use of temporary employment, suggesting instead that employment tenure and the extent of temporary work have proved stubbornly stable over the past four decades. Choonara offers a new approach to labour markets, drawing on the theoretical underpinnings of Marxist political economy to interrogate research data from the UK. This book examines why, despite the deteriorating conditions in work, employment relations have remained stable, and offers insight into the extent of subjective insecurity among workers. Insecurity, Precarious Work and Labour Markets will be of use to students and scholars across the sociology of work, labour economics, industrial relations and political economy. Front Matter ....Pages i-xii Introduction: The Precarity Debate (Joseph Choonara)....Pages 1-17 Theorists of Transformation (Joseph Choonara)....Pages 19-61 Conceptualising Precarity and Insecurity (Joseph Choonara)....Pages 63-79 Is Work Being De-standardised? (Joseph Choonara)....Pages 81-133 Is Employment Tenure Declining? (Joseph Choonara)....Pages 135-161 Rethinking Labour Markets (Joseph Choonara)....Pages 163-197 An Epidemic of Insecurity? (Joseph Choonara)....Pages 199-223 Conclusions (Joseph Choonara)....Pages 225-238 Back Matter ....Pages 239-254