EE&S Sixth Conference -

Individualism and Inequality

The 6th edition of  Ethics, Economy & Society Conference  will take place next September, 27.

Meet our guest speaker, Prof. Ralph Fevre

Read an excerpt from his latest book: Individualism and Inequality, The Future of Work and Politics

‘Precarity’ and individualism

The dominant interpretation of the increased uncertainty associated with cognitive individualism is that it reduces job security. This thesis gathered support from the inception of the neoliberal settlement in the mid-1970s. The general claim that we were entering an age of insecurity featured in many of the works of the most popular social theorists of subsequent decades and the thesis took hold in Europe, and particularly France, before spreading to other countries (Fevre 2007). The strap-line for the insecurity thesis was that nobody could, any longer, expect a job for life (e.g. Handy 1990, Drucker 1995). It implied intervention from the state or a trade union was necessary to underwrite job security and, since, such intervention was anathema to neoliberalism, employees at all levels were forced to rely on their own devices to fashion careers for themselves (Handy 1994). In practice this meant most must stitch together a succession of non-standard jobs in place of a proper career. 

This form of insecurity should not be confused with other long-lived ideas about the threat of automation to jobs, or periodic concerns about job losses caused by the business cycle, since it was distinguished by the idea that insecurity was a feature of jobs rather than job losses. In some of the early portraits of the age of insecurity attention was given to those who would thrive in the new age. They included the sports stars (and sometimes their managers) who would accumulate fortunes for themselves and their agents by moving from club to club. Other examples were the globe-trotting CEOs who profited from golden-hellos and golden-parachutes every time they changed job. There were others – independent content-providers for broadcasters, freelance professionals of all types – who might be similarly blessed but these fortunate children of the age of insecurity disappeared in later accounts, for example Guy Standing’s late classic of the genre. 

Standing (2011) defined seven forms of labour security which were being dismantled: they ranged from health and safety regulations, protection against dismissal and representation, through training and barriers to skill dilution, to stable income and adequate opportunities. People who lacked these forms of security were being pushed down into a ‘precariat’ below the working class whose members were forced to survive on wages when other groups had further, and more reliable, sources of income. This process stretched income inequalities at the bottom of the distribution but insecure workers were so desperate for the work that provided their only source of income that they were prepared to accept low pay and even no pay (in the case of internships which might lead to a job) and their desperation further exacerbated inequalities.

 Those who were losing the seven forms of labour security were more likely to be in temporary or part-time work but also working for agencies and sub-contractors, as interns and even in dead-end situations like call-centre work which others might consider standard jobs. Call-centre workers fitted Standing’s version of the thesis, unlike those who belonged in the traditional working-class, because they stood naked before the market without an employer promising a career, or at least a job for life, and without trade union protection. While young workers, along with women and migrants, were said to be prominent in the ‘precariat’, Standing suspected that, around the world, more and more workers of all types would be pushed into the same position. 

(Fevre, R. (2016) Individualism and Inequality The Future of Work and Politics. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 234-235)