science

Precariat

Precariat is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Precariat rather than just read about it. In short: In sociology and economics, the precariat () is a social class formed by people suffering from precarity, which means existing without predictability or security, thereby affecting material or psychological well-being. The term is a portmanteau of precarious and proletariat.

Key takeaways

Precariat belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Precariat to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Precariat from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

In sociology and economics, the precariat () is a social class formed by people suffering from precarity, which means existing without predictability or security, thereby affecting material or psychological well-being. The term is a portmanteau of precarious and proletariat. Unlike the proletariat of industrial workers in the 20th century, who lacked their own means of production and therefore sold their labor to survive, members of the precariat are only partially involved in labor. They must undertake extensive unremunerated activities that are essential to retaining access to jobs and decent earnings. Classic examples of such unpaid activities include continually searching and applying for work, as well as being expected to always be responsive to calls for gig work. The hallmark of the precariat is a lack of job security, including intermittent employment or underemployment and the resulting precarious existence. The emergence of this class has been ascribed to the entrenchment of neoliberal capitalism.

Overview Some theorists suggest that the young precariat class in Europe has become a serious issue in the early part of the 21st century. This has been linked with major mass political developments including the Brexit referendum in the United Kingdom, and the first presidency of Donald Trump in the United States. The global COVID-19 pandemic has particularly exacerbated food insecurity in the United States. A survey conducted by the European Council on Foreign Relations discovered that only one third of Germans and one quarter of Italians and French had enough money remaining at the end of the month for discretionary spending.

The British economist Guy Standing has analysed the precariat as a new emerging social class in work done for the think tank Policy Network and the World Economic Forum. In his 2014 book entitled A Precariat Charter he argued that all citizens have a right to socially inherited wealth. The latest in the series is titled The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class where he proposed a universal basic income as a solution for addressing the problem. The analysis of the results of the Great British Class Survey of 2013, a collaboration between the BBC and researchers from several UK universities, contended that there is a new model of class structure consisting of seven classes, ranging from the Elite at the top to the precariat at the bottom. The Precariat class was envisaged as "the most deprived British class of all with low levels of economic, cultural and social capital." This was contrasted with "the Technical Middle Class" in Great Britain, in that instead of having disposable income but no interests, people of the new Precariat Class have all sorts of potential activities they like to engage in but cannot do any of them because they have no money, insecure lives, and are usually trapped in old industrial parts of the country. The precariat class has been emerging in societies such as Japan, where it numbers over two million. The theory has been criticized by sociologist Erik Olin Wright for categorising the precariat as a distinct class from the working class (proletariat), based on that the two classes are not sufficiently opposed to each other and that members of the precariat do not have a sufficiently unified way of securing a livelihood.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Precariat

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Precariat claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Precariat before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Precariat ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Precariat

In research: Precariat appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Precariat in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Precariat is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Economic sociology, Neologisms, Precarious work, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Precariat outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Precariat in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Precariat means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Precariat out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Precariat in simple terms?

Why does Precariat matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Precariat?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Precariat.