Precarious, Informalizing, and Flexible Work

Abstract

There is a considerable body of academic and activist research that studies the prevalence of precariousness in contemporary societies. It goes by many names that are often interchangeable, including precarious work, precarity, informalization, and casualization. These are typically rooted in emerging theories of labor and work that temporally correspond to the globalization of production, distribution, and consumption in the neoliberal era. This article examines new ways of looking at the global economic system as a whole while focusing on the diverse experiences associated with precarious work. We address prominent social movements and scholarly responses to changes in work and life, including transforming politics and policy initiatives.

No funny business: Precarious work and emotional labour in stand-up comedy

“…This task becomes all the more necessary since precarious employment conditions in the creative industries are becoming increasingly paradigmatic of work beyond the performing arts, such as casual labour in the fledgling 'gig economy' and other occupational fields where informality is the norm (Arnold and Bongiovi, 2013). Further research is therefore needed to show how freelance workers in non-creative fields engage forms of emotion management -especially those that blur pecuniary motives with philanthropic gestures -in order to establish relationships with multiple employers, and to describe what happens when workers feel compelled to endure precarity with a smile.…”

“…The concept of precarity, referring to 'existential, financial and social insecurity' in the domain of work (de Peuter, 2011: 419), is a theoretical lens for studying forms of casual and irregular labour that have risen to prominence with the demise of employment safeguards and the roll-back of statutory entitlements (Arnold and Bongiovi, 2013;Neilson and Rossiter, 2008). The creative industries -which include performing arts like stand-up comedy -are a privileged site of analysis around discussions of precarity to the extent that employment tends to be project-based, contracts are short-term, job protection is limited or non-existent, career trajectories are unpredictable, income is often low and unequally distributed, unionization is rare, and social insurance is patchy at best (de Peuter, 2014;Harney, 2010).…”

Unacceptable forms of work: A multidimensional model

“…(Vosko 2010, p 2) The distinctive contribution of Vosko's conception is its attention to how characteristics of workers interact in specific labour and product markets to produce Precarious Work. It recognises that the form and nature of Precarious Work is context-specific: what forms of work are precarious and in which ways depends upon the economic and social structures of the political systems and labour markets in which they are embedded, while social actors and strategic action also influence the extent to which specific forms of work are precarious (Vosko et al 2009;Kalleberg 2012;Lee and Kofman 2012;Arnold and Bongiovi 2013). Through the contextual model, it becomes possible to develop an approach to Precarious Work that both encapsulates the insecurity and instability associated with contemporary working arrangements and is broad enough to capture these forms of work across a wide range of economies.…”

Teaching the Adjunct Experience

“…Part I consisted of a four-week introductory phase of readings, lectures, and discussions about globalization, Fordism and neoliberalism, and flexible and contingent work both outside and within higher education. We read a short article titled "What is Neoliberalism" (Thorsen and Amund n.d.) and several articles about the increasing precarity of work (Kalleberg 2008;Ross 2008;Arnold and Bongiovi 2012). In the third week of the course, the class read and discussed (and I lectured on) basic reference works on the changing structure of higher education and the transformation of work therein (Berry 2005, 1-16;Bousquet 2008, 1-51).…”