We Are All Precarious - On the Concept of the ‘Precariat’ and its Misuses

by Richard Seymour

Introduction: Standing for the precariat

In its current formulation, the concept of ‘the precariat’ is unconvincing, impressionistic and certainly tinged with millennial Weltschmerz. The late sociologist Pierre Bourdieu coined the term ‘precariat’ as a descriptive phrase, designating a section of the working class forced into new relations of dominance characterised by insecurity. But it is Guy Standing of Bath University who has done the most to popularise the concept and, at the same time, give it some added theoretical depth. He argues that the ‘precariat’ is a class-in-becoming which, as it is consolidated, will represent a “new dangerous class”, a “monster”: “Action is needed before that monster comes to life.” He warns that if ‘the precariat’ is not understood – or rather, does not understand itself, become a “class-for-itself” in language borrowed from Hegelian Marxism – it is taking us toward a “politics of the inferno”. This inferno would be a reconfigured fascism, with precarious workers playing a role perhaps analogous (not too analogous, Standing insists) to that of the old, much maligned, lumpenproletariat. This “dangerous class” needs a “Voice” to articulate its particular “bundle of insecurities”, lest it be led astray by the far right.

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