The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class

The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class is a novel written by Guy Standing that was first published in 2011 by Bloomsbury Academic in London. Guy Standing has written over nine novels regarding topics concerning the labor force and labor market. He has a degree in economics from the University of Sussex, a masters degree in labor economics and industrial relations from the University of Illinois and a doctorate in economics from the University of Cambridge. Therefore, he is highly qualified in areas regarding the economy, labor markets and the labor force and believes socialism can solve many of the problems people face in the job market. This novel is about a new emerging class of people whom Guy Standing describes as the precariat class. The

The Precariat also shows us how the workforce was shaped in the past from a system of social democracy, to how it is shaped presently by a system of neoliberalism. After the downfall of the social democratic model in the 1970’s, a new political stance of liberalism emerged, and it started to shape the precariat class. This new stance set the foundation for globalization which was based on free markets. This new change from a collective system to an individualized system came with many benefits and consequences. It increased competitiveness and undoubtedly provided high economic growth during this period of time to the point where “Various other inequalities grew…. It created a risk society, in which risks, and uncertainty were transferred to citizens. And neoliberalism set out to dismantle all forms of collective body, or all forms of social solidarity” (Standing, 2012). This means that although neoliberalism did provide economic growth it meant that income inequality became a major problem. Due to neo-liberal capitalism, many members of the workforce started to face increasing income insecurity and job security while wealthy elitists got richer and richer. In fact, many rich individuals realized the profits to be made on social infrastructure and it was replaced with the privatization of sectors, like education and healthcare for example. Clearly, this group of people have been affected so much to the point where a new social class called the precariat has emerged and taken shape. The solution posed is the redistribution of income in order to distribute wealth from the rich to poor. However, getting politicians to impose higher taxes on the rich would provide difficulty in my opinion because rich people have more money and that means they have more power and influence in decision