mέta Series / Center for Post-Capitalist Culture
1st edition: October 2022

The term precariat is a common point in political analysis today — nevertheless, the book that introduced it had not been translated into our language. First published in 2011, The Precariat is the first account of an emerging class of people facing unprecedented job and overall insecurity, moving in and out of "small," precarious jobs that provide zero stability and minimal meaning in their lives.

Standing warns that the emergence of the precariat generates instability in society. Beyond the doomed life that the current mutation of capitalism reserves for the precariat, the internal divisions within the precariat have led to the targeting of migrants and other vulnerable groups, while many precaritarians are susceptible to the dangers of political extremism.

Standing argues for a new policy that places the fears and expectations of the precariat at the center of a progressive strategy. In a new preface for this updated edition, Guy Standing analyzes the recent political developments of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on the precariat.

After ten years of crisis, two years of pandemic, and the state of emergency warfare that drastically worsen the position of work, The Precariat could not be more timely in today’s Greece.