European inventory of
societal values of culture

Neilson & Rossiter - Precarity as a political concept, or, Fordism as exception

Neilson, B. i Rossiter, N. (2008) Precarity as a political concept, or, Fordism as exception. Theory, Culture & Society, 25(7-8): 51–72.

In this article, the authors propose to test the hypothesis that the brief emergence of precarity as a platform for political movements in Western Europe had to do with the relative longevity of social state models in the face of neoliberal labour reforms. They claim that precarity appears as an irregular phenomenon only when set against a Fordist or Keynesian norm. To this they add other factors, such as the overproduction of university graduates in Europe and the rise of China and India as economic ‘superpowers’ in which skilled work can be performed at lower cost. But they claim that their central point remains, and that is that, looking at capitalism in a wider historical and geographical scope, precarity appears to be the norm and not Fordist economic organisation. To understand precarity as a political concept, the authors revisit the whole Fordist episode, its modes of labour organisation, welfare support, technological innovation and political contestation. Their insights are helpful in any attempt to reorganise and regulate precarious work conditions in the creative sector.