The New Social Division: Making and Unmaking Precariousness (Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology)

This volume addresses issues of precariousness in a broad, interdisciplinary perspective, looking at socio-economic transformations as well as the identity formation and political organizing of precarious people. The collection bridges empirical research with social theory to problematize and analyse the precariat. "Cover"--"The New Social Division"--"Contents"--"List of Illustrations" -- "Tables" -- "Figures" -- "Map" -- "Acknowledgements" -- "Notes on Contributors" -- "Editors" -- "Contributors" -- "1: The Precarization Effect" -- "1. Precarization as contestable concept" -- "2. Precarization as modality" -- "3. Making and unmaking precariousness" -- "4. Is precariat a class?" -- "5. Struggle about the precariat" -- "6. Precarity experience" -- "7. Precarious struggles" -- "Bibliography" -- "Part I: â#x80;#x98;Objectiveâ#x80;#x99; Class Characteristics" -- "2: Precarity in Different Worlds of Social Classes" -- "1. Introduction" -- "2. Developments in class theory" -- "3. Class analysis in Russia" -- "4. A survey image of the precariat" -- "5. Two different class regimes" -- "6. Conclusions" -- "Bibliography" -- "3: Precarity â#x80;#x93; Minority Condition or Majority Experience?" -- "1. Precarious concepts" -- "2. Employment longevity: perception and evidence" -- "3. Explaining the gap between perception and statistical evidence" -- "4. The transformation of work and the influence of post-Marxism" -- "5. Dual labour markets" -- "6. The labour market impact of capitalist crises" -- "7. Precarityâ#x80;#x99;s further evolution" -- "Notes" -- "Bibliography" -- "4: A European Analysis of Subsistence Precarization and Precarious Risk" -- "1. Introduction" -- "Employment, class, and precarization as a transition process" -- "Hypotheses â#x80;#x93; subsistence precarization" -- "Hypotheses â#x80;#x93; precarious risk" -- "Hypotheses â#x80;#x93; production and welfare regime macro-level variables" -- "2. Methods" -- "Data" -- "Dependent variables" -- "Independent variables" -- "Macro-level variables" -- "Statistical analysis" -- "3. Results" -- "Employment, unemployment, and risk of poverty before and during the economic crisis" -- "Regression analyses" -- "Subsistence precarization" -- "Precarious risk." This volume addresses issues of precariousness in a broad perspective, examining socio-economic transformations as well as the identity formation and political organizing of precarious people. Bridging empirical research with social theory, this interdisciplinary collection illustrates how structural constraints and agency combine in the struggles over precariousness. The book approaches precarization as a globally orchestrated process which has deep impacts on human socio-economic conditions, living experiences and civic action. The category of the precariat is not taken as given but is comparatively problematized as an effect of processes of precarization which proceed in distinct patterns in different contexts. This contextual knowledge is important in order to understand the life experiences of people in precarious situations. The analysis of particular precarious situations, events and processes helps to capture the precariat's motives and aptitude for action. In the final section of the book, civic action by people in precarious positions is presented as a definite and novel political outcome of the precarization process. Linking these different analytic levels, The New Social Division offers both a detailed and a wide-ranging interpretation of precarization as a multifarious but unique process, which is too often either reduced to the static class notion of precariat or totally dismissed as a chimera.-- Provided by publisher Front Matter....Pages i-xii The Precarization Effect....Pages 1-23 Front Matter....Pages 25-25 Precarity in Different Worlds of Social Classes....Pages 27-42 Precarity — Minority Condition or Majority Experience?....Pages 43-62 A European Analysis of Subsistence Precarization and Precarious Risk....Pages 63-82 Tests for the Underclass: The Social Effects of Activating Labour Market Policy in Germany....Pages 83-100 The Precarious Status of Migrant Labour in Greece: Evidence from Rural Areas....Pages 101-119 Front Matter....Pages 121-121 Precariousness in Academia: Prospects for University Employment....Pages 123-138 On the Roma Precarious Experience Facing Free Christianism....Pages 139-157 Giving up Farming as a Precarious Decision....Pages 159-175 Let’s Kill the Messenger! The Reception and Recognition of the Precarity Movement and Argument in Finland....Pages 177-196 Precarious Voice or Precarious Noise?....Pages 197-212 Front Matter....Pages 213-213 Precarious Struggles in Italy....Pages 215-232 The Many Frames of the Precarious Condition. Some Insights from Italian Mobilizations against Precarity....Pages 233-248 The Transformation of Jobless Movement and the Segregation of the Unemployed in Finland since the 1990s....Pages 249-267 Varieties of Precarious Workers’ Unionism: The Case of Greece and Italy....Pages 269-286 The Making and Unmaking of Precarity: Some Concluding Remarks....Pages 287-298 Back Matter....Pages 299-309