The recent book of Isabell Lorey, a German political and social theorist, draws on the overlap of precariousness as, on the one hand, a new governmental instrument in the postfordist era and, on the other hand, bearer of transformational power. Inspired by the multiplicty of the EuroMayDay and Occupy movements, Lorey widens Robert Castel´s notion of precariousness and proposes to devise political alternatives based on a refusal of the feeling of insecurity. While stressing the book´s contribution for sociological studies of recent social protests as well as of labor conditions, this review portrays and discusses the author´s stimulating approach.
Precariousness; Governmentality; Insecurity; Self. Social movements