Abstract
This chapter addresses social classes in contemporary Europe, with the specific goal of analysing what has been and what can be meant by the precariat and precarity in terms of class and how class analysis can contribute to actually understanding precariousness and precarization. This is done by analysing class positions from the point of view of reproduction of classes. By comparing different European class regimes, we examine whether reproduction of classes, and thereby reproduction of precariousness, follows similar or different patterns in selected European countries, including Russia. In particular, we compare Russia with the Nordic countries. In many ways, Russia is a critical case, which helps us to evaluate the relevance and range of the concept of precariat in class analysis.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Bibliography
N. Abercrombie and J. Urry (1983) Capital, Labour and the Middle Classes (London: George Allen & Unwin).
U. Beck (1992) Risk Society. Towards a New Modernity (London: Sage).
R. Blom, M. Kivinen, H. Melin and L. Rantalaiho (1992) The Scope Logic Approach to Class Analysis (Avebury: Aldershot).
R. Blom and H. Melin (2012) ‘Luokkien työprofiilit’. In P. Pyöriä (ed.), Työhyvinvointi ja organisaation menestys (Helsinki: Gaudeamus), 196–210.
P. Bourdieu (1984) The Distinction (London: New Left Books).
H. Braverman (1974) Labor and Monopoly Capitalism. The Degradation of Work in 20th Century (New York: Monthly Review Press).
J. Breman (2013) ‘A Bogus Concept’. New Left Review 84 (November/December), https://newleftreview.org/II/84/jan-breman-a-bogus-concept (accessed 28 May 2015).
G. Carchedi (1977) On the Economic Identification of Social Classes (London: Routledge).
R. Crompton (2008) Class and Stratification (Cambridge: Polity Press).
K. Doogan (2009) New Capitalism (London: Polity Press).
A. Giddens (1993) Modernity and Self-Identity (Cambridge: Polity Press).
J. H. Goldthorpe (1982) ‘On the service Class, its Formation and Future’. In A. Giddens and G. Mackenzie (eds), Social Class and the Division of Labour (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 162–186.
C. Lash and J. Urry (1987) The End of Organized Capitalism? (London: Sage).
Luokkaprojekti (1984) Suomalaiset luokkakuvassa (Tampere: Vastapaino).
R. Murphy (1988) Social Closure. The Theory of Monopolization and Exclusion (Oxford: Clarendon Press).
A. Nicholas and U. John (1983) Capital, Labour and the Middle Classes (London: Allen and Unwin).
J. Nikula (ed.) (2002) Restoration of Class Society in Russia? (Avebury: Ashgate).
J. Nikula and M. Chernysh (eds) (2010) Social Class in the Russian Society (Saarbrucken: Lambert Academic Publishing).
T. Piketty (2014) Capital in Twenty-First Century (Harvard: Belknap).
N. Poulantzas (1975) Classes in Contemporary Capitalism (London: New Left Books).
V. Radaev and O. Shkaratan (1992) ‘Etacratism, Power and Property’. International Sociology 7 (3), 301–316.
S. Salmenniemi (ed.) (2012) Rethinking Class in Russia (Farnham: Ashgate).
M. Savage (2000) Class Analysis and Social Transformation (Buckingham: Open University Press).
M. Savage (et al.) (2013) ‘A New Model of Social Class: Findings from the BBC’s Great British Class Survey Experiment’. Sociology. Online, DOI: 10.1177/0038038513481128
G. Standing (2011) The Precariat. The New Dangerous Class (London: Bloomsbury).
G. Standing (2014) A Precariat Charter. From Denizens to Citizens (London: Bloomsbury Academic).
E. O. Wright (1978) Class, Crisis and the State (London: New Left Books).
E. O. Wright (1985) Classes (London: New Left Books).
E. O. Wright (1997) Class Counts (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
T. Zaslavskaya (2001) ‘The Structure of Social Change in Russia’. Sociological Research 40 (2), 83–94.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2015 Harri Melin and Raimo Blom
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Melin, H., Blom, R. (2015). Precarity in Different Worlds of Social Classes. 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_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137509352_2
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-50933-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-50935-2
eBook Packages: Palgrave Social Sciences CollectionSocial Sciences (R0)