Precarity for All

An epidemic of precarity has beset our societies. This is a condition of vulnerability -- disempowerment rooted in social threats to lives, livelihoods and lifeworlds. It is experienced as incapacity to cope due to a discrepancy between responsibilities and power, between our growing obligations and the deficient abilities or resources we have to fulfil them. Precarity has become omnipresent -- it is a transversal social injustice that cuts across differences in social class, education, employment, and income. Ubiquitous precarity is thus the hallmark of the 21st century. It harms people’s material and psychological welfare and hampers society’s capacity to manage adversity and govern itself. Precarity is politically produced and therefore can be undone. Will the precarious multitude find its way out of neoliberalism’s quagmire?

This article is part of the online symposium "Post-Neoliberalism

PATHWAYS FOR TRANSFORMATIVE ECONOMICS AND POLITICS" curated by Albena Azmanova and Pavlina Tcherneva within the Open Society University Network:https://www.postneoliberalism.org/articles/precarity-for-all/