Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Precarization Effect

  • Chapter
Book cover The New Social Division

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology ((PSEPS))

Abstract

What’s in the name ‘precarization’? Such a question can always be asked when we are dealing with a highly contestable concept (Gallie, 1956) or a family of concepts — as is definitely the case here, where it is also customary to speak about ‘precariousness’, ‘precarity’, and even ‘precariat’. This is a family of concepts or terms that has been defined in so many different and often incompatible ways that the answer to the question seems to greatly depend on the perspective or approach adopted. This is not as big a problem in the case of ‘precariousness’, which can be used to describe a variety of situations and events quite generally; but it makes all the difference when one refers to ‘precariat’ as a particular group or class of people (Standing, 2011). However, even if we prefer using the terms ‘precarization’ and ‘precarity’ here, this problem does not disappear. In fact, this struggle over the concepts ‘precarization’ and ‘precarity’ is an expression of the discursive, and often ideological, controversies taking place between different schools of thought and their different theories, methods, motives, interests, and desires. There are, for example, those who emphasize the significance of precarization as the historical sign of the transformation of capitalism (Fumagalli & Mezzadra, 2010; Holmes, 2010; Marazzi, 2010), and there are those who want to challenge the self-evidence of the notion of precarization (Doogan, 2009) or its unwarranted generalization (Munck, 2013).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Bibliography

  • E. Agrikoliansky, O. Fillieule, and N. Mayer (eds) (2005) L’altermondialisme en France (Paris: Flammarion).

    Google Scholar 

  • S. Baglioni (2012) ‘The Mobilization of the Unemployed in Italy: The Case of Naples’, in D. Chabanet and J. Faniel (eds), The Mobilisation of the Unemployed in Europe. From Acquiescence to Protest? (Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan), pp. 153–175.

    Google Scholar 

  • S. Baglioni and M. Giugni (eds) (2014) Civil Society Organizations, Unemployment and Precarity in Europe (Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan).

    Google Scholar 

  • S. Baglioni, B. Baumgarten, D. Chabanetand, and C. Lahusen (2008) ‘Transcending Marginality. The Mobilization of the Unemployed in France, Germany and Italy in Comparative Perspective’, Mobilization 13 (3), 405–417.

    Google Scholar 

  • S. Baglioni, J. Lorenzini, and L. Mosca (2014) ‘The Political Role of Civil Society in the Field of Youth Unemployment’, in S. Baglioniand and M. Giugni (eds), Civil Society Organizations, Unemployment and Precarity in Europe (Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan), pp. 13–31.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • J.-C. Barbier (2005) ‘La précarité, une catégorie française à l’épreuve de la comparaíson internationale’, Revue française de sociologie 46 (3), 351–371.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • B. Baumgarten and C. Lahusen (2012) ‘The Mobilization of the Unemployed in Germany (1998–2004)’, in D. Chabanet and J. Faniel (eds), The Mobilisation of the Unemployed in Europe. From Acquiescence to Protest? (Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan), pp. 57–88.

    Google Scholar 

  • R. Bouchareb (2011) ‘Des employé(e)s de boutique entre résignation et volonte de lutte’, in D. Chabanet, P. Dufour, and F. Royall (eds), Les mobilisations sociales à l’heure du precariat (Paris: Presses de l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Santé Public), pp. 101–126.

    Google Scholar 

  • P. Bourdieu (1985) ‘The Social Space and the Genesis of Groups’, Social Science Information 24 (2), 195–220.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • P. Bourdieu (with the collaboration of M. de Saint-Martin) (1996) The State Nobility (Cambridge: Polity Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • T. Brugnot and G. Le Naour (2011) ‘Quand le syndicats devienne “protestataires”’, in D. Chabanet, P. Dufour, and F. Royall (eds), Les mobilisations sociales à l’heure du precariat (Paris: Presses de l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Santé Public), pp. 61–82.

    Google Scholar 

  • J. Butler (2004) Precarious Life: The Powers of Mourning and Violence (New York: Verso).

