Off it went – the script, as “final draft” – had been sent to Springer who agreed already to publish the work as part of the S.U.P.I.series – SUPI being the network researching issues of social uncertainty, precarity and Inequality.
The following presents the outline of the book. Below then part of the first contribitution as kind of teaser, followed at the end by the list of contributors.
Vyacheslav Bobkov/Peter Herrmann (Eds.)
Digitisation and Precarisation – Redefining Work and Redefining Society
Acknowledgements5
Peter Herrmann/Vyacheslav Bobkov 6
Foreword: Digitisation and Precarisation – Redefining Work and Redefining Society 6
Abstract 6
General Remarks 6
Searching for a Framework 9
Bibliography 33
Peter Herrmann 38
Economy of Difference and Social Differentiation 38
Precarity – searching for a new interpretative paradigm 38
Introduction 38
Varieties of Capitalism or Variety Within the One Capitalism? 42
Capitalism in One Country? 46
Societal Development – Between Inclusion and Exclusion 51
Dis-Embeddedness – Searching the Reference 53
Evaluating Costs 59
Empirical Dimensions 63
References 65
Vyacheslav Bobkov 73
Society under Threat of Precarity of Employment 73
Theory and Methodology 73
Outline of ontological characteristics of societies with unstable (Precarious) employment 79
About the axiological characteristics of social structures of precarious employment 85
Social housing standards: minimum, medium and high housing standards. 89
Conclusion 93
References 95
Nataliya Loktyukhina 98
Precarious Employment: Definition of the Concept Given by Russian Researchers98
The Relevance of the Research 98
Variations in Defining the Concept of “Precarious Employment” 99
Russian Experts’ Appreciation of PE Definitions. 101
Compulsory character of relations in flexible (non-standard) employment as a criterion of precarity 103
Types of Employment with High Precarity Potential 105
Features of Precarity Recognized and Unrecognized by the Employee. 109
Complex of Probabilistic Criteria of Precarity. 110
Conclusion. 113
References. 114
I.V. Novikova 117
Digitalization: a New Form of Precarity or New Opportunities? 117
- Digitizing of Jobs 117
- Elimination of Territorial Boundaries of Jobs’ dislocation 120
III. Generation Z Enters the Labour Market 122
- Development of Specialisation, Multitasking and Vertical Disintegration of Production. 124
- Differentiation of Income 125
- Non-conventional Workplaces 126
VII. Online-platforms127
Conclusions: Factors of Digitalization, Facilitating and Restraining Precarity of Employment 129
References 130
Olesya Veredyuk 136
Labour market performance and digitisation of work: brief overview 136
Abstract 136
Introductory Overview 136
Precarious employment: quantitative and qualitative measurements 138
Precarisation aspects of digitisation 141
Institutional nature of employment precarity 142
Conclusion 144
Reference144
Veronica Sheen 146
Australia’s precarious workforce and the role of digitalisation 146
Introduction 146
Overview of Australian employment 147
Integration into employment 150
Fragmentation of employment 153
21stcentury hyper-flexibility and job insecurity 154
Precarious employment and social control 155
Conclusion 156
References 159
Nicole Horáková 163
The Czech Republic – a Case Study 163
Introduction 163
Economic Development and Labour Market: From Basement-Dweller to Top Performer? 165
Development of Employment and Unemployment in the Czech Republic 165
Changing Working Contracts? 166
Rising Debts of Czech Households 168
Challenges Presented for the Czech Republic by Industry 4.0 and Digitization 168
Challenges for the Industry 170
How Digitalized is the Czech Population? 172
Industry 4.0 and Digitization: New Forms of Employment on the Czech Labour Market? 173
Education as a key activity175
Conclusion: Is the Czech Society Prepared?176
Bibliography 177
Judit Csoba 181
„Predictable uncertainty” – Social Land Programme in Hungary 181
Abstract 181
Introduction 181
The Social Land Program between 1993 and 2004 182
“Village enterprise” – The new character of the Social Land Program: cooperatives instead of households 186
Social Land Program without land 188
Main dilemmas of the Social Land Programme 191
Summary 193
Bibliography 195
Mehmet Okyayuz 199
Affirmative and Alternative Discourses and Practices of Knowledge Production and Distribution in Turkey199
- The Metapolitics of Digitization: The Political-Ideological Discourse of Producing and Distributing Knowledge200
- Digitization as an Affirmative Practice in the Global System208
Ray Griffin/Tom Boland/Aisling Tuite / Aoife Hennessy 218
Electric dreams of welfare in the 4thindustrial revolution: An actor-network investigation and genealogy of an Algorithm.218
Abstract 218
Introduction: The Algorithm of life in the 4thIndustrial revolution 220
Socio-Technical Control of Welfare 222
Digital dole – PEX 224
PEX and the Irish Welfare System 227
The implications of the use of an algorithm in context 231
The social life of the PEX algorithm 232
Technotopia, Theology and Redemption 235
Enter faith, then God237
In sum 239
Bibliography 241
Vadim Kvachev 247
Bringing Precarity to the Political Agenda 247
Contributors 260
Acknowledgements
The editors want to thank all contributors for the work and the patience which allowed taking the time for the work on the book. We also are grateful for the editors of the series, namely David Kregel, Rolf Hepp and Robert Riesinger – equally patient and supportive. Not least special thanks go to Veronica Sheen who helped with some language editing.
