Working through (mis)recognition: Understanding vulnerability as ambivalence in precarious worker subjectivity

Seminar summary

Most workers around the world are part of the precariat, characterized by nonpermanent, informal, short-term, low-pay, low-skill, and insecure jobs. While there have been many socio-economic critiques of the negative impacts of precarity on workers, the literature has increasingly asked how precarious workers actually live their lives and how their subjectivities are produced on a daily basis. We contribute to this literature by providing a psychosocial account of the ambivalent experiences of precarious workers.

We contend that the interplay of recognition and misrecognition plays a crucial role, as the vulnerable, working subject becomes entangled in a complex web of recognizability. We present insights from 104 in-depth interviews, providing a Lacanian analysis of how precarious workers develop unconscious attachments to neoliberal values that are central to the logic of precarity. Understanding this ambivalence helps us develop a more nuanced view of an ethics of precarious workers’ vulnerability.

How to attend this seminar

This seminar will take place online on Wednesday 15 November 2023 at 12pm.

It is free to attend with no need to register in advance.

Speaker bios

Francisco Valenzuela

Francisco Valenzuela’s research interests revolve around the gendered embodiment of affect, identity, and ideology in processes of organization and governance-making. He is currently studying the ethical subjectivation of actors at neonatal care units in public hospitals, as well as stakeholder embodiments in and around borough-level community security initiatives. Francisco’s work has been published in international journals and he is currently serving as an Associate Editor of Gender, Work & Organization.

Steffen Böhm

Steffen Böhm’s work focuses on political economy and ecology perspectives of contemporary social and ecological crises. This includes psychosocial dimensions of work, organization, and environmental activism. He has published seven books; his latest (together with Annika Skoglund) is entitled Climate Activism (Cambridge). He is editor of the Environment Section of the Journal of Business Ethics and is a member of the editorial collective of the open access publisher Mayfly Books.