Emerging classes

The Corrosion of Character: The Personal Consequences of Work in the New Capitalism (Chapter 1, 2) by Richard Sennet

The relation between work, time and the more personal aspect of life is a focal point in Sennet’s book. The state of today’s economy, described as “flexible capitalism”, has forced a constant rotation of jobs, cities, and friends which can be stimulating but can also contribute to an unstructured and meaningless life. The author addresses these problems by analyzing his encounter with Rico, a successful man suffering from the uncertainty of life and the lack of longstanding values in society.

emerging classes
economy

Fake It Till You Make it – Genesis of the Entrepreneurial Precariat by Silvio Lorusso

Silvio Lorusso narrates the perception of precariousness in relation to entrepreneurship through the different thoughts of writers, philosophers or social movements. “Fake it till you make it” is an expression that represents the existential crisis of the entreprecariat. Nobody assumes that is precariat because this could contradict the entrepreneur spirit. Even so in many countries movements have appeared claiming precarious situations such as San Precario, result of thirty years of policies in favour of companies and against workers.

emerging classes
labour
entrepreneurship

Subjectivity in the "Gig Economy": From the entreprecariat to base union militancy by Jamie Woodcock

This article addresses the issue of the rise of the “gig-economy“ where temporary positions are endorsed instead of long-term work contracted jobs and also the relationship between this phenomenon and the digital mediated entrepreneurialism. It establishes the relationships among the development of the “gig-economy“, the digital context that this one lies in and the effect that both have on the rise of the Entreprecariat. Self-employed/independent workers are attracted for a job where they find a precarious sense of flexibility and are stuck to a platform that is in need of real demands made online. The deprivation of rights imposed to self-employed riders was used as a tool in the food-delivery sector. Workers that found themselves in this contractless situation claimed their right to organize strikes without the need to follow trade union rules.

emerging classes
politics
economy