The institutional, structural and agential embeddedness of precarity : an engagement with Guy Standing

• Autorzy: Jane Hardy
• Języki publikacji: EN

Abstrakty

EN

Guy Standing's book The Precariat has had a significant impact in stimulating a debate about the changing nature of work across the broad sweep of the global economy. He advances the notion of precarious workers, originally put forward by Italian autonomist Marxists, to suggest that they constitute a new and separate class. This article reflects on the notion of precarious work and addresses the temporal, historical and analytical weaknesses manifest in many accounts by proposing a political economy synthesis. The discussion takes place through the theoretical lens of embeddedness that takes seriously the structures and institutions of capitalism and the agency of workers individually and collectively. First, it is argued that two key influences on the structural embeddedness of precarity are the spatiality of capitalism and its endemic tendency to crisis. Second, the temporal and institutional embeddedness of precarity is discussed in historical and comparative context. Third, the agential influence on embeddedness is examined with regard to the possibility of the self-organization precarious workers and their potential for forging solidarity with other groups. The article concludes that precarious work is intrinsic to capitalism and therefore the precariat cannot be understood as a class in itself. The implications of this for activists is that solidarity needs to be forged between all groups of workers in order to organise for decent and stable employment. (original abstract)

Słowa kluczowe

EN

Sociology of work; Uncertainty; Flexible employment; Temporary employment agencies; Social security; Precarity

PL

Socjologia pracy; Niepewność; Elastyczność zatrudnienia; Agencje pracy czasowej; Bezpieczeństwo socjalne; Prekariat

• Czasopismo: Warsaw Forum of Economic Sociology
• Rocznik: 2015
• Tom: 6
• Numer: nr 1 (11)
• Strony: 7--25

