The precariat Flashcards
(16 cards)
What is the precariat according to Guy Standing (2014)?
A class marked by insecure employment and a lack of attachment to formal labour contracts
Characterised by chronic uncertainty and insecurity that arose due to declining social protections and increased conditions of precarious work
Standing describes it as a ‘class in the making’
Dimensions of the Precariat Front: What are the three key class-based dimensions Standing uses to define the precariat?
Relations of production: Workers experience unstable labour conditions, moving frequently between employment and unemployment without long-term contracts. They are expected to be flexible, producing, deconstructing, and reproducing different identities depending on their employment position.
Relations of distribution: The precariat is almost entirely reliant on the monetary wage and lacks enterprise and state benefits. Wage is flexible, leading to a chronic lack of income security.
Relationship to the state: Standing describes a condition where a large and growing class has been stripped of civil rights once universally held. Members often lack full citizenship, becoming ‘denizens’
The concept of ‘Denizens’ Front: How does Standing use the term ‘denizens’ in relation to the precariat?
Standing revives this term from the Middle Ages to refer to outsiders given a limited range of rights.
He applies it to the modern precariat, whose members often lack full citizenship regardless of whether they are native to the country.
This condition arises from a systematic erosion of rights, particularly affecting internal and international migrants within the precariat
How do members of the precariat cope with their challenging conditions?
hey employ tactics such as finding multiple income sources and creating alternative support networks. These tactics are ‘crosscut by divisions of gender, ethnicity, nationality, class and length of time in the UK’
What is a major criticism regarding the application of Standing’s precariat concept to the Global South?
The concept has been criticised for its ethnocentric bias. What Standing views as precarious work emerging from the end of a ‘golden age’ of traditional labour structures has long been the norm for the majority of countries in the Global South.
Suggesting an overarching structure of class development can perpetuate a Eurocentric philosophy.
How does the Scully (2016) South African case study challenge Standing’s idea of a sharp division within the working class due to precarity?
In Soweto, South Africa, unemployed, informal, and employed individuals often live alongside one another in the same housing.
Movement between these employment categories is frequent, and levels of dependency within communities are high.
Data shows that ‘secure workers in South Africa live in households with at least one precarious member’, signalling the maintenance of ‘a material link between precarious workers and formal wage work’.
This interdependence contradicts Standing’s claim of a sharp division driven by rising precarity
Scully (2016) case study
South africa, Soweto
How does the concept of the precariat interact with gendered inequalities, particularly in the Global South?
While Standing addresses structural conditions for both men and women, his analysis doesn’t fully capture how these experiences intersect with gendered inequalities. Gender shapes how the precariat is embodied. In the Global South, where gender discrimination can be amplified, women may experience the precariat differently from men and Western women
How does the example of female hostesses in Dalain, China illustrate the complexities of the female precariat?
These hostesses operate under highly insecure and exploitative conditions, lacking legal protection and facing risk of abuse.
The state fails to protect them, fitting Standing’s ‘denizen’ concept.
However, for some rural women escaping poverty or domestic violence, this work has offered an alternative avenue for social mobility and agency, allowing them to control their bodies and performance.
This suggests a dualistic reality where precarious work can be a site of exploitation but also resistance, agency, and economic opportunity, challenging the view that the precariat is solely defined by victimhood
the standing reference
Standing (2014)
Female experiences of precarity in global south - reference
(Zheng, 2007).
What emotional and cultural aspects of the precariat does Standing’s analysis reportedly overlook?
Standing’s analysis is considered limited in its exploration of the emotional and cultural dimensions of labour. The precariat experience is not solely economic but also affectual and cultural, particularly in the Global South where culture and politics play a powerful role.
Case example for affectual and emotional experience of the precariat in the GS?
Pettit et al (2019)
In post-revolutionary Egypt the emergence of a young middle-class poor
What is ‘cruel optimism’ and how does it relate to the precariat in the Global South?
‘Cruel optimism’ (from Berlant’s theory) describes an optimistic attachment to a ‘cluster of promises’ (like marriage, voting, property) representing the ideals of a ‘good life’. The cruelty comes from the individual’s awareness of their limited possibility of attaining these aspirations. This concept helps explain why people endure labour instabilities. In the Global South, it can be influenced by cultural and religious beliefs (e.g., self-blame, divine testing) and societal expectations (e.g., marriage), making the precariat an affectual state influenced by local contexts
How does the example of young, educated men in Cairo call centres illustrate the ‘affectual precariat’?
These men, working in precarious low-paid jobs, temporarily reorient their consciousness to maintain the hope of a good future, demonstrating ‘cruel optimism’ despite knowing aspirations are increasingly unattainable. They feel cultural pressure regarding marriage and experience depression when economic position prevents them from finding a partner. Cultural and religious beliefs can reinforce self-blame for their position. This highlights how emotional and cultural factors complicate the focus on structural insecurity, showing the precariat as an affectual state influenced by local histories and values.
What is the main conclusion regarding the utility of Standing’s precariat concept in understanding the Global South labour markets?
While the concept offers a potential structural model, assuming global convergence is simplistic. Changes in relations to the state, production, and distribution require contextualisation. Place, gender, and emotional experience are important and show that ‘the precariat’ is embodied differently in the Global South and regional contexts. To be most valuable, the concept must be considered multidimensionally.
