Faces of precarity : : critical perspectives on work,subjectivities and struggles / / Joseph Choonara, Annalisa Murgia and Renato Miguel Carmo, editors.

• TeilnehmendeR: Choonara, Joseph,; Murgia, Annalisa,; Carmo, Renato Miguel,
• Place / Publishing House: Bristol : : Bristol University Press,, [2022]; ©2022
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (268 pages)

The word 'precarity' is widely used when discussing work, employment or social classes. However, there is no consensus on the precise meaning of the term or how it should best be used to explore social changes. This international and interdisciplinary book offers a distinctive and critical perspective approach to an important topic.

Table of Contents

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.