Sociology

Work (physics)

Economic growth

Subsidy

Politics

Labour law

Algorithm

Labour economics

Engineering

Welfare state

Political economy

Political science

Norm (philosophy)

Economics

Precarious work

Unemployment

Computer science

Market economy

State (computer science)

Mechanical engineering

Work Employment and Society

Precarious work is increasingly considered the new ‘norm’ to which employment and social protection systems must adjust. This article explores the contradictions and tensions that arise from different processes of normalisation driven by social policies that simultaneously decommodify and recommodify labour. An expanded framework of decommodification is presented that identifies how the standard employment relationship (SER) may be extended and flexibilised to include those in precarious work, drawing examples from a recent study of precarious work across six European countries. These decommodification processes are found to be both partial and, in some cases, coexisting with activation policies that position precarious work as an alternative to unemployment, thereby recommodifying labour. Despite these challenges and contradictions, the article argues that a new vision of SER reform promises greater inclusion than alternative policy scenarios that give up on the regulation of employers and rely on state subsidies to mitigate against precariousness.

Challenges and Contradictions in the ‘Normalising’ of Precarious Work