    Google Scholar 

  • K. Carls (2007) ‘Affective Labour in Milanese Large Scale Retailing: Labour Control and Employees’ Coping Strategies’, Ephemera — Theory & Politics in Organization 7, 46–59.

    Google Scholar 

  • K. Carls (2011) Coping with Precarisation. Employees’ Responses to Flexibility and Control in Milanese Large Scale Retailing (Dissertation der Unversität Bremen, 21 January 2011).

    Google Scholar 

  • D. Chabanet (2008) ‘When the Unemployed Challenge the European Union: The European Marches as a Mode of Externalization of Protest’, Mobilization 13 (3), 311–322.

    Google Scholar 

  • D. Chabanet, P. Dufour, and F. Royall (2011) ‘Mobilisations sociales à l’heure du precariat’, in D. Chabanet, P. Dufour, and F. Royall (eds), Les mobilisations sociales à l’heure du precariat (Paris: Presses de l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Santé Public), pp. 3–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • J. N. Chopart, B. Eme, J. L. Laville, and R. Mouriaux (1998) ‘The Collective Action of Welfare Recipients in Europe. The Situation in France’, in R. van Berkel, H. Cohen, and R. Vlek (eds), Beyond Marginality? Social Movements of Social Security Claimants in the European Union (Aldershot: Ashgate), pp. 59–94.

    Google Scholar 

  • P. Cincolani (1986) L’Exil du précaire (Paris: Meridiens Klincksieck).

    Google Scholar 

  • V. Cohen (2011) ‘Inflexion de mobilisations collective de chomeurs et fluctuation de l’engagement militante’, in D. Chabanet, P. Dufour, and F. Royall (eds), Les mobilisations sociales à l’heure du precariat (Paris, Presses de l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Santé Public), pp. 151–168.

    Google Scholar 

  • R. Crompton (2008) Class and Stratification (Cambridge: Polity).

    Google Scholar 

  • G. Deleuze (1993) The Fold: Leibniz and the Baroque (Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • D. della Porta (1995) Social Movements, Political Violence and the State (Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • D. della Porta (2015) Social Movements in Times of Austerity (Cambridge: Polity Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • D. Demazière and M. T. Pignoni (1998) Chômeurs: du silence à la révolte (Paris: Hachette).

    Google Scholar 

  • K. Doogan (2009) New Capitalism? The Transformation of Work (Cambridge: Polity Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • X. Dunezal (2011) ‘Mouvenents de “sans”, rapport sociaux et “exclusion sociale”’, in D. Chabanet, P. Dufour, and F. Royall (eds), Les mobilisations sociales à l’heure du precariat (Paris: Presses de l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Santé Public), pp. 205–226.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eurostat (2012) EU-SILC 065 (2011 Operation) Description of Target Variables: Cross-sectional and Longitudinal (European Commission: Eurostat).

    Google Scholar 

  • O. Fillieule (1993) ‘Conscience politique, persuasion et mobilisation des engagements. L’exemple du syndicat des chômeurs, 1983–1989’, in O. Fillieule (ed.), Sociologie de la protestation. Les formes de l’action collective dans la France contemporaine (Paris: L’Harmattan), pp. 123–155.

    Google Scholar 

  • A. Fumagalli and S. Mezzadra (eds) (2010) Crisis in the Global Economy. Financial Markets, Social Struggles and New Political Scenarios (Los Angeles: Semiotext(e)).

    Google Scholar 

  • O. Galland and M. V. Louis (1981) ‘Chomage et action collective’, Sociologie du travail 23, 173–191.

    Google Scholar 

  • W. B. Gallie (1956) ‘Essentially Contested Concepts’, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 56, 167–198.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • T. Geiger (1949) Die Klassengesellschaft im Schmelztiegel (Köln: Kiepenhauer).

    Google Scholar 

  • M. Giugni and F. Passy (eds) (2001) Political Altruism? Solidarity Movemens in International Perspective (Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield).