The work on the individual contributions benefited from different sources which are – where applicable – mentioned by the authors.
Peter Herrmann wants to extend his expression of gratitude to the Max-Planck- Institute for Social Law and Social Policy, Munich and the Faculty of Economics and Sociology, University of Łódź – without their generous support the editorial work would not have been possible.
(just some teaser .. – though many contributions are highly empirical …)
Peter Herrmann/Vyacheslav Bobkov
Foreword: Digitisation and Precarisation – Redefining Work and Redefining Society
Abstract
Currently it is fashionable to talk about digitisation, robotisation, industry 4.0, but also about the gig economy, the Millenials, precarisation and the like. However, too often the relevant issues are taken in isolation, very much caught in traditional terms. The present collection aims on providing some thoughts that allow going further, on the one hand by qualifying some of the aspects, and on the other hand by taking a view that approaches the topic from distinct perspectives in order to arrive at an assessment of emerging societal changes.
General Remarks
The present collection is an attempt to define the field of precarity more systematically than it is usually undertaken. Doing so, there had been at least theoretically different options. The two most obvious approaches are the following: leaving it to the contributors to find their own definition and applying it to national frameworks, later gathering the different approaches in an attempt to find a minimum common denominator. The other, not fundamentally different, endeavour would be to start from a “standard definition”, e.g. one used by major statistical proponents as EUROSTAT, the ILO or OECD, asking the contributors to evaluate and assess the situation in specific fields and countries, then leaving it to the editors again to come up with a minimum common denominator. The problem in both of the cases is that the object of investigation is both, complex and multifaceted as well as relational. Another, pragmatic, challenge is in both cases the need to gather a research team that is able to work along such a given line, in turn committing themselves to such task, which simply requires available resources that allow retreating from other ongoing work.
In any case, in particular the relational character of the subject issue advises to avoid from the outset an approach that requires a firm foundation which is then used to assess the problem by scaling, i.e. suggesting different degrees to which we may speak of precarity. Such approach would suggest at least the following
- a once and forever given normality, thus neglecting the fact that full and permanent employment – usually counterposed to precarity – is a socio-economic construct that is hugely presupposition-rich. In actual fact it can be said that it is based on a systematic reversal of reality – as concluded in the contribution by Herrmann the means of (re-)production – and with this employment as specific form of work – are fictitious part of human existence, not more and not anything else than means to maintain physical existence. In other words, what is supposedly normal appears now as socio-historical exception
- furthermore, it is easily overlooked that such “supposed norm” usually depends on derivations: the two most obvious instances are (i) the need for non- or not completely commodified spheres that secure employment as dominant (e.g. housework, social benefits in cases of unemployment, sickness …) and (ii) the local and regional segregation and “division of work” that secures the execution of societally necessary tasks despite extremely dispersed conditions of profitability (e.g. the rural-urban-divide)
- relevant is also that we are witnessing the multifaceted character by way such normality being itself in some way a patchwork: if we take as more or less arbitrary example, permanent 40 years full-time (forty-hours/week) employment as norm, it will most likely take for every individual a different shape: times of education may under certain conditions be acknowledged as acceptable derivations; DIY or temporary private saving from some kind of “windfall income” may work out as individual solution as some form of “unviable saving” (e.g. substandard accommodation …) may offer temporary substitution for failing to reach the norm
- moreover – without claiming that this is an exhaustive compilation – in particular socio-economic changes that are part of socio-technical and socio-spatial shifts may well change the overall setting of soci(et)al embedding, disembedding and communication – bonds and margins, solidarities and hostilities are redefined, opening new forms of material support but also new mechanisms of exclusion.
