Neuroticization of immaterial workers in post-fordist economy: a comparative analysis of the precariat and the salariat
Research Article
Acknowledgments
HSE University, Moscow, Russia
How to Cite
Miletskaya A.R., Yakushkin N.S. (2024) Neuroticization of immaterial workers in post-fordist economy: a comparative analysis of the precariat and the salariat. Zhurnal sotsiologii i sotsialnoy antropologii (The Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology), 27(4): 40–68 (in Russian). DOI: https://doi.org/10.31119/jssa.2024.27.4.2 EDN: JBZIIS
Abstract
In this paper authors attempt to analyse the demonstration of a specific phenomenon — neuroticization — arising among workers of immaterial labour under conditions of post-fordist economy. Neuroticization is a condition in which the subject has negative psychological manifestations such as depression and anxiety, with a parallel constant desire to improve their own skills, high rationalisation of personal life and planning of their time. The focus on this type of worker stems from the fact that they possess a high degree of autonomy and flexible working hours, but also face burdensome responsibility and stress, which can lead to negative consequences for their mental health and social life. This study examines the demonstration of neuroticization among two socio-economic groups of workers: the precariat and the salariat, differing in terms of workplace stability. Data collection consisted of 15 in-depth interviews with representatives of Russian companies and self-employed workers, as well as distribution of the survey among 806 residents for further analysis using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Key psychological states identified include personality erosion, demoralization, generalized depression and anxiety, and rationalization, to which the two groups of workers are affected to varying degrees. The most striking difference is observed in the manifestation of anxiety and depression: stable workers have significantly lower levels of these, while the precariat experience greater negative psychological problems. We also identified that some workers tend to overcome neuroticization in future, as the majority of workers reported that career was not a priority for them in the long run.
Keywords:
immaterial labor, post-fordist economy, neuroticization, sociology of labor, sociology of power, precariat
References
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Gasiukova Е., Petrova А. (2021) The Subjective Perception of Employment Instability: Is It Bad to Be Unstable? Ekonomicheskaya sotsiologiya [Journal of Economic Sociology], 22(3): 39–70 (in Russian).
Горц А. (2010) Нематериальное. Знание, стоимость и капитал. М.: Изд. дом ГУ-ВШЭ.
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Донзло Ж., Гордон К. (2008) Управление либеральными обществами — эффект Фуко в англоязычном мире. Логос, 2(65): 3–20.
Donzlo Z., Gordon K. (2008) Governing Liberal Societies — the Foucault Effect in the English-speaking World. Logos [Logos], 2(65): 3–20 (in Russian).
Корсани А. (2007) Капитализм, биотехнонаука и неолиберализм. Логос, 4(61): 123–143.
Korsani A. (2007) Capitalism, biotechnology and neoliberalism. Logos [Logos], 4(61): 123–143 (in Russian).
Корсани А. (2015) Трансформации труда и его темпоральностей. Хронологическая дезориентация и колонизация нерабочего времени. Логос, 25(3): 51–71.
Korsani A. (2015) Transformation of labor and its temporalities. Chronological disorientation and colonization of non-working hours. Logos [Logos], 25(3): 51–71 (in Russian).
Лаццарато М. (2008) Нематериальный труд. Художественный журнал, 69.
Lazzarato M. (2008) Immaterial labor. Khudozhestvennyy zhurnal [Art Magazine], 69 (in Russian).
Негри А., Хардт М. (2006) Множество: война и демократия в эпоху Империи. М.: Культурная революция.
Negri А., Hardt М. (2006) Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire. Мoscow: Kul’turnaya revolyuciya (in Russian).
Понукалина О.В. (2023) Соотношение труда и досуга в условиях цифровых трансформаций. Logos et Praxis, 22(4): 124–132.
Ponukalina O.V. (2023) Correlation of labor and leisure in the context of digital transformations. Logos et Praxis [Logos et Praxis], 22(4): 124–132 (in Russian).