    Google Scholar 

  • T. Gurr (1970) Why Men Rebel (Princeton: Princeton University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • W. Hannington (1973 [1936]) Unemployed Struggles, 1919–1936: My Life and Struggles amongst the Unemployed (Wakefield: EP Pub. [1st edn, Reprinted, with a new introduction by Will Paynter]).

    Google Scholar 

  • M. Hardt and A. Negri (2004) Multitude. War and Democracy in the Age of Empire (New York: Penguin).

    Google Scholar 

  • B. Holmes (2010) ‘Is It Written in the Stars? Global Finance, Precarious Destinies’, Ephemera — Theory & Politics in Organization 10, 222–233.

    Google Scholar 

  • R. F. Inglehart (1977) The Silent Revolution (Princeton: Princeton University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • H. Kriesi, R. Koopmans, J.-W. Duyvendak, and M. Giugni (1995) New Social Movements in Western Europe (Minneapolis/London: The University of Minnesota Press/UCL Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • M. Lazzarato (2004) ‘From Capital-Labour to Capital-Life’, Ephemera — Theory & Politics in Organization 4, 187–208.

    Google Scholar 

  • C. Marazzi (2010) The Violence of Financial Capitalism (Los Angeles: Semiotext(e)).

    Google Scholar 

  • L. Mathieu (2011) ‘Le mouvement de decembre 1995’, in D. Chabanet, P. Dufour, and F. Royall (eds), Les mobilisations sociales à l’heure du precariat (Paris: Presses de l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Santé Public), pp. 127–150.

    Google Scholar 

  • A. Mattoni (2012) Media Practices and Protest Politics. How Precarious Workers Mobilise (Farnham, UK; Burlington, VT: Ashgate).

    Google Scholar 

  • S. Maurer (2001) Les chomeurs en action (décembre 1997–mars 1998). Mobilisation collective et ressources compensatoire (Paris: L’Harmattan).

    Google Scholar 

  • S. Maurer and E. Pierru (2001) ‘Le mouvement des chomeurs de l’hiver 1997–1998. Retour sur un “miracle social”’, Revue Francaise de Science Politique 512, 317–407.

    Google Scholar 

  • J. McCarthy and M. Zald (1977) ‘Resource Mobilization and Social Movements: A Partial Theory’, American Journal of Sociology 82 (6), 1212–1241.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • A. Melucci (1995) ‘The Process of Collective Identity’, in H. Johnston and B. Klandermans (eds), Social Movements and Culture (Minneapolis/London: University of Minnesota Press/UCL Press), pp. 41–63.

    Google Scholar 

  • C. Morini and A. Fumagalli (2010) ‘Life Put to Work: Towards a Life Theory of Value’, Ephemera — Theory & Politics in Organization 10, 234–252.

    Google Scholar 

  • R. Munck (2013) ‘The Precariat: A View from the South’, Third World Quarterly 34, 747–762.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R. Murphy (1984) ‘The Structure of Closure: A Critique and Development of the Theories of Weber, Collins, and Parkin’, British Journal of Sociology 35 (4), 547–567.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • B. Neilson and N. Rossiter (2008) ‘Precarity as a Political Concept, or, Fordism as Exception’, Theory, Culture & Society 25, 51–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • A. Oberschall (1978) ‘Theories of Social Conflict’, Annual Review of Sociology 4, 291–315.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • M. L. Pauchadom (2011) ‘Dynamique et répertorie d’action des mobilisation de chomeur en France’, in D. Chabanet, P. Dufour, and F. Royall (eds), Les mobilisations sociales à l’heure du precariat (Paris: Presses de l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Santé Public), pp. 169–183.

    Google Scholar 

  • J. Petras (2003) The New Development Politics. The Age of Empire Building and New Social Movements (Aldershot: Ashgate).

    Google Scholar 

  • F. F. Piven and R. Cloward (1977) Poor People’s Movements (New York: Pantheon).

