Abstract
Much-debated and researched, the subject of precarious work remains at the forefront of academic and policy discourses. A development of current interest is the reported growth of employment flexibility and increase in non-standard and atypical work, regarded by some as contributing to the emergence of a class-like ‘precariat’ of insecure and marginalised workers. However, this precariat framework remain largely untested and underexplored. Using in-depth narratives from 77 semi-structured interviews with workers from groups within the precariat spectrum, in this article the authors address this gap. The study finds that cohesion within and between these groups is overstated, and worker collectivisation far from apparent. As a result, this diversity of group dynamics, attitudes and experiences challenges not only negative conceptualisations of the precariat in the literature, but the theoretical validity of the precariat framework itself.
DOI
10.1177/0143831X18814625
Publication Date
2018-11-28
Publication Title
Economic and Industrial Democracy
Publisher
SAGE Publications
ISSN
0143-831X
Embargo Period
2024-11-19
Recommended Citation
Manolchev, C., Saundry, R., & Lewis, D. (2018) 'Breaking-up the ‘Precariat’: Personalisation, Differentiation and Deindividuation in Precarious Work Groups', Economic and Industrial Democracy, . SAGE Publications: Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0143831X18814625