Стэндинг Г. (2014) Прекариат: новый опасный класс. М.: Ad Marginem.
Standing G. (2014) The Precariat. The New Dangerous Class. Мoscow: Ad Marginem (in Russian).
Тартаковская И. (2019) Баланс жизни и труда прекарных работников: гендерные аспекты. Мониторинг общественного мнения: Экономические и социальные перемены, 3: 163—178.
Tartakovskaya I. (2019) Work-life balance of precarious workers: gender aspects. Monitoring obshchestvennogo mneniya: Ekonomicheskie i social'nye peremeny [Monitoring of Public Opinion: Economic and Social Changes], 3: 163–178 (in Russian).
Тартыгашева Г. (2022) О досуге российских работников. Вестник РГГУ. Серия «Философия. Социология. Искусствоведение», 3: 69–81.
Tartygasheva G. (2022) On leisure of Russian workers. Vestnik RGGU. Seriya «Filosofiya. Sociologiya. Iskusstvovedenie» [Bulletin of RSUH. Series "Philosophy. Sociology. Art Studies"], 3: 69–81 (in Russian).
Тощенко Ж.Т. (2020) Прекарная занятость –– феномен современной экономики. Социологические исследования, 8: 3–13.
Toshchenko Zh.T. (2020) Precarious employment — a phenomenon of the modern economy. Sociologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies], 8: 3–13 (in Russian).
Хан Бен-Чхоль (2023) Общество усталости. Негативный опыт в эпоху чрезмерного позитива. М.: АСТ.
Han Byung-chul (2023) The fatigue society. Negative experiences in an era of excessive positivity. Мoscow: AST Publ. (in Russian).
Шевченко И., Шевченко П. (2022) От прекаризации занятости к прекаризации жизни? Социологические исследования, 7: 63–75.
Shevchenko I., Shevchenko P. (2022) From precarization of employment to precarization of life? Sociologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies], 7: 63–75 (in Russian).
Штейнберг И., Шанин Т., Ковалев Е., Левинсон А. (2009) Качественные методы. Полевые социологические исследования. СПб.: Алетейя.
Steinberg I., Shanin T., Kovalev E., Levinson A. (2009) Qualitative methods. Field sociological research. St. Petersburg: Aleteyya Publ. (in Russian).
Becker J.C., Hartwich L., Haslam S.A. (2021) Neoliberalism can reduce well‐being by promoting a sense of social disconnection, competition, and loneliness. British Journal of Social Psychology, 60(3): 947–965.
Dardot P., Laval C. (2014) The new way of the world: On neoliberal society. New York: Verso Books.
De Angelis M. (2007) Measure, excess and translation: some notes on cognitive capitalism. The Commoner, 12: 71–78.
Fleming P. (2009) Authenticity and the cultural politics of work: New forms of informal control. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Fleming P. (2017) The human capital hoax: Work, debt and insecurity in the era of Uberization. Organization Studies, 38(5): 691–709.
Harney S. (2006) Management and self-activity: Accounting for the crisis in profit-taking. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 17(7): 935–946.
Harvey D. (2005) A brief history of neoliberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Jonsson J., Matilla-Santander N., Kreshpaj B et al. (2021) Precarious employment and general, mental and physical health in Stockholm, Sweden: a cross-sectional study. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 49(2): 228–236.
Leavy P. (ed.) (2014) The Oxford handbook of qualitative research. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lopez G. et al. (2021) Effects of precarious work on symptomatology of anxiety and depression in Chilean workers, a cross sectional study. BMC Public Health, 21: 1–11.
MacDonald R., Giazitzoglu A. (2019). Youth, enterprise and precarity: or, what is, and what is wrong with, the ‘gig economy’? Journal of Sociology, 55(4): 724–740.
Mackenzie E., McKinlay A. (2021) Hope labour and the psychic life of cultural work. Human relations, 74(11): 1841–1863.
Marazzi C., Mecchia G. (2007) Rules for the Incommensurable. SubStance, 36(1): 11–36.
