State of Insecurity: Government of the Precarious (Futures) (Verso Futures) - Softcover

Isabell Lorey

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1781685967 ISBN 13: 9781781685969

Publisher: Verso Books, 2015

Synopsis

If we do not understand precarization, then we understand neither the politics nor the economy of the present. After years of the welfare state, the rise of technology, combined with neoliberal governmental apparatuses have established a new society of the precarious. In this new way of the world, productivity is not just connected to labor in the traditional sense of work hours, but more totally, to the formation of the self: work becomes performative and affective, and personal identities seep more and more into working ones. This new mode of being has another side, however: it can lead to new forms of self-organisation, resistance, and exodus. In it we see the emergence of a new and disobedient self-government of the precarious.

About this title

Review:

'The important contribution of this thoughtful work is to let us understand finally that precarity is not a passing or episodic condition, but a new form of regulation that distinguishes this historical time.' --Judith Butler, from the foreword

'Lorey impresses with the scope and depth of her engagement with the concept of precariousness and the strength of her argument.' --3:AM Magazine

'Isabell Lorey's State of Insecurity: Government of the Precarious is a welcome short companion to critical debates on precarity, precariousness and precarization. Informed by Foucauldian approaches and theories of post-Fordism... its first immediate value is that of bringing to anglophone audiences a collection of short and incisive texts that offer valuable insights into both critical debates and political practice on precarity, particularly around European networks and platforms.' --Antipode

About the Author:

Isabell Lorey, political scientist, teaches political theory and gender studies at the University of Vienna and at the University of Basel.

About this edition

• Publisher: Verso Books
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1781685967
• ISBN 13: 9781781685969
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 128