Without a Safety Net:Precarization Among Young Danish Employees

In: Nielsen , M L , Gørlich , A , Grytnes , R & Dyreborg , J 2017 , ' Without a Safety Net : Precarization Among Young Danish Employees ' , Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies , vol. 7 , no. 3 , pp. 3-22 . https://doi.org/10.18291/njwls.v7i3.97094

Abstract

'Precarisation' is one of the concepts that has become important in efforts to explain how neo-liberal politics and changed economic conditions produce new forms of marginalisation and increased insecurity. The aim of this article is to examine how subjectivity is produced among young Danish employees through socio-materiel processes of precarisation at workplaces and employment projects. Drawing on ethnographic observations and qualitative interviews with 35 young employees and young people 'Neither in Education, Employment or Training' (NEET), the three case examples show how processes of precarisation, rooted in global economic and political conditions, can be understood as situated contextual practices. It is demonstrated how being positioned as an easily replaceable source of labor is shaping young people's processes of subjectification. ; 'Precarisation' is one of the concepts that has become important in efforts to explain how neoliberal politics and changed economic conditions produce new forms of marginalization and increased insecurity. The aim of this article is to examine how subjectivity is produced among young Danish employees through socio-material processes of precarization at workplaces and employment projects. Drawing on ethnographic observations and qualitative interviews with 35 young employees and young people 'Neither in Education, Employment or Training' (NEET), the three case examples show how processes of precarization, rooted in global economic and political conditions, can be understood as situated contextual practices. It is demonstrated how being positioned as an easily replaceable source of labor is shaping young people's processes of subjectification.1