Suchergebnisse

AbstractIn recent years, the term precarity has proliferated in the social sciences at the risk of losing its analytical purchase. This review considers the value and limitations of precarity in the various ways it has operated as both a theoretical and political concept. It first traces the historical development of the term in sociology and cognate fields, ultimately arguing for a relational approach to the concept rooted in the analysis of specific labor conditions. It then examines emergent critiques of the (often hidden) political work that the concept of precarity performs. That is, the denunciatory discourse of precarity, ironically, has the potential to uphold normative forms of work and life, including the ideal of full‐time wage labor. Instead, a critical politics of precarity leaves open the question of how precarious labor relates to precarious life and attends to ruptures that offer alternatives to the valorization of waged work.

AbstractAmerican families have become less economically secure in recent decades, and this process accelerated during the 2008 financial crisis and its immediate aftermath. This study investigates how the crisis apportioned income precarity among families compared to pre-crisis years. We use the Survey of Consumer Finances and find that working families suffered the preponderance of income losses from the crisis, although the crisis shifted income losses towards more privileged working families. In fact, middle-income working families now have the same level of income precarity as the working poor, and families in the top income quintile continue to have elevated precarity levels. This result indicates that the middle class continues to bear a growing share of economic risk and that all working families are experiencing heightened insecurity in the post-crisis era.

The object of this article is to analyse the relationship between labour market precarity and political attitudes in Poland. I address the following research question: how do people in economically insecure employment differ from other workers in terms of electoral participation, self-reported interest in politics, and adherence to democratic principles? My analyses are based on quantitative data from the sixth wave of the Polish Panel Survey (POLPAN), conducted in 2013 on a nationally representative sample of adults aged 21 and above. The study found strong associations between indicators of labour market precarity observed at the time of the POLPAN survey and the dependent variables. However, most of these relationships disappear in regression models controlling for the other socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents. It appears that the lack of interest in politics and higher scepticism towards democracy among members of the precariat may not be due to labour market insecurity as such, but rather determined by such factors as younger age, a lower level of education, and lower household income.

The recent cycle of social struggles against precarity in Italy has been characterized by an extensive use of images representing precarious workers. This contribution explores this in the case of the Euro Mayday Parade (EMP) protest campaign. The subversion of existing popular culture traditions was the main objective of the activists' newly created icons such as San Precario, Serpica Naro and other visual tools. The visual work on gender in the EMP seemed to fill a gap between theoretical work on the feminization of affective and immaterial labour and the less predominant presence of gender. Visual icons seem to have been at least as successful as text messages in publicizing the precarity discourse and their production deserves further attention.

This article explores the hidden work of workers employed in precarious jobs which are characterized by part-time and temporary contracts, limited control over work schedules, and poor access to regulatory protection. Through 77 semi-structured interviews with workers in low-wage, precarious jobs in Ontario, Canada, we examine workers' attempts to challenge the precarity they face when confronted by workplace conditions violating the Ontario Employment Standards Act (ESA), such as not being paid minimum wages, not being paid for overtime, being fired wrongfully or being subject to reprisals. We argue that these challenges involve hidden work, which is neither acknowledged nor recognized in the current ESA enforcement regime. We examine three types of hidden work that involve (1) creating a sense of positive self-worth amidst disempowering practices; (2) engaging in advocacy vis-à-vis employers, sometimes through launching official claims with the Ontario Ministry of Labour; and (3) developing strategies to avoid the costs of precarity in the future. We argue that this hidden work of challenging precarity needs to be formally recognized and that concrete strategies for doing so might lead to more robust protection for workers, particularly within ESA enforcement practices.

Abstract
This paper aims to introduce the concept of capitalising precarity to analyse the situation of precarious migration in migrant unfriendly contexts such as Russia. The material analysed in this paper concerns welfare and health inequalities in Russia. Welfare of labour migrants in Russia (both for internal Russian migrants and for foreign migrants) is de facto non-existent and largely self-organised by migrants themselves. State migration policies of Russia as well as welfare policies in the destination countries (Central Asia) are formulated in papers but in practice do not function to ensure some kind of wellbeing and social protection. Working conditions both at home (in Central Asia) and in destination countries (Russia and Kazakhstan) do not comply with average requirements of wellbeing of workers. I was shocked but not surprised to see Central Asian migrant workers in winter cleaning the roofs of Russian houses without any protection. The paper analyses the situation of intermixing of legal and informal practices which have a direct implication for wellbeing of migrants in Russia. The working conditions in Russia for both migrant and non-migrant labour violate basic principles of human rights. The paper also shows that even citizenship does not automatically provide direct access to social welfare where the latter is bound to the permanent registration (propiska). Continuous precarity is capital for other actors such as those who can profit from it such as police officers or other migrants themselves. The findings of this research contribute to the broader literature of labour and welfare in terms challenging the boundaries between citizenship and mobility.

