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Employment insecurity and social theory: the power of nightmares

Fevre, Ralph William ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6533-9297 2007. Employment insecurity and social theory: the power of nightmares. Work, Employment and Society 21 (3) , pp. 517-535. 10.1177/0950017007080013

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Abstract

Data from the countries which social theorists had in mind when they elaborated the idea of a new age of employment insecurity do not support their theories. If the age of insecurity is dawning anywhere, it is in Spain, Mexico, Portugal, Turkey, Finland and Poland. It is not plausible that these examples inspired Beck, Giddens and Sennett. The causes of the different trends revealed by international comparison are more likely to be found in complex, multi-factoral explanations than in an age of insecure employment. The theorists became wedded to their diagnosis because of the problems they encountered in doing theory after the demise of Marxism and the post-modern turn made their critiques insecure. Their need for legitimation made their theorizing vulnerable to co-option in dystopian nightmares that served powerful interests.

Item Type: Article
Date Type: Publication
Status: Published
Schools: Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Subjects: H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
Uncontrolled Keywords: contingent work; flexibility; insecurity; non-permanent work; social theory; temporary work
Publisher: Sage
ISSN: 0950-0170
Last Modified: 25 Oct 2022 08:17
URI: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/52148

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