The Coping Mechanisms of the Precariat, And Their Effects - Introduction

This series of posts on precarity has nearly finished sketching the outlines of the origins and spread of the precariat, as well as the global composition and local expressions of the precariat.  However, I must admit that one thing these posts have not dealt with in detail is the deliberate, willful attempt by a malignant privileged group in a society to force members of non-privileged groups into menial or precarious employment.  In other words, we have not dealt with the effects of racism and discrimination on precarity.  

There are a couple of reasons why I haven't dealt with this aspect of precarity in detail in this series of posts.  First, I have to confess that dealing with this subject is a real drag.  Let me just say it plainly.  As a Black American, I find it extremely distasteful to have to consider the revival of garbage that I thought had been over and done with by the time I got out of high school.  I find it incredible that so many white supremacist types would cling to their stupid notions of supremacy for decades, and that this desperate narcissism would find expression in political eruptions such as the candidacy of Sarah Palin in 2008, the candidacy of Donald Trump in 2016 and (Dear God, can it really be?!) in 2024, the continued existence of the media empires of Rupert Murdoch and people like him, and the continued efforts of one "special" group of people to Make Themselves Great by ruining everyone else.  Fortunately, the rest of the world seems to be escaping from the thrall of white American supremacists, and the United States is no longer the frontrunner in global peer-polity competition.

One other thing about dealing with this subject is the effects produced by the knowledge of the ways in which the predations of the privileged hurt the members of marginalized groups.  For the malignant narcissists among the privileged, such information serves as a source of narcissistic supply, because these people can point to the damage they do to others and tell themselves that this proves that they themselves are indeed powerful.  For the members of the marginalized, such information can tend to convince them that they have no agency, no ability to change their situation.  Such a notion is false.  To quote from an earlier post in this series, 

The inescapable reality is that the only thing that will reliably alter our situation is our choice to begin to organize ourselves for collective action.  As Maciej Bartkowski said in his book Recovering Nonviolent History, 

"The guilt of falling into . . . predatory hands . . . [lies] in the oppressed society and, thus, the solution and liberation need to come from that society transformed through its work, education, and civility.  Victims and the seemingly disempowered are thus their own liberators as long as they pursue self-organization, self-attainment, and development of their communities."

Or, to quote from Alex Soojung Kim-Pang,

"Collective action is the most powerful form of self-care."  (Emphasis added.) 

This collective action is wonderful when it succeeds.  It is rather depressing when such action is sabotaged or undermined or co-opted by Uncle Toms and Aunt Tammys, or when an oppressed people refuses to do the hard work of building collective self-reliance. 

Yet self-conscious, centrally planned collective action is not the only kind of collective action that exists.  Consider the "social nonmovements" described by Asef Bayat in his book Life as Politics.  Such "social nonmovements" can be described as

"the collective actions of noncollective actors; they embody shared practices of large numbers of ordinary people whose fragmented but similar activities trigger much social change, even though these practices are rarely guided by an ideology or recognizable leaderships and organizations." - Life as Politics, p. 14.

 In other words, social nonmovements consist of masses of people who don't necessarily deliberately associate with each other, yet who find themselves making similar responses to emergent social pressures and threats.  A social nonmovement is like a naturally formed (not manmade) cosmic laser or maser consisting of atoms or molecules which come together under natural forces to produce coherent light.  In the same way, social nonmovements can have disruptive effects on a social status quo.

In the next few posts in this series, we will begin to explore such a social nonmovement.  The forces which produced this nonmovement are the rise of toxic workplaces throughout the industrialized world, but especially in the United States, Britain and Australia.  The social nonmovement we will study is the Great Resignation, and the responses and life adjustments made by those who quit their jobs during the Great Resignation.  We will also examine the effects of the Great Resignation on established businesses.  (Hint: tolerating or deliberately creating a toxic workplace is an excellent way for a business owner to be forced out of business!)  Thus we are about to embark on the next stage in this series, namely, the coping mechanisms of the precariat.  Stay tuned...