[15585263 - Focaal] Work after precarity.pdf (91.81 kB)
Work after precarity: anthropologies of labor and wageless life [Review] Stephen Campbell (2018) Border capitalism, disrupted: precarity and struggle in a Southeast Asian industrial zone; Penny McCall Howard (2017) Environment, labour and capitalism at sea: “working the ground” in Scotland; Kathleen Millar (2018) Reclaiming the discarded: life and labor on Rio’s garbage dump; Mallika Shakya (2018) Death of an industry: the cultural politics of garment manufacturing during the Maoist Revolution in Nepal
Version 2 2023-06-12, 09:19
Version 1 2023-06-09, 20:15
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-12, 09:19 authored by Rebecca PrenticeRebecca PrenticeOver the past ten years, the study of labor subjectivities, working conditions, and everyday economic life has been framed by the language of ‘precarity.’ Anthropologists of work and labor have found precarity to be a profoundly useful concept to ‘think with,’ even as their engagement with the term rapidly reveals its limitations and biases. Precarity’s analytical utility lies in linking questions of subjectivity and experience with the study of political economy, providing an analysis of labor that is not artificially separated from how life is lived. This essay explains how anthropologists of work have successfully mobilized a concept of precarity to understand forms of wageless life; how environments are made productive; and the relationship between precarity, class, and dispossession. The anthropology of work is a vibrant, expansive field that situates the imperative to earn a living within wider questions of justice and social reproduction that ultimately come down to how people live and distribute resources amongst themselves on our planet.
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Publication status
- Published
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- Published version
Journal
Focaal: Journal of Global and Historical AnthropologyISSN
0920-1297Publisher
Berghahn JournalsExternal DOI
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88Volume
2020Page range
117-124Department affiliated with
- Anthropology Publications
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- No
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- Yes
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2020-01-15First Open Access (FOA) Date
2020-10-13First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2020-01-14Usage metrics
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