Twórcy

autor

Jane Hardy

• University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom

Bibliografia

• Barbier, J-C., (2013), A conceptual approach of the destandardisation of employment in Europe since the 1970s, in: Koch, M., Fritz, M. ed., Non-standard employment in Europe: Paradigms, Prevalence and Policy Responses, United Kingdom: Macmillan Publishers: 13-25
• Barrett, J.R., (1987), Unity and Fragmentation: Class, Race and Ethnicity on Chicagos South Side, in: Hoerder, D. ed., Struggle a Hard Battle: Essays on Working Class Immigrants, Urbana, Illinois: Northern Illinois University: 229-253
• Breman, J., (2013), A bogus concept?, "New Left Review", 84 (November-December) https://newleftreview.org/II/84/jan-breman-a-bogus-concept [accessed 21 October 2015]
• Charlton, J., (1999 ), It Just Went Like Tinder: The Mass Movement and New Unionism in Britain 1889. London: Redwords
• Fitzgerald, I., Hardy, J., (2010), Thinking outside the box? Trade union organizing strategies and Polish Migrant Workers in the UK, "British Journal of Industrial Relations", 48(1): 131-150
• Fritz, M., Koch, M., (2013), Introduction: changing employment standards in a crisis- ridden Europe, in: Koch, M., Fritz, M. ed., Non-standard employment in Europe: Paradigms, Prevalence and Policy Responses, United Kingdom: Macmillan Publishers: 1-12
• Gill, R.C., Pratt, A.C., (2008), In the social factory? Immaterial labour, precariousness and cultural work, "Theory, Culture & Society", 25(7-8): 1-30
• Goldthorpe, J.H., Lockwood, D., Bechhofer, F., Platt, J., (1969) The Affluent Worker in the Class Structure, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
• Gorz, A., (1997) Farewell to the Working Class, London: Pluto Press
• Granovetter, M., (1985), Economic action and social structures: the problem of Embeddedness, American Journal of Sociology 91 (3): 481-510
• Guerin-Gonzalez, C., Strikwerda, C., (1993), The Politics of Immigrant Workers: Labor Activism and Migration in the World Economy since 1830, New York: Holmes and Meier
• Hardt, M., Negri, A., (2001), Empire, New York: Harvard University Press
• Hardy, J., (2013) New Divisions of Labour in the Global Economy, "International Socialism Journal", 137: 101-125
• Harman, C., (2009), Zombie Capitalism: Global Crisis and the Relevance of Marx, London: Bookmarks
• Harvey, D., (2005), A Brief History of Neoliberalism, Oxford: Oxford University Press
• Hermann, Ch., (2014), Structural Adjustment and Neoliberal Convergence in Labour Markets and Welfare: The Impact of the Crisis and Austerity Measures on European Economic and Social Models, "Competition and Change", 18(2): 111-130
• Holst, H., Dörre, K., (2013), Revival of the German model? Destandardisation and the new labour market regime, in: Koch, M., Fritz, M. ed., Non-standard employment in Europe: Paradigms, Prevalence and Policy Responses, Hampshire, England: Palgrave, Macmillan: 132-146
• Hyman, R., (2013), Foreword, in: Koch, M., Fritz, M. ed., Non-standard employment in Europe: Paradigms, Prevalence and Policy Responses, Hampshire, England: Palgrave, Macmillan: xiii-xviii
• Lane, C., (1998), European companies between globalization and localization: a comparison of internationalization strategies of British and German MNCs, "Economy and Society", 27(4): 462-485
• Maddison, A., (1991), Dynamic Forces in Capitalist Development: A Long Run Comparative View, Oxford: Oxford University Press
• Marx, K., (1936), The Poverty of Philosophy, London: Lawrence
• Milkman, R., Wong, K., (2000), Organizing the wicked city: the 1992 Southern California Drywall strike, in: R. Milkman ed., Organizing Immigrants: The Challenge for Unions in Contemporary California, Ithaca-London: Cornell University Press
• Milkman, R., 2006, LA Story: Immigrant Workers and the Future of the US Labor Movement, New York: Russell Sage Foundation
• Mitropoulos, A., (2005), Precarius, Mute, Culture and Politics After the Net, 1 (29): 88-96
• Neilson, B., Ned, R., (2008), Precarity as a Political Concept or Fordism as Exception, "Theory, Culture and Society", 25(7-8): 51-72
• O'Connor, J.S., (2013), Non-standard employment and European Union employment regulation, in: Koch, M., Fritz, M., ed., Non-standard employment in Europe: Paradigms, Prevalence and Policy Responses, London: Macmillan Publishers: 46-60
• Polanyi, K. ,1957, The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time, United States: Beacon Press
• Randle, K., (2011), Review: recent publications on precarious work, "Work, Organisation, Labour and Globalisation", 5(1): 49-68
• Sally, R., (1994), Multinational enterprises, political economy and institutional theory: domestic embeddedness in the context of internationalisation, "Review of International Political Economy", 1 (1): 161-192
• Sassen, S., (1988), The Mobility of Labour and Capital: A Study in International Investment and Labour Flow, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
• Schoenberger, E., (1994), Corporate strategy and corporate strategists, "Progress in Human Geography", 22 (1): 435-451
• Schoenberger, E., (1997), The Cultural Crisis of the Firm, Cornwall: Blackwell
• Silver, B.J., (2003), Forces of Labour: Workers Movements and Globalization since 1870, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
• Standing, G., (2011) The Precariat: the New Dangerous Class, London: Bloomsbury
• Stenning, A., Hardy, J., (2005), Public sector reform, women and work in Poland: Working for juice, coffee and cheap cosmetics, "Gender, Work and Employment", 11(6): 503-526
• Strikwerda, C., Guerin-Gonzalez, C., (1993), Labor, Migration and Politics, in: C. Guerin- Gonzalez, C. Strikwerda ed., The Politics of Immigrant Workers: Labor Activism and Migration in the World Economy since 1830, New York: Holmes and Meier
• Strikwerda, C., Guerin-Gonzalez, C., (1993), Labor, Migration and Politics, in: C. Guerin-Gonzalez, C. Strikwerda, The Politics of Immigrant Workers: Labor Activism and Migration in the World Economy since 1830, New York: Holmes and Meier
• Torr, D., (1956), Tom Mann and his Times, Volume 1, London: Lawrence and Wishart Ltd:
• Williams, G.A., (1978), The Merthyr Rising, London: Croom Helm
• Zizek, S., (2012), The revolt of the salaried bourgeoisie, "London Review of Books", 34(2)
• Zukin, S., DiMaggio, P. eds., (1990), Structures of Capital: The Social Organization of the Economy, New York: Cambridge University Press