Probing Precarious Work: Theory, Research, and Politics

Regional inequality and labour precariousness: An empirical regional analysis for Brazil, Mexico and Equador

“…The latter includes attributes such as indefinite written contract, being a full time employee, covered by social protection schemes, as well as having the possibility of control over work (Rodgers, 1989). Recent work on job precariousness builds on Rodgers work, as it is attested by the comprehensive analyses that can be found in Kalleberg & Vallas (2017) as well as Vosko (2010) and Paugam (2007) among many others who discuss job precariousness from a sociological perspective that includes its social impacts. However, nowhere in the vast literature around precariousness discussed in those references do we find an attempt to examine how precariousness might impact inequality.…”

Precarious work, "harmonizing down" and economic anxiety: Implications for citizenship and society

“…Moreover, the global economy no longer creates sufficient jobs for full employment, and much job growth is now precarious (ILO, 2015). While Morneau suggested the Canadian government needed to somehow deal with the "things underneath" the disappearance of stable work, those "things underneath" reflect profound, long-term labour market shifts scholars agree are unlikely to reverse course (Vosko, 2010;Kalleberg & Vallas, 2018). The powerful levers of these labour market shifts can be understood as the shift toward flexible capital accumulation, supported by globalization and technological change.…”

“…Recent empirical evidence suggests this is the case. Men's tenure and job quality has declined relative to women's, especially that of older white men, the group that was once most protected; in addition, the real wages of men in the U.S. fell or stagnated over three decades since the 1970s, although overall their wages and job quality remain higher than women's (Kalleberg & Vallas, 2018;Kalleberg, 2011). By the 1980s, men's wages in Canada were declining for the first time in seven decades (Vosko, 2000).…”

“…While neoliberalism's roots are American and British, Canada has always been seen as an archetypical Anglo-Saxon liberal welfare state, which resists decommodification and effectively restrains the realm of social rights (Esping-Andersen, 1990). The impact of neoliberalism cannot be overstated, and should be seen not only as an ideology of market freedom, but an economic and policy doctrine that equates market freedom with human freedom and individual choice, opposing all collective arrangements that interfere with markets, including those that benefit or protect workers, and pressures states to weaken or permit the weakening of labour regulation and income supports, thus leaving workers all the more dependent on employers, if not traditional employment (Kalleberg & Vallas, 2018).…”

“…While many worry that the further entrenchment of automation, the deepening of capital and the possible end of work itself will serve to exacerbate precarity, fears which may be linked to the recent return of a universal basic income to public discourse, as well as the emergence of various forms of populism, there has been little rigorous empirical analysis of the political and social consequences if those predictions comes true (Brynjolfsson, McAfee & Spence, 2014). Kalleberg and Vallas (2018) argue that the "democratization of insecurity" can be particularly destabilizing for society, as formerly privileged workers "may feel a sense of relative deprivation which can fuel reactionary and populist movements in various ways" (p. 17). This may seem like common sense but has not been proven.…”