Precariousness

"Contemporary work increasingly presents itself as an immeasurable endeavour. The social and subjective spaces in which it is practiced are no longer easily circumscribed, and the conceptual categories that traditionally described its relationship with value now appear practically unusable. In particular, workers in the ‘creative industries’ are paradigmatic subjects of the ‘work fragmentation’ process of the post-Fordist era. Cutting across divisions between life and work, employment and unemployment, the performing arts are in many ways a laboratory of job flexibility, where innovative contractual arrangements and professional trajectories have been developed.

In this article, we have mapped the multiple forms that work has taken in the last two decades in Italy. The empirical data is derived from a combined method that utilizes both quantitative surveys and in-depth interviews with artists, technicians and organizers working in the fields of theatre, music, dance and video making. A central feature of the new regulative conditions, and therefore the experiences of these professionals, is the new relationship with time and, more specifically, the ‘loss of measurability’ of hired labour. The aim is to provide a multilayered analysis of the interactions between the socio-economic conditions, career pathways and cultural aspects, i.e. the expectations, reputation, self-perception and social recognition of these jobs. Accordingly, these work patterns are studied as self-employment strategies based on the diversification of activities and expertise, and at the same time, attempts to devise new spatial and temporal configurations of labour, epitomized by the hybrid condition of the ‘salaried employer’.

In these cases, precariousness emerges as a generative terrain of ambivalent subjectivities. On the one hand, the workforce is spontaneously mobilized and autonomously organized by the realization of desires, expression and self-fulfilment, beyond mere economic rewards. On the other, the labour itself becomes increasingly intertwined with ones life, as well as becoming immeasurable. Time loses its function as a unit of measure for compensation (i.e. as in work for a flat rate). This situation frequently leads to the spread of labour into other spheres of life and the risk of self-exploitation. To conclude, the new experiences of union organization and social movements, manifesting in the occupations of theatres, are examined as spaces where differing, and even opposing, solidarity and ‘class composition’ practices within the new creative labour(s) are experimented."

Questo studio intende dimostrare che la coercizione rappresenta solo un aspetto dell’intera architettura che sostiene e nutre il sistema europeo della riammissione. Questo sistema si basa anche su funzioni regolatrici e disciplinanti tanto per gli stranieri quanto per i cittadini autoctoni. Infatti, la riammissione non è semplicemente una misura volta ad allontanare stranieri in situazione irregolare con mezzi coercitivi. Se viene vista come mezzo volto ad assicurare il soggiorno temporaneo dei lavoratori stranieri nei mercati di lavoro dei paesi europei di destinazione, la riammissione può anche incidere sui diritti partecipativi di un crescente numero di lavoratori autoctoni, che affrontano condizioni di lavoro ugualmente temporaneo (e precario) in un contesto contraddistinto dalla deregolamentazione e flessibilità occupazionali. Queste implicazioni coinvolgono diversi aspetti cruciali per le democrazie odierne e, per comprenderle, è necessario considerare l’altro volto del sistema della riammissione.

Temporary labour migration to Australia is a fast growing form of migration, which has begun to attract heated debate. This paper uses the lens of a sociology of risk and uncertainty in exploring one dimension often absent from the public discussion: the experiences and perspectives of the temporary migrants themselves. Our study of internationally qualified nurses on 457 temporary visas indicates that temporary migrants experience a high degree of risk and uncertainty, linked in particular with dependence on their employers.  As studies of precarious migrant status suggest, much of this uncertainty is anchored in the legal regulation of their migrant status. We use nurses’ accounts of uncertainty in order to ground an analysis that seeks to explore two additional interrelated dimensions: first, the effects of migrant status on different dimensions of temporary migrants’ lives; and second, the influence of migrants’ biographies and plans and hopes for the future on their perception, affective experience and negotiation of risk and uncertainty.

