Work

Working through (mis)recognition: Understanding vulnerability as ambivalence in precarious worker subjectivity

Year: 2023

Type: article

Abstract: Most workers around the world are part of the precariat, characterized by non-permanent, informal, short-term, low-pay, low-skill, and insecure jobs. While there have been many socio-economic critiques of the negative impacts of precarity on workers, the literature has increasingly asked how precarious workers actually live their lives and how their subjectivities are produced on a daily basis. We contribute to this literature by providing a psychosocial account of the ambivalent experiences of precarious workers. We contend that the interplay of recognition and misrecognition plays a crucial role, as the vulnerable, working subject becomes entangled in a complex web of recognizability. We present insights from 104 in-depth interviews, providing a Lacanian analysis of how precarious workers develop unconscious attachments to neoliberal values that are central to the logic of precarity. Understanding this ambivalence helps us develop a more nuanced view of an ethics of precarious workers’ vulnerability.

Source: Human Relations

DOI: 10.1177/00187267231186261

Authors: Francisco Valenzuela, Constantine Manolchev, Steffen Böhm, Celal Cahit Agar

Institutions: University of Chile, University of Exeter, University of St Andrews

Language: English

Topic: Employment, Labor, and Gender Studies

Subfield: Safety Research

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Reduced inequalities, Decent work and economic growth

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,500