    Google Scholar 

  • F. F. Piven and R. A. Cloward (2000) Why Americans Still Don’t Vote and Why Politicians Want It that Way (Boston: Beacon Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • A. Przeworski (1985) Capitalism and social democracy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • V. Puig-Barrachina, C. Vanroelen, A. Vives, J. M. Martínez, C. Muntaner, K. Levecque, J. Benach, and F. Louckx (2014) ‘Measuring Employment Precariousness in the European Working Conditions Survey: The Social Distribution in Europe’, Work 49, 143–161.

    Google Scholar 

  • F. Remondino (1998) Ci dicevano analfabeti. Il movimento dei disoccupati napoletani degli anni’70 (Lecce: Argo).

    Google Scholar 

  • A. Richards (2002) ‘Mobilizing the Powerless: Collective Protest Action of the Unemployed in the Interwar Period’, Working Paper 175 (Madrid: Instituto Juan March).

    Google Scholar 

  • A. Ross (2010) Nice Work If You Can Get: Life and Labor in Precarious Times (New York: New York University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • M. Savage, F. Devine, N. Cunningham, M. Taylor, Y. Li, J. Hjellbrekke, B. Le Roux, S. Friedman and A. Miles (2013) ‘A New Model of Social Class: Findings from the BBC’s Great British Class Survey Experiment’, Sociology. Online, DOI: 10.1177/0038038513481128.

    Google Scholar 

  • M. Siisiäinen (1987) Organizations and the Struggle about Classes (Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä, Publications of the Department of Sociology), no. 38.

    Google Scholar 

  • B. Skeggs (2004) Class, Self, Culture (London: Routledge).

    Google Scholar 

  • G. Standing (2011) The Precariat. The New Dangerous Class (London: Bloomsbury).

    Google Scholar 

  • G. Standing (2014) A Precariat Charter. From Denizens to Citizens (London: Bloomsbury Academic).

    Google Scholar 

  • G. Stedman Jones (1983) Languages of Class. Studies in English Working Class History 1832–1982 (London: Cambridge University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • S. Tarrow (1989) Democracy and Disorder. Protest and Politics in Italy, 1965–1975 (Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • S. Tarrow (1995) Power in Movement (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • D. Tartakowsky (1997) Les manifestations de rue en France (Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne).

    Google Scholar 

  • G. M. Thornton (2014) ‘The Outsiders: Power Differentials between Roma and Non-Roma in Europe’, Perspectives on European Politics and Society 15, 106–119.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • A. Touraine (1981) The Voice and the Eye. An Analysis of Social Movements (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • B. Trott (2007) ‘Immaterial Labour and World Order: An Evaluation of a Thesis’, Ephemera — Theory & Politics in Organization 7, 203–232.

    Google Scholar 

  • P. Virno (2004) A Grammar of the Multitude. For an Analysis of Contemporary Forms of Life (Los Angeles: Semiotext(e)).

    Google Scholar 

  • M. Weber (1976) Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft (Tübingen: J.B.C. Mohr [Paul Siebeck]).

    Google Scholar 

  • S. Wright (2007) ‘Back to the Future: Italian Workerists Reflect Upon the Operaista Project’, Ephemera — Theory & Politics in Organization 7, 270–281.

    Google Scholar 

  • A. Zorn (2004) ‘Entering the Unemployment Debate: From Unemployed Observers to Unemployed Participants’, Paper prepared for the conference ‘Public Employment Action and Unemployed Movements’, Lyon, 19–20 November 2004.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Donatella della Porta
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sakari Hänninen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Martti Siisiäinen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Tiina Silvasti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. European University Institute, Italy

    Donatella della Porta

  2. National Institute for Health and Welfare, Finland

    Sakari Hänninen

  3. University of Jyväskylä, Finland

    Martti Siisiäinen  & Tiina Silvasti  & 

Copyright information

© 2015 Donatella della Porta, Sakari Hänninen, Martti Siisiäinen, and Tiina Silvasti

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

della Porta, D., Hänninen, S., Siisiäinen, M., Silvasti, T. (2015). The Precarization Effect. In: della Porta, D., Hänninen, S., Siisiäinen, M., Silvasti, T. (eds) The New Social Division. Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137509352_1

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation