Adobe Systems
Inequality and labour market
Tomáš Doseděl
dosedel@fss.muni.cz
ESOn4022: Inequality and Society

Adobe Systems
Inequality and labour market
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Basic concepts of the class analysis
̶Social class: a group of people dealing with similar living conditions, acting in a similar way
̶Classic approach: condition = position on the labor market (Marx, Weber)
̶Innovation: not only the economic aspects of life but also education and connections (Bourdieu)
̶Concepts of capital: economic, cultural, social

Adobe Systems
Inequality and labour market
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Basic concepts of the class analysis
EGP scheme:
̶Employers
̶Employees
̶Service contract
̶Labour contract
̶Mixed contract
̶Self-employed

Adobe Systems
Inequality and labour market
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Basic concepts of the class analysis
EGP/ESeC scheme:
̶Employers
̶Employees
̶Service contract
̶Labour contract
̶Mixed contract
̶Self-employed
̶
Deductive approach:
we have information about the structure of the labor market, classes are theoretically constructed,
people are divided into prepared classes.

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Inequality and labour market
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Great British Class Survey
̶Social capital
̶Economic capital
̶Cultural capital
̶7 social classes

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Inequality and labour market
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Great British Class Survey
̶Social capital
̶Economic capital
̶Cultural capital
̶7 social classes
̶
Inductive approach:
we have information about people, we divide them into groups, which are internally homogenous and
externally heterogeneous

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Inequality and labour market
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Great British Class Survey

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Inequality and labour market
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Guy Standing: The Precariat
̶Precarious work is characterised by the insecurities:
̶employer (agency work, Bogus self-employment)
̶duration of the contract (temporality, occasionality)
̶health and social security (health insurance, vacation, pension)
̶representation (unions, law…)
̶
̶Citizens × Denizens

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Inequality and labour market
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Guy Standing: The Precariat
̶Precarious work is characterised by the insecurities:
̶employer (agency work, Bogus self-employment)
̶duration of the contract (temporality, occasionality)
̶health and social security (health insurance, vacation, pension)
̶representation (unions, law…)
̶
̶Citizens × Denizens
̶
̶Class scheme
̶Elite
̶Salariat
̶Proficians
̶Proletariat
̶Precariat
̶

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Inequality and labour market
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On the way to flexible jobs…
̶Since 1970s
̶Set of economic and social crisis
̶The second crisis of modernity (Wagner)
̶Dismantling of large organizations and…
̶… demand for flexibilisation of both suppliers and workforce

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Inequality and labour market
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On the way to flexible jobs…
̶Different concepts:
̶flexible
̶atypical
̶non-standard
̶flexploitating
̶precarious
̶
̶In the EU (ILO):
̶20 % employees work part-time
̶11 % employees have fixed-term contract
̶2.4 % employees have contract shorter than 3 month

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Inequality and labour market
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Criticisms of Precariat
̶FTPC (as an ideal) was rather exceptional in the history of humankind
̶the life experience of the precariat members is not different from that of the working-class
members
̶precariat, is a standard work experience of employees in the Global South

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Inequality and labour market
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Who are the members of Precariat?
̶The differences from the FTPC
̶Part-time, Fixed-term, Agency work, Bogus self-employment
̶CONS: is every part-time necessary precarious?

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Inequality and labour market
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Who are the members of Precariat?
̶The differences from the FTPC
̶Part-time, Fixed-term, Agency work, Bogus self-employment
̶CONS: is every part-time necessary precarious?
̶Social characteristics of employment
̶Health insurance, vacation, collective negotiation, unionization
̶CONS: no such information in usual surveys

Adobe Systems
Inequality and labour market
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Who are the members of Precariat?
̶The differences from the FTPC
̶Part-time, Fixed-term, Agency work, Bogus self-employment
̶CONS: is every part-time necessary precarious?
̶Social characteristics of employment
̶Health insurance, vacation, collective negotiation, unionization
̶CONS: no such information in usual surveys
̶Self-evaluation of the employees
̶Do you feel any form of insecurity connected with your employment?
̶CONS: coping mechanism

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Inequality and labour market
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Who are the members of Precariat?
̶The differences from the FTPC
̶Part-time, Fixed-term, Agency work, Bogus self-employment
̶Social characteristics of employment
̶Health insurance, vacation, collective negotiation, unionization
̶Self-evaluation of the employees
̶Do you feel any form of insecurities connected with your employment?
Russia (Shkaratan and Gasiukova 2015): 27 % • UK (Savage et al 2013): 15 % (Great British Class
Survey) • Czechia (Prokop et al 2019): 18 % • Spain (De La Poza 2020): 39 %

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Inequality and labour market
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TEDx: Guy Standing
https://youtu.be/nnYhZCUYOxs

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Inequality and labour market
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Precarious questions
̶(Operationalization of the Precariat)
̶
̶Is the work insecurity experience the same for all kinds of employees?
̶Does it form the same value change and agency?