The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class

Speaker: Professor Guy Standing
Dept of Social & Policy Studies,University of Bath
6.00 pm, Thursday 19 January 2012
Main Lecture Theatre, Manchester Met Business School, Aytoun Street,
(2 minutes from Piccadilly Railway Station)
Combining the word ‘proletariat’ (traditionally used to refer to the working class of a capitalist society) with the term ‘precarious’, Professor Guy Standing has coined the term ‘precariat’ to try to describe the growing number of people in our modern, global economy who live and work precariously, usually in a series of short-term low-paid jobs and without recourse to social or occupational stability.
This class of people can produce instabilities within society. Increasingly frustrated, they are dangerous because they lack a voice, and are therefore vulnerable to the siren calls of extreme political parties.
The presentation will outline not only the problem but also a potential solution – to involve more people in civil society and thereby re-engage the precariat.

MANCHESTER INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS SOCIETY, more information: r.r.darlington@salford.ac.uk,  0161-295-5456