The myth of the reflexive worker: class and work histories in neo-liberal times

Abstract

Several influential social theorists contend that the increased insecurity injected into the labour market by neo-liberal economic policies, coupled with a discourse of flexibility concretised in lifelong learning initiatives, have contributed to the withering of class in contemporary society. Careers and job shifts now follow a ‘de-standardised’ pattern, they argue, in which people incessantly switch between divergent occupations, education, training and benefits, all propelled by a socially-induced reflexivity that knows no class bounds. Empirical assessments of this bold assertion have, so far, been far from supportive but, being chiefly quantitative in orientation, leave many important questions unanswered. This paper, starting out from a theory of class indebted to the late Pierre Bourdieu, draws on a qualitative research project examining the life histories of 55 individuals to fill in the gaps and demonstrate how work trajectories, despite changes that have taken place, are still driven along class tracks by class motors.

Poachers and gamekeepers: processes of class-based organisational closure and usurpation in Sri Lanka’s emerging private sector

“…The selected organisations were similar to each other in terms of the way they positioned themselves to prospective employees and the general public (as modern western-influenced organisations) and the 'elite forms' of cultural, social and symbolic capital they demanded from their recruits. In this paper, we follow Bourdieu (1986;1990) and define class in terms of economic, cultural, social and symbolic capital (see Atkinson, 2010). Capitals are resources valuable within the field in which individuals are situated.…”

“…Finally symbolic capital refers to one or more of these basic forms of capital which are socially recognised as legitimate. For each stock of capital there corresponds a set of movements around the social space that a person perceives as probable (Atkinson, 2010). Our intention is not to classify respondents into particular social classes based on the capitals they possess, but rather to draw on Bourdieu's ideas of capital to highlight 'classed' nature of prevailing recruitment criteria which had the effect of excluding people who were perceived to not possess desired forms of capital.…”

Precarious work, entrepreneurial mindset and sense of place: female strategies in insecure labour markets

“…For example, there is pervasive use of the term 'lifelong learning,' which refers to a self-reflexive and proactive attitude that should empower a person in the neoliberal labour market (but there is little discussion of how this is actually not equally accessible or beneficial to everybody, see Atkinson 2010). The demands are not necessarily put forth directly; instead people internalise control, responsibility and internal entrepreneurship without their autonomy being formally interfered with (Miller and Rose 2008).…”

“…Both the lowest end of the service economy (where people carry out routine tasks) and the highest end (which includes the creative classes of the knowledge-intensive economy) may meet with the radical uncertainty about the future, transience of employment contracts and uncertainty regarding social security benefits. Because of their different background capitals, they are differently equipped to treat their changed trajectories (Atkinson 2010), but the system of capitalist exploitation touches them all. Nevertheless, precariousness is especially a threat on the lower levels of the labour division hierarchy, where flexibility of working life means discontinuous incomes and poverty (Peltokoski 2012, 98).…”

Neoliberalism and the Unfolding Patterns of Young People’s Political Engagement and Political Participation in Contemporary Britain

“…This article will give particular focus to young people and how they are acutely subject to neoliberalism's effects. Young people are not the only social group to feel the pernicious influence of neoliberalism; people's class [24], gender [25] and ethnicity [26] are also characteristics over which neoliberalism exerts a stratifying effect. Moreover, the influence of neoliberalism on political behaviour is felt across all age cohorts [12,17].…”