The Examination of Precarity Approaching from the Sociology of the Individual
The Examination of Precarity Approaching from the Sociology of the Individual
In the heart of this article lies the analysis of the ways the special sensibility common to authors of different sociologies of the individual can be used in the study of the precariat, precarisation and the spread of precarity. Th e aim of this article is to encourage dialogue between the two fields of interest: the study of the precariat and the sociology of the individual. The transformation and the rise of the notion of the precariat in the recent years has brought about efforts to decontextualize it, that is, to detach it from the framework of Western European welfare states in order to apply it in a more general sense. This part is followed by the analysis of the concept of the precariat in the light of recent developments in the sociology of the individual. In the third part, based on the empirical research conducted in Chile by Danilo Martucelli, I would like to show how concepts of the sociology of the individual, like “situational insecurity” could be interpreted as a way to further develop the sociology of the precariat.