IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/woemps/v35y2021i2p221-238.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Precarity as a Biographical Problem? Young Workers Living with Precarity in Germany and Poland

Author

Listed:
  • Adam Mrozowicki

    (University of Wroclaw, Poland)

  • Vera Trappmann

    (University of Leeds, UK)

Abstract

In the context of debates on the meanings of precarious employment, this article explores the varied ways young workers in Poland and Germany are managing precarity. Biographical narrative interviews with 123 young people revealed four different ways interviewees experienced precarity. These different approaches reflected varied ways in which interviewees were orientated to work, the meanings attributed by them to precarious employment and the material and cultural resources they possessed. It is argued that despite institutional differences, precarity in both countries is experienced similarly and represents a tendency to endure precarity and cope with it by individual means. Simultaneously, criticisms of precarity were more typical of young Poles than Germans. Cross-country variances were explained by the different mechanisms of institutional support for young workers and the greater belief in meritocracy in Germany.

Suggested Citation

  • Adam Mrozowicki & Vera Trappmann, 2021. "Precarity as a Biographical Problem? Young Workers Living with Precarity in Germany and Poland," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 35(2), pages 221-238, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:35:y:2021:i:2:p:221-238
    DOI: 10.1177/0950017020936898
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0950017020936898
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0950017020936898?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Arne L. Kalleberg, 2018. "Job Insecurity and Well-being in Rich Democracies," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 49(3), pages 241-258.
    2. Eve Chiapello & Luc Boltanski, 2005. "The New Spirit of Capitalism," Post-Print hal-00680089, HAL.
    3. Robert Castel, 2000. "The Roads to Disaffiliation: Insecure Work and Vulnerable Relationships," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(3), pages 519-535, September.
    4. Thelen,Kathleen, 2014. "Varieties of Liberalization and the New Politics of Social Solidarity," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107679566.
    5. Thelen,Kathleen, 2014. "Varieties of Liberalization and the New Politics of Social Solidarity," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107053168.
    6. Eve Chiapello & Luc Boltanski, 2005. "The New Spirit of Capitalism," Post-Print hal-00678024, HAL.
    7. Robert Castel, 2000. "The Roads to Disaffiliation: Insecure Work and Vulnerable Relationships," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(3), pages 519-535, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zuzanna Kowalik & Piotr Lewandowski & Paweł Kaczmarczyk, 2022. "Job quality gaps between migrant and native gig workers: evidence from Poland," IBS Working Papers 09/2022, Instytut Badan Strukturalnych.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Saskia Boumans, 2024. "Employer Discretion: The Role of Collective Agreements in the Liberalization of Industrial Relations," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 77(2), pages 227-250, March.
    2. Torben Krings, 2021. "‘Good’ Bad Jobs? The Evolution of Migrant Low-Wage Employment in Germany (1985–2015)," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 35(3), pages 527-544, June.
    3. Guglielmo Meardi & Melanie Simms & Duncan Adam, 2021. "Trade unions and precariat in Europe: Representative claims," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 27(1), pages 41-58, March.
    4. Brigitte Granville & Jaume Martorell Cruz & Martha Prevezer, 2015. "Elites, Thickets and Institutions: French Resistance versus German Adaptation to Economic Change, 1945-2015," Working Papers 63, Queen Mary, University of London, School of Business and Management, Centre for Globalisation Research.
    5. Vigvári, Gábor, 2022. "Transzformáció és a populizmus a visegrádi országokban [Transformation and populism in the V4 countries]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(3), pages 339-366.
    6. Leone Leonida & Marianna Marra & Sergio Scicchitano & Antonio Giangreco & Marco Biagetti, 2020. "Estimating the Wage Premium to Supervision for Middle Managers in Different Contexts: Evidence from Germany and the UK," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 34(6), pages 1004-1026, December.
    7. German Feierherd & Patricio Larroulet & Wei Long, & Nora Lustig, 2021. "The Pink Tide and Inequality in Latin America," Working Papers 2105, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    8. Dina Vaiou & Rouli Lykogianni, 2006. "Women, Neighbourhoods and Everyday Life," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 43(4), pages 731-743, April.
    9. Louis Moreno, 2012. "Looking backward," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(3), pages 345-354, June.
    10. Stéphane Debenedetti & Isabelle Huault & Véronique Perret, 2015. "Resisting the power of organizations in Modern Times : May we all be Charlot? [Résister au pouvoir des organisations dans les Temps Modernes : Peut-on tous être Charlot ?]," Post-Print hal-01525807, HAL.
    11. Sikka, Prem, 2015. "The corrosive effects of neoliberalism on the UK financial crises and auditing practices: A dead-end for reforms," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 1-18.
    12. Milena I. Kremakova, 2014. "Trust, Access and Sensitive Boundaries between ‘Public’ and ‘Private’: A Returning Insider's Experience of Research in Bulgaria," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 19(4), pages 148-161, December.
    13. Luppi, Roberto, 2023. "Die Einsamkeit des Prekariats und die Bedürfnisse des "Wir": Warum es notwendig ist, das Konzept der gemeinsamen Bedürfnisse in die Definition des Prekariats aufzunehmen," Discussion Papers 01/23, Europa-Kolleg Hamburg, Institute for European Integration.
    14. Hamidreza Rabiei‐Dastjerdi & Stephen A. Matthews, 2021. "Who gets what, where, and how much? Composite index of spatial inequality for small areas in Tehran," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(1), pages 191-205, February.
    15. Helen Collins & Susan Barry & Piotr Dzuga, 2022. "‘Working While Feeling Awful Is Normal’: One Roma’s Experience of Presenteeism," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 36(2), pages 362-371, April.
    16. Vrooman, J. Cok & Boelhouwer, Jeroen & Gijsberts, Mérove, 2023. "A contemporary class structure: Capital disparities in the Netherlands," SocArXiv zunqs, Center for Open Science.
    17. Chrisp, Joe & Garcia-Lazaro, Aida & Pearce, Nick, 2023. "Technological chance and growth regimes: Assessing the case for universal basic income in an era declining labour shares," FRIBIS Discussion Paper Series 01-2023, University of Freiburg, Freiburg Institute for Basic Income Studies (FRIBIS).
    18. Münnich, Sascha, 2016. "Note from the editor: Economic sociology and capitalism," economic sociology. perspectives and conversations, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, vol. 18(1), pages 2-5.
    19. Höpner, Martin & Seeliger, Martin, 2017. "Transnationale Lohnkoordination zur Stabilisierung des Euro? Gab es nicht, gibt es nicht, wird es nicht geben," MPIfG Discussion Paper 17/13, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    20. Antonio ALOISI & Valerio DE STEFANO, 2020. "Regulation and the future of work: The employment relationship as an innovation facilitator," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 159(1), pages 47-69, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:35:y:2021:i:2:p:221-238. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.britsoc.co.uk/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.