The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class SPECIAL COVID-19 EDITION

It has created a societal dependency on economic growth, when society, humanity and the environment need a reduced dependency on it.

There were links between the anger, anxiety, alienation and anomie experienced by the precariat and the justified protests against the class-based racism led by Black Lives Matter and against ecological decay led by Extinction Rebellion.

The precariat has few if any non-wage benefits, such as paid holidays, paid medical leave and an employer-based prospective pension.

The precariat is global. Many millions of people are living through unstable, insecure labour (paid) and work (unpaid), lacking occupational identity, losing rights of citizenship, and relying on low and fluctuating money wages.

fewer jobs are like the full-time workplace-based industrial jobs around which social insurance systems were constructed. So it would be arbitrary to link social security to contributions from labour. This points to the need for a basic income system,

a rise in ‘stand-by’ employment, such as on-call or zero-hours contracts, eating up the time and hopes of those left waiting around. 2

This debt-driven lifestyle has created a more fragile economy vulnerable to even a minor economic shock.

The nostalgics are beginning to find an identity and empathy with the progressives.

the global economy has no respect for human physiology.