A Precariat Charter: From Denizens to Citizens

This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. Guy Standing's immensely influential 2011 book introduced the Precariat as an emerging mass class, characterized by inequality and insecurity. Standing outlined the increasingly global nature of the Precariat as a social phenomenon, especially in the light of the social unrest characterized by the Occupy movements. He outlined the political risks they might pose, and at what might be done to diminish inequality and allow such workers to find a more stable labour identity. His concept and his conclusions have been widely taken up by thinkers from Noam Chomsky to Zygmunt Bauman, by political activists and by policy-makers. This new book takes the debate a stage further, looking in more detail at the kind of progressive politics that might form the vision of a Good Society in which such inequality, and the instability it produces, is reduced. A Precariat Charter discusses how rights - political, civil, social and economic - have been denied to the Precariat, and argues for the importance of redefining our social contract around notions of associational freedom, agency and the commons.

Table of Contents:
Introduction 1. The Precariat 2. How Rights are Denied – Political, Civil and Cultural 3. How Rights are Denied – Economic and Social 4. Occupational Insecurity 5. A Charter for Liberty 6. A Charter for Fraternity 7. A Charter for Equality 8. The Ecological Imperative

About the Author :
Guy Standing is Professor of Development Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, UK, and co-president of the Basic Income Earth Network. His books include The Precariat (2011) and Work after Globalization (2009).

Review :
A Precariat Charter is that rare thing: a text from the left that does not yearn for a lost past, but energetically embraces the future. It offers progressive politics a revived purpose: not a surrender to economic practices as if they were forces of nature, but the pursuit of a common security that would enhance our humanity – because, as he puts it, "knowing that your fellow citizen has the same rights as you do humanises us all". Standing follows his influential analysis of the precariat as the ‘new dangerous class’ with a comprehensive list of demands and suggestions for how this class can ‘abolish itself’ through a struggle for rights, eroded by neo-liberal austerity that has caused widespread existential insecurity. Standing’s insightful and encouraging book will be welcomed not only by members of the precariat but equally by non-precarians on the left seeking inspiration for a new progressive programme. In his call for 'social empathy' in politics, Standing offers an important corrective to decades of neoliberalism, while his demand for rethinking of the nature of work rightly seeks to undo centuries of damaging thought on the issue. The Charter offers a series of positive steps towards reshaping society to provide a better life for the vulnerable majority in our societies. This is an impressive book ... [in which] Standing puts forth some thought-provoking and compelling ideas ... The proposals are written in a simple and accessible way, and they make for a powerful, if sobering read ... With a long history working on and researching these issues and with much direct experience out ‘in the field’, there can be few people better qualified to speak to these important issues [than Standing]. This is without doubt one of the most important and powerful books I have read in a long time. Building on his influential thesis about the precariat Professor Standing provides not only a graphic account of the increasing insecurity and poverty facing many people in the contemporary age, but he also points to clear and workable solutions to many entrenched problems. The book brings into sharp relief the declining fortunes of the ordinary citizen and the role of governments in defining ever harsher life and working conditions for many. Whilst there is much in the book which is depressing this is ultimately an inspiring work which is full of promise. I have little doubt that it will become a classic of the future but its real potential lies in its clear and convincing mandate for political change. Quite simply, a tour de force. Building on the success of his much-discussed The Precariat, Guy Standing has now elaborated a brave and imaginative program that could bring protection to the denizens of the world and save us all from the destructiveness of neoliberal capitalism. A terrifying catalogue of destitution and dispossession. No one interested in the fate of labor in the 21st century can ignore Guy Standing's The Precariat, which transformed both scholarly and political debates about the future of work in capitalist societies. A Precariat Charter is equally indispensable, not only updating and elaboration the earlier book's theoretical framework but also offering a detailed political program to attack the extreme inequalities and insecurities that neoliberal globalization has unleashed. For Standing, the precariat is not merely a victim but also a dynamic agent of social change. Building on the groundwork laid by Occupy Wall Street and similar movements around the world, this Charter is a gift to all who aspire to forge a new society in which human work has meaning and workers' rights are fully respected. A Precariat Charter’s core purpose is to outline principles that will help us become an ethically transformed society – through steps that are broadly encompassing, inspiring and easy to imagine. The charter itself is a positive and hopeful document because it charts a way forwards. Now all we need to do is to make it happen.