Precarity capitalism: a tool to galvanise environmental intergenerational solidarity

Description

The lens of precarity can be used on multiple levels when examining ageing: micro, in relation to precarious older workers; meso, in relation to the precarious public institutions/welfare states; and macro, as a paradigmatic shift, new doxa or discourse. Azmanova (2020) also argues that precarity could be seen as a new form of socio-economic mode, 'precarity capitalism’. This new social-economic mode has certain unique characteristics which have developed since the 2008 global economic crash. The first being the 'social irresponsibility rule', which transfers risk from society to weaker individual actors. The second, that public authorities allocate opportunities to individuals which enhance pre-existing advantages. She also argues precarity capitalism has distorted earlier versions, like 'welfare state' capitalism, which used to progressively redistribute wealth, but now does so in pursuit of competition. Azmanova contends that populations need to subvert precarity capitalism from the inside via radical practices to attack the competitive production of profit, otherwise we will be stuck in terminal crisis, continuing to destroy lives and the natural environment. Further, those at each end of the lifecourse, will be disproportionately affected by climate change. Therefore, in this paper, I argue there could be an opportunity to use precarity capitalism as a tool to galvanise intergenerational solidarity to drive change in environmental politics and policy in the UK.

Period	04 Apr 2024
Event title	BSA 2024 Virtual Annual Conference: : Crisis, Continuity and Change
Event type	Conference