We Are All Precarious - On the Concept of the ‘Precariat’ and its Misuses Introduction: Standing for the precariat In its current formulation, the concept of ‘the precariat’ is unconvincing, impressionistic and certainly tinged with millennial Weltschmerz. It is Guy Standing of Bath University who has done the most to popularise the concept and, at the same time, give it some added theoretical depth. He argues that the ‘precariat’ is a class-in-becoming which, as it is consolidated, will represent a “new dangerous class”, a “monster”: “Action is needed before that monster comes to life.” Rhetorical extravagances to one side, this indicates that what is at stake in the concept of the ‘precariat’ is strategic. Much therefore rests on how theoretically and empirically robust this concept is. In this article, I will argue that it is mistaken to treat the precariat as a class. Something old “Dock labouring is at all times a precarious and uncertain mode of living”, a dock worker recounted in 1882. Something new A breviary on social classes
Z Communications INFORMATION CLEARING HOUSE. NEWS, COMMENTARY & INSIGHT The Class War in Europe Steve McGiffen has had a long involvement with left politics in Europe. He is a former official of the United European Left Group in the European Parliament and has been associated in various capacities with the Socialist Party of the Netherlands since 1999. He is also the editor Spectrezine. He spoke to Ed Lewis about the class politics driving both the euro and the ever-deepening austerity in Europe, Neo-Nazism in Greece, and how to frame a left response to the EU. What do you think is most salient about the ongoing turmoil in Europe that has been passed over or distorted in mainstream discussion? It’s hard to isolate specific points from what is in fact nothing more than a collection of lies, distortions and misunderstandings. Firstly, as Mark Weisbrot of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC, has pointed out, this isn’t a crisis of debt at all, it’s a crisis of policy failure. Look at Greece. Two final points. So there are two ways of answering this question.
Social Criticism Review - Selected readings Special sections War on terrorism | The threat of mass destruction and the continuing arms race Progress and its critics Science in a free society: open up to criticism Rationalization: our guiding principle has gone astray "Modernity is the 'disenchantment of the world' through the powerful agencies of science and capitalism." Addicted to technology More things do not make people happier Technology and its social side-effects Can we - should we - compensate our loss of community with virtual community? "Progress celebrates victories over nature. John Zerzan, Editor - Against Civilization: Readings and Reflections Debt boomerang of the Third World: deforestation, drugs, aids, refugees, and global conflict Crisis of capitalism: the counterproductive end of economic growth"Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell." - Edward Abbey Crisis of capitalism: corporations rule the world Sustainable development Environmental destruction is an act of unparalleled criminality
Sport - Sport Upcoming Fixtures Wed 25 Nov 2015 - Champions League Malmö FF v Paris St G 19:45 Man Utd v PSV Eindhoven 19:45 Shakt Donsk v Real Madrid 19:45 CSKA v VfL Wolfsburg 17:00 FC Astana v Benfica 15:00 Atl Madrid v Galatasaray 19:45 B M'gladbach v Sevilla 19:45 Juventus v Man City 19:45 Upcoming Fixtures Tue 8 Dec 2015 - Champions League Paris St G v Shakt Donsk 19:45 Real Madrid v Malmö FF 19:45 PSV Eindhoven v CSKA 19:45 VfL Wolfsburg v Man Utd 19:45 More fixtures n+1 Institute for Local Self-Reliance American Independent (tai_news)