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more of these issues in Chapter 9 . We can see unpaid work as an important element of what makes an occupation precarious. Guy Standing is perhaps the most prominent theorist who has tried to define this idea. 13 Standing suggests precariousness is characterised by unstable labour conditions, a lack of occupational narrative, high levels of unremunerated work (including work preparation and retraining), high levels of education relative to the job, low levels of non-wage benefits such as holiday or sickness pay, high levels of debt and associated financial
have become moral on behalf of their owners. Just by displaying one’s ownership of an ethical commercial object, people can display their morality and even delegate their morality to the object, and at the same time become relieved from the moral pressures and insecurities they may face in everyday life. 13 In particular, the ‘ethical sell’ is designed to make people feel good about themselves by publicly displaying their concerns for the environment or fair labour conditions, thus showing to the world not only their cultural capital but also their morality and
response, tappers could turn to independent suppliers or switch dealers, but the location of their trade severely limited their range of options. In fact, quite a number of tappers eventually realised that they were operating at a loss. 6 Labour conditions in the Amazon became subject to international scrutiny when the muckraking British weekly Truth began to publish a series of
colonization’. 37 In stark contrast to international accusations of slavery-like recruitment and labour conditions, the official narrative was thus one about the civilising nature of work and the exemplary conditions in which it took place among an estimated 66,000 people transferred from Angola to São Tomé between 1876 and 1904. 38 Work, like religion – which was invoked in other contexts – embodied the transforming nature of the
of workers … [and] that unfair labour conditions, particularly in production for export, create difficulties in international trade, and … [each country should] eliminate such conditions within its territory’.55 The Charter also addressed the behaviour of transnational corporations by attacking restrictive business practices. ITO members were required to: prevent, on the part of private or public commercial enterprises, business practices affecting international trade which restrain competition, limit access to markets, or foster monopolistic control, whenever
withdrawal of the state from many areas of social provision’ (3). Neoliberal policy advocates a surrendering, to the greatest possible extent, of responsibilities to do with labour conditions, with basic resources and with healthcare. These become, not matters of state, but of enterprise: wages are determined by markets in order to maximise surplus value, access to infrastructure is
and reject what is false. In this way they aim to reduce uncertainty and reach high probability. Throughout history in all cultures, people have had an interest in obtaining access to ‘certified knowledge’ – knowledge considered of the highest quality above our daily experiences. 14 This interest shows no sign of fading. Together with Magnus Boström and others, I’ve done research on society’s eagerness to label products and services as being less harmful to the environment, health, animal welfare, labour conditions, and gender equality. Such certifications or
labour conditions. 36 To be sure, different scholars vary in their views of what aspects of production and consumption are more harmful than beneficial regarding suffering or its reduction. Still, most agree that some elements of manufacturing and consumption are highly damaging. 37 More often than complete ignorance of such negative consequences, our strategic ignorance concerns practical and specific measures that we could take to reduce that impact. For instance, citizen-consumers sometimes avoid learning about and trying out public
foundational economy. The notion of ‘social licence’ is most familiar in the mining industry, particularly in the developing world. It involves a formal or informal agreement between a community and an extractive mining company, which needs the acceptance and approval of the communities in which it operates.4 The agreement may cover labour conditions, environmental standards, the sharing of economic benefits and other locally important concerns such as the protection of sacred sites. Social licensing in mining was defensively adopted by an industry distrusted by stakeholders
effective working-class solidarity, in the political or industrial sphere, may require close local calibration, it would be unwise to dismiss them as simply ‘residual’ antipathies. Certainly, the continuing blight of sectarian strife in Liverpool, the resurgence of such hostility in the difficult labour conditions of the inter-war years in Glasgow and its environs, and the tenacity of ethno-religious communal loyalties in general, all feature as inhibitors to the emergence of the kind of class-based solidarity that would be necessary to support and sustain the Labour