Social mobilizations today often use the strategies of the weak rather than the strong. The slogan 'we are the 99%' signals a belonging to the actually or potentially dispossessed, a group recognizing its situation as one of vulnerability and precarity. Refusal and subversion replace aggressive critique; political claims offer various versions of what could be called 'weak resistance'. The weak messianism announced by Walter Benjamin in his 'Theses on the Philosophy of History' emerges in the movements of the supposedly speechless, subaltern, and the rebellious 'other' of the Western hegemonic subject both at the core and on the periphery of globalized capitalism. The event understands 'weak resistance' as a decisive feature of contemporary political agency. The precarious of today articulate their claims and subvert the existing power structures using unspectacular forms of resistance, often involving everyday practices and claims. Isabell Lorey will examine the political practice of today's resistance of the precarious under the state of insecurity and will speak about her theory of presentist democracy. Other contributions discuss the non-heroic resistance of queer Israeli activists refusing to answer Zionism in the currency of heroism and active resistance, as well as that of the 'Solidarnosc' movement in 1980 and in the recent feminist mobilizations against anti-abortion laws in Poland. The theme of weakness has been explored in connection with political resistance (James C. Scott), utopia (Michael Gardiner), artistic production (Gerald Raunig), and the analysis of the social (Michael Levine, Howard Caygill). It reevaluates what previously has been thought of as failure, passivity, and conformity. Departing from three different contexts – of precarisation, 'Solidarnosc', and of queer strategies – the event will consider weak resistance and its possible implications for political activism. Moderated by Rosa Barotsi ; Weak Resistance 2: Precarity, Diasporas, Movements , discussion, ICI Berlin, 8 July 2016 ...

This article examines the rise in precarious academic employment in Ireland as an outcome of the higher education restructuring following OECD (Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development), government initiatives and post‐crisis austerity. Presenting the narratives of academic women at different career stages, we claim that a focus on care sheds new light on the debate on precarity. A more complete understanding of precarity should take account not only of the contractual security but also affective relational security in the lives of employees. The intersectionality of paid work and care work lives was a dominant theme in our interviews among academic women. In a globalized academic market, premised on the care‐free masculinized ideals of competitive performance, 24/7 work and geographical mobility, women who opt out of these norms, suffer labour‐led contractual precarity and are over‐represented in part‐time and fixed‐term positions. Women who comply with these organizational commands need to peripheralize their relational lives and experience care‐led affective precarity. ; Irish Research Council

This volume explores how contemporary European cinema engages with the increasing precarization of life and work on the continent. It compares how the filmic traditions of different countries reflect the socioeconomic conditions associated with precarity, and sheds light on the recurring tropes, themes, narratives, and genre conventions that shape its representation.

An emerging body of work has critiqued the concept of climate adaptation, highlighting the structural constraints impeding marginalised communities across the Global South from being able to adapt. This article builds on such work through analysis of debt-bonded brick workers in Cambodia, formerly small farmers. It argues that the detrimental impacts of climate change experienced by farmers-turned-workers across the rural – urban divide is due to their precarity. In doing so, this article draws on a conceptualisation of precarity which recognises it as emerging from the specific political economy of Cambodia, and as something that is neither new, nor confined to conditions of labour alone. As such, in looking to precarity as a means of conceptualising the relations of power which shape impacts of climate change, we advance a 'climate precarity' lens as a means of understanding how adaptation to climate change is an issue of power, rooted in a specific geographical context, and mobile over the rural–urban divide.

Drawing on interview and focus group data, this article explores research undertaken as part of a larger research project exploring precarity in the nonprofit employment services sector in a mid‐sized Canadian city. We critically survey major legislative changes to Canadian employment and income security policies and programs, including the restructuring of work and labor relations, growth of performance‐based contracting‐out, erosion of intergovernmental transfers, worker stress, and emotional tolls. Our study's results demonstrate how employment precarity in the nonprofit employment services sector is amplified by top‐down and centralized relationships with funding partners and policymaking divorced from the employment experiences of frontline staff. We make the case that it is important to work against rising workplace precarity to strengthen organizational and workplace conditions, as well as build environments more supportive of optimal employment support services.En se fondant sur des entretiens et des données découlant de groupes témoins, cet article présente des explorations entreprises dans une recherche plus large étudiant la précarité dans le secteur des emplois de service dans une ville canadienne de taille moyenne. Nous faisons une revue critique de changements importants intervenus dans la législation portant sur l'emploi au Canada et les politiques et programmes de la sécurité du revenu, incluant la restructuration du travail et des relations de travail, l'augmentation de la privatisation se fondant sur la performance, la diminution des transferts intergouvernementaux, le stress au travail et les conséquences émotionnelles. Les résultats de notre recherche démontrent comment la précarité de l'emploi dans les secteurs des services à but non lucratif est amplifiée par des relations allant du haut vers le bas et centralisée avec des partenaires et des politiques séparés de l'expérience des travailleurs sur le terrain. Nous démontrons qu'il est important de travailler contre la précarisation en renforçant les conditions organisationnelles et de travail, tout en construisant des environnements favorisant une offre de services de l'emploi optimaux.

This research assesses poverty levels in Portugal within a multidimensional approach, over a period from 2008 to 2014. Further, it aims at inferring a causal relationship between precarious jobs and the estimated multidimensional poverty level. This research adds to the existing literature by applying a discrete choice experiment in the construction of the poverty index, as well as by nding causality between poverty and precarity. Empirical results suggest that, while multidimensional poverty levels are higher than the European Union poverty statistics, computed with relative income, precarity has a negative impact on the individual s wellbeing.