McNay L. (2009) Self as enterprise: Dilemmas of control and resistance in Foucault’s The Birth of Biopolitics. Theory, culture & society, 26(6): 55–77.
Mimoun E., Ben Ari A., Margalit D. (2020) Psychological aspects of employment instability during the COVID-19 pandemic. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 12(S1): S183.
Moisander J., Groß C., Eräranta K. (2018) Mechanisms of biopower and neoliberal governmentality in precarious work: Mobilizing the dependent self-employed as independent business owners. Human Relations, 71(3): 375–398.
Oh J.W., Park J.Y., Lee S. (2022) Association between employment stability and depression as moderated by gender among South Korean employees. Journal of Affective Disorders, 298: 308–315.
Read J. (2009) A genealogy of homo-economicus: Neoliberalism and the production of subjectivity. Foucault Studies. 6(1): 25–36.
Rose J., Spencer C. (2016) Immaterial labour in spaces of leisure: Producing biopolitical subjectivities through Facebook. Leisure Studies, 45(6): 809–826.
Schreier M. (2012) Qualitative Content Analysis in Practice. London: Sage.
Scharff C. (2016) The psychic life of neoliberalism: Mapping the contours of entrepreneurial subjectivity. Theory, culture & society, 33(6): 107–122.
Spence C., Carter D. (2011) Accounting for the general intellect: immaterial labour and the social factory. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 22(3): 304–315.
Tolliday S., Zeitlin J. (1986) Between Fordism and flexibility: the automobile industry and its workers-past, present and future. CEPR Discussion Papers, 131: 1–60.
Vachet J. (2024) Toward a sociological explanation of anxiety: Precariousness, class and gender among independent musicians. The Sociological Review.
Vallas S.P., Christin A. (2018) Work and identity in an era of precarious employment: How workers respond to “personal branding” discourse. Work and Occupations, 45(1): 3–37.
Vallas S.P., Hill A.L. (2018) Reconfiguring worker subjectivity: Career advice literature and the “branding” of the worker's self. Sociological Forum, 33(2): 287–309.
Vercellone С. (2005) The hypothesis of cognitive capitalism. London: Birkbeck College and SOAS.
Webster J. (2016) Microworkers of the gig economy: Separate and precarious. New labor forum, 25(3): 56–64.
Žižek S. (2009) First as tragedy, then as farce. London: Verso.
Virno P. (2015) The grammar of multitude: towards an analysis of the form of modern life. Moscow: Ad Marginem Press (in Russian).
Гасюкова Е., Петрова А. (2021) Субъективные оценки нестабильной занятости: так ли уж плохо быть нестабильным? Экономическая социология, 22(3): 39–70.
Gasiukova Е., Petrova А. (2021) The Subjective Perception of Employment Instability: Is It Bad to Be Unstable? Ekonomicheskaya sotsiologiya [Journal of Economic Sociology], 22(3): 39–70 (in Russian).
Горц А. (2010) Нематериальное. Знание, стоимость и капитал. М.: Изд. дом ГУ-ВШЭ.
Gorz A. (2010) Immaterial. Knowledge, value and capital. Мoscow: Izd. dom Gos. un-ta — Vysshej shkoly ekonomiki (in Russian).
Донзло Ж., Гордон К. (2008) Управление либеральными обществами — эффект Фуко в англоязычном мире. Логос, 2(65): 3–20.
Donzlo Z., Gordon K. (2008) Governing Liberal Societies — the Foucault Effect in the English-speaking World. Logos [Logos], 2(65): 3–20 (in Russian).
Корсани А. (2007) Капитализм, биотехнонаука и неолиберализм. Логос, 4(61): 123–143.
Korsani A. (2007) Capitalism, biotechnology and neoliberalism. Logos [Logos], 4(61): 123–143 (in Russian).
Корсани А. (2015) Трансформации труда и его темпоральностей. Хронологическая дезориентация и колонизация нерабочего времени. Логос, 25(3): 51–71.