One of the core problems is that there is no – even roughly defined – clear line allowing a demarcation between different facets – insecurity of employment, but only if it is lasting, and only if it is connected with serious material cutbacks, and/or only if it seriously influences social embeddedness and causes psychological distress? Another approach could look for more societal dimensions, asking if we should speak of precarity only if “classical patterns of unemployment” do not apply, as we see it today, where some definitions refer simply to insecure employment moving into the centre of society – a title like InfoproletárIos. Degradação real do trabalho virtual, speaking of degradation in connection with virtual work (Antunes/Braga, 2009) is surely telling as it implies a downward-turn from a given status. On the other hand we witness empirically different patterns: the down-grading of existing jobs, the emergence of new jobs that are from the outset defined by precarious conditions, and a variety of “entries” into a segment which Ricardo Antunes classifies in a broader sense, starting by looking at the character of work; for him “(t)he future of work for the world’s laboring masses appears to be one of flexible employment, with no pre-established working days, no clearly defined working spaces, no fixed wages, no pre-determined activities, no rights, and no protection or representation by trade unions. The system of “goals” itself is flexible: tomorrow’s goals are always changing, and must always be superior to those of the previous day.” (Antunes, 2018). Different approaches can be taken and looking at the literature shows that the most common reference is that we are dealing with some kind of “patchwork”. Different criteria, different combinations, usually centring on employment patterns, reaching from there out to all spheres of life.
In concrete terms this means that this volumes compiles contributions that aim on making a distinct input to the debate by looking at different aspects instead of presenting a strictly comparative perspective. The contributors followed some generally accepted “fundamentals”, highlighting in an interpretative way their meaning regarding the chosen functions and dysfunctions of socio-economic integration. In addition, and this is actually part of the comparative perspective, it is also about the interpretation in the specific national perspectives.
…..
Contributors
Bobkov, YyacheslavDoctor of Economics, Professor, Head of the Laboratory of Problems of Life Quality and Living Standards of the Institute of Socio – Economic Problems of Population of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
Boland, Tomis a lecturer in sociology in the school of humanities and co-founder of WUERC (Waterford Unemployment Experiences Research Collaborative)
Csoba, JuditProf. Dr. habil. Department of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Debrecen. Research focus: Sociology of Work, Social Policy, Employment Policy, Social Economy
Griffin, Raylecturer in strategy in the school of business, he is co-PI of the PEX project and co-founder of WUERC (Waterford Unemployment Experiences Research Collaborative)
Hennessy, Aoifelecturer in mathematics in the school of science and computing and is co-PI of the PEX Project.
Herrmann, Petersocial philosopher, having worked globally in research and teaching positions in particular on social policy and economics.
Horáková, NicoleDepartment of Sociology, Faculty of Arts, University of Ostrava
Kvachev, Vadim PhD in Sociology, Assistant Professor, Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, Moscow
Loktyukhina, NataliaDoctor of Economics, Professor, Academy of Labour and Social Relations
Novikova, IrinaPh.D. in Economics, Associate Professor, the Laboratory of Problems of Living Standards and Quality of Life of the Institute of Socio-Economic Problems of Population; Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow
Mehmet OkyayuzDepartment of Political Science and Public Administration at Middle East Technical University in Ankara/Turkey. Some of his areas of research and education are labor migration along with Political Theory/Thought, Social Policy and Ideology Research
Sheen, VeronicaAustralian social researcher, specializing in the growth and effects of precarious employment which was the subject of her doctoral research at Monash University. She is a widely published commentator on the future of work
Tuite, Aislingis a post-doctoral researcher on the PEX Project
Veredyuk, OlesjaPhD, Associate Professor, Saint Petersburg University, Russia
COMMEDIA DELLA VITA OR PÁNTA RÊI'S FIRM GROUND 