Concept and background
Standing (2011) argued that globalisation and labour flexibility created a growing group without stable jobs, occupational identity, company benefits or social insurance, lacking forms of labour security such as employment, job and income security, and full citizenship. Kalleberg (2009) likewise traced the rise since the 1970s of insecure US jobs that shift risk onto workers. The idea links to dual labour market and dualisation research.
Composition and measurement
Standing divided the precariat into displaced old working-class people, migrants and educated but insecure young people. Savage et al. (2013) found a 'precariat' with little economic, social or cultural capital as the lowest class in Britain's Great British Class Survey. Kalleberg (2018) showed that institutions shape the effects of insecurity across rich democracies, and the spread of platform work has renewed interest.
Critiques and policy debates
Breman (2013) argued the precariat is a fraction of the working class, not a class with shared interests and consciousness. Munck (2013) noted that in the Global South precarity is the norm, not a new condition, and Vosko (2010) highlighted gender and migration differences. Policy debates on new social risks include extending social insurance, basic income and labour rights.
FAQ
- What is the precariat in simple terms?
- A group of workers who never know when work will end, have irregular income and little social protection.
- Is the precariat really a class?
- Standing says it is a new class, but many critics see it as a division within the working class.
Sources reviewed: 2026-10-26
References
- Standing, G. (2011). The precariat: The new dangerous class. Bloomsbury Academic. The book that presented the precariat as a new class.
- Kalleberg, A. L. (2009). Precarious work, insecure workers: Employment relations in transition. American Sociological Review, 74(1), 1–22. Causes and consequences of precarious work in the US.
- Kalleberg, A. L. (2018). Precarious lives: Job insecurity and well-being in rich democracies. Polity Press. Compares job insecurity and well-being across rich democracies.
- Savage, M., Devine, F., Cunningham, N., Taylor, M., Li, Y., Hjellbrekke, J., Le Roux, B., Friedman, S., & Miles, A. (2013). A new model of social class? Findings from the BBC's Great British Class Survey experiment. Sociology, 47(2), 219–250. Identified a precariat as Britain's lowest class.
- Vosko, L. F. (2010). Managing the margins: Gender, citizenship, and the international regulation of precarious employment. Oxford University Press. Precarious employment through gender and citizenship.
- Munck, R. (2013). The precariat: A view from the South. Third World Quarterly, 34(5), 747–762. A Global South critique of the precariat concept.
- Breman, J. (2013). A bogus concept? New Left Review, 84, 130–138. Questions whether the precariat is a class at all.