Korsani A. (2015) Transformation of labor and its temporalities. Chronological disorientation and colonization of non-working hours. Logos [Logos], 25(3): 51–71 (in Russian).
Лаццарато М. (2008) Нематериальный труд. Художественный журнал, 69.
Lazzarato M. (2008) Immaterial labor. Khudozhestvennyy zhurnal [Art Magazine], 69 (in Russian).
Негри А., Хардт М. (2006) Множество: война и демократия в эпоху Империи. М.: Культурная революция.
Negri А., Hardt М. (2006) Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire. Мoscow: Kul’turnaya revolyuciya (in Russian).
Понукалина О.В. (2023) Соотношение труда и досуга в условиях цифровых трансформаций. Logos et Praxis, 22(4): 124–132.
Ponukalina O.V. (2023) Correlation of labor and leisure in the context of digital transformations. Logos et Praxis [Logos et Praxis], 22(4): 124–132 (in Russian).
Стэндинг Г. (2014) Прекариат: новый опасный класс. М.: Ad Marginem.
Standing G. (2014) The Precariat. The New Dangerous Class. Мoscow: Ad Marginem (in Russian).
Тартаковская И. (2019) Баланс жизни и труда прекарных работников: гендерные аспекты. Мониторинг общественного мнения: Экономические и социальные перемены, 3: 163—178.
Tartakovskaya I. (2019) Work-life balance of precarious workers: gender aspects. Monitoring obshchestvennogo mneniya: Ekonomicheskie i social'nye peremeny [Monitoring of Public Opinion: Economic and Social Changes], 3: 163–178 (in Russian).
Тартыгашева Г. (2022) О досуге российских работников. Вестник РГГУ. Серия «Философия. Социология. Искусствоведение», 3: 69–81.
Tartygasheva G. (2022) On leisure of Russian workers. Vestnik RGGU. Seriya «Filosofiya. Sociologiya. Iskusstvovedenie» [Bulletin of RSUH. Series "Philosophy. Sociology. Art Studies"], 3: 69–81 (in Russian).
Тощенко Ж.Т. (2020) Прекарная занятость –– феномен современной экономики. Социологические исследования, 8: 3–13.
Toshchenko Zh.T. (2020) Precarious employment — a phenomenon of the modern economy. Sociologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies], 8: 3–13 (in Russian).
Хан Бен-Чхоль (2023) Общество усталости. Негативный опыт в эпоху чрезмерного позитива. М.: АСТ.
Han Byung-chul (2023) The fatigue society. Negative experiences in an era of excessive positivity. Мoscow: AST Publ. (in Russian).
Шевченко И., Шевченко П. (2022) От прекаризации занятости к прекаризации жизни? Социологические исследования, 7: 63–75.
Shevchenko I., Shevchenko P. (2022) From precarization of employment to precarization of life? Sociologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies], 7: 63–75 (in Russian).
Штейнберг И., Шанин Т., Ковалев Е., Левинсон А. (2009) Качественные методы. Полевые социологические исследования. СПб.: Алетейя.
Steinberg I., Shanin T., Kovalev E., Levinson A. (2009) Qualitative methods. Field sociological research. St. Petersburg: Aleteyya Publ. (in Russian).
Becker J.C., Hartwich L., Haslam S.A. (2021) Neoliberalism can reduce well‐being by promoting a sense of social disconnection, competition, and loneliness. British Journal of Social Psychology, 60(3): 947–965.
Dardot P., Laval C. (2014) The new way of the world: On neoliberal society. New York: Verso Books.
De Angelis M. (2007) Measure, excess and translation: some notes on cognitive capitalism. The Commoner, 12: 71–78.
Fleming P. (2009) Authenticity and the cultural politics of work: New forms of informal control. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Fleming P. (2017) The human capital hoax: Work, debt and insecurity in the era of Uberization. Organization Studies, 38(5): 691–709.