Se presenta sintéticamente la situación sociolaboral de la Arqueología comercial en la Comunidad de Madrid, haciendo hincapié en sus problemas estructurales. Se plantean unas líneas prioritarias de trabajo hacia las que deberían avanzar los agentes implicados en el sector para superar las graves dificultades que, en particular, atraviesa el colectivo de trabajadores/as

""[ES]: Las “excavaciones de verano” tienen gran importancia en la formación arqueológica. En el estado español, los planes de estudio universitarios están focalizados hacia los aspectos teóricos, minimizando las cuestiones prácticas y metodológicas del trabajo arqueológico de campo. Por ello, sucesivas generaciones de arqueólogos han subsanado estas carencias participando como voluntarios en campañas estivales organizadas por universidades y OPIs. En el presente trabajo, se reflexiona acerca de la influencia que las vivencias obtenidas en estas campañas iniciáticas tienen para los estudiantes universitarios en la reproducción y naturalización de ciertos valores adosados a la idea de ser arqueólogo. Esto podría influir en la timidez de las reivindicaciones sociolaborales de los trabajadores de la Arqueología comercial. No en vano, este sector económico se caracteriza por la desregulación, la precariedad y la alta temporalidad del empleo.

[EN]: “Summer excavations” are a fundamental component of archaeological training. However, Spanish University programmes focus on theoretical aspects of Archaeology and leave practical issues and fieldwork methodologies aside. Thus, several generations of archaeologists have solved these educational shortfalls working as volunteers in University-led excavations during summer. This paper reflects on the influence these experiences have for the undergraduate students in the reproduction and naturalization of certain values which contribute to the overall idea of what being an archaeologist means. This paper argues that this could have a great influence in the little labour and social claims put forward by Commercial Archaeology workers. In fact, this productive sector is characterized by labour market deregulation, precarious work and a high rate of temporal employment.""

Can we exercise freedom like we exercise our bodies? Do protesters have to use their bodies to occupy the public space to make their demands enter the political sphere? Should we speed up reaching radical democracy, and slow down with generalizations? - prof. Judith butler explains howprecarity affects peolpe’s lives, what the meaning of occupy movement is,  and why it „encouraged the public to think systematically about the economic system.” Of course, always remembering that „gender remains surely with us.”

""The discovery of the precarious position of the majority of middle classes (...) And indeed the increasing popularity of the notion of precariat were the consequences of sobering-up, dashing of hopes,” claims prof. Zygmunt Bauman. He explains and describes the process and the road we travelled from an industrial society to the point where we find ourselves now, in the state of “liquid modernity.” This conversation tries to answer the questions whether we have lost the sense of social security and why we have stopped caring about the well-being of the human community. And finally, are we – as a society – really “moving towards the apocalypse?”


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"El estudio de determinados fenómenos sociales actuales, requiere de una visión que trascienda de lo meramente local o próximo, siendo necesaria por tanto la articulación de una paulatina integración de perspectivas de análisis más amplio. Presentamos un proyecto de investigación que parte de esta premisa, que propone en sí mismo la articulación de una red de colaboración científica entre universidades y grupos de investigación capaz de promover una nueva línea de investigación acerca del fenómeno del trabajo precario que afecta a los jóvenes. Se trata de una cuestión con un alto interés para el futuro de nuestra sociedad, ya que combina los tres elementos clave: trabajo, juventud y precariedad.

El proyecto establece concretamente como uno de sus objetivos de carácter específico la creación de un red de investigadores en la Europa Mediterránea (que si bien inicialmente incluiría tan sólo a Italia y España, puede ser extensible con posterioridad al resto de países del entorno) que permita el trabajo colaborativo y sinérgico de todos ellos. El texto de la comunicación centrará su objetivo en presentar los aspectos más destacados del mencionado proyecto y los resultados obtenidos en el mismo.
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""Arts-facilitated Interventions in Precarious Condition: Exploring Possibilities for Change
By: Prof. Katarzyna Kosmala, Dr. M. J. Imas
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The main focus of the roundtable is a critical reflection upon the concepts of space, precarious condition and art-based activities as well as their relationship in seeking a social change and bringing about a socio-economic transformation. We look forward to receiving submissions that address and articulate different discourse of social change and potential of the arts-based intervention in bringing about a change, including cross cultural engagement, community-driven regeneration and participatory art-led community building. We are also interested to explore cultural uses of media and appropriated media discourse as a platform for social change or as a forum for asking questions over established perceptions and assumptions of existence in precarious realms, including examples of urban voids, an inhabited section of a street, temporarily occupied vacant buildings, a slum or favela. We also welcome reflective accounts addressing a question of emancipation discussing the real-life examples of community-led change through artistic engagement and to discuss the real cases with an aim of problematizing intervention.


Keywords: Arts-facilitated Interventions Precarious Condition, Socio-economic Change
Stream: Social, Political and Community Agendas in the Arts
Presentation Type: 45 minute Roundtable in English
Paper: A paper has not yet been submitted.
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