Harney S. (2006) Management and self-activity: Accounting for the crisis in profit-taking. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 17(7): 935–946.
Harvey D. (2005) A brief history of neoliberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Jonsson J., Matilla-Santander N., Kreshpaj B et al. (2021) Precarious employment and general, mental and physical health in Stockholm, Sweden: a cross-sectional study. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 49(2): 228–236.
Leavy P. (ed.) (2014) The Oxford handbook of qualitative research. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lopez G. et al. (2021) Effects of precarious work on symptomatology of anxiety and depression in Chilean workers, a cross sectional study. BMC Public Health, 21: 1–11.
MacDonald R., Giazitzoglu A. (2019). Youth, enterprise and precarity: or, what is, and what is wrong with, the ‘gig economy’? Journal of Sociology, 55(4): 724–740.
Mackenzie E., McKinlay A. (2021) Hope labour and the psychic life of cultural work. Human relations, 74(11): 1841–1863.
Marazzi C., Mecchia G. (2007) Rules for the Incommensurable. SubStance, 36(1): 11–36.
McNay L. (2009) Self as enterprise: Dilemmas of control and resistance in Foucault’s The Birth of Biopolitics. Theory, culture & society, 26(6): 55–77.
Mimoun E., Ben Ari A., Margalit D. (2020) Psychological aspects of employment instability during the COVID-19 pandemic. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 12(S1): S183.
Moisander J., Groß C., Eräranta K. (2018) Mechanisms of biopower and neoliberal governmentality in precarious work: Mobilizing the dependent self-employed as independent business owners. Human Relations, 71(3): 375–398.
Oh J.W., Park J.Y., Lee S. (2022) Association between employment stability and depression as moderated by gender among South Korean employees. Journal of Affective Disorders, 298: 308–315.
Read J. (2009) A genealogy of homo-economicus: Neoliberalism and the production of subjectivity. Foucault Studies. 6(1): 25–36.
Rose J., Spencer C. (2016) Immaterial labour in spaces of leisure: Producing biopolitical subjectivities through Facebook. Leisure Studies, 45(6): 809–826.
Schreier M. (2012) Qualitative Content Analysis in Practice. London: Sage.
Scharff C. (2016) The psychic life of neoliberalism: Mapping the contours of entrepreneurial subjectivity. Theory, culture & society, 33(6): 107–122.
Spence C., Carter D. (2011) Accounting for the general intellect: immaterial labour and the social factory. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 22(3): 304–315.
Tolliday S., Zeitlin J. (1986) Between Fordism and flexibility: the automobile industry and its workers-past, present and future. CEPR Discussion Papers, 131: 1–60.
Vachet J. (2024) Toward a sociological explanation of anxiety: Precariousness, class and gender among independent musicians. The Sociological Review.
Vallas S.P., Christin A. (2018) Work and identity in an era of precarious employment: How workers respond to “personal branding” discourse. Work and Occupations, 45(1): 3–37.
Vallas S.P., Hill A.L. (2018) Reconfiguring worker subjectivity: Career advice literature and the “branding” of the worker's self. Sociological Forum, 33(2): 287–309.
Vercellone С. (2005) The hypothesis of cognitive capitalism. London: Birkbeck College and SOAS.
Webster J. (2016) Microworkers of the gig economy: Separate and precarious. New labor forum, 25(3): 56–64.
Žižek S. (2009) First as tragedy, then as farce. London: Verso.
Article
Received: 12.08.2024
Accepted: 25.12.2024
Citation Formats
Other cite formats:
ACM
[1]
Miletskaya, A.R. and Yakushkin, N.S. 2024. Neuroticization of immaterial workers in post-fordist economy: a comparative analysis of the precariat and the salariat. Zhurnal sotsiologii i sotsialnoy antropologii (The Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology). 27, 4 (Dec. 2024), 40–68. DOI:https://doi.org/10.31119/jssa.2024.27.4.2.
Section
Sociology of Labour
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