The Precarious Migrant Worker (Paperback)

Panos Theodoropoulos

ISBN 10: 1509564993 / ISBN 13: 9781509564996

Published by Polity Press, Oxford, 2025

About this Item

Paperback. Migrant workers in the West are at the frontline of the precarious condition that is coming to dominate social and economic life in neoliberal societies. Yet despite the highly insecure and exploitative working conditions they routinely face, labour mobilizations by precarious workers are rare. In this immersive portrait of the daily realities of precarious migrant labour, Panos Theodoropoulos found work in Glasgows warehouses, factories and kitchens to uncover the ways that precarity is lived and contested. Connecting the realms of structure, subjectivity and culture, his analysis shows that precarity not only dictates workers labour conditions, but socializes them in an individualist, survival-oriented struggle that erodes solidarities and enforces its own neoliberal logic. Crucially, however, precarity and the wider neoliberal culture are unable to erase workers material awareness and experience of class injustice. This points to the possibility of forging strong connections and methods of resistance, firmly grounded in the lives and communities of precarious workers. Blending interviews, ethnographic notes and social theory, The Precarious Migrant Worker offers a unique glimpse into our increasingly precarious social reality and will be a valuable resource for scholars, students and activists interested in issues of migration, precarity and resistance. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9781509564996

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Precarious Migrant Worker (Paperback)
• Publisher: Polity Press, Oxford
• Publication Date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1509564993
• ISBN 13: 9781509564996
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

Migrant workers in the West are at the frontline of the precarious condition that is coming to dominate social and economic life in neoliberal societies. Yet despite the highly insecure and exploitative working conditions they routinely face, labour mobilizations by precarious workers are rare.

In this immersive portrait of the daily realities of precarious migrant labour, Panos Theodoropoulos found work in Glasgow’s warehouses, factories and kitchens to uncover the ways that precarity is lived and contested. Connecting the realms of structure, subjectivity and culture, his analysis shows that precarity not only dictates workers’ labour conditions, but socializes them in an individualist, survival-oriented struggle that erodes solidarities and enforces its own neoliberal logic. Crucially, however, precarity and the wider neoliberal culture are unable to erase workers’ material awareness and experience of class injustice. This points to the possibility of forging strong connections and methods of resistance, firmly grounded in the lives and communities of precarious workers. 

Blending interviews, ethnographic notes and social theory, The Precarious Migrant Worker offers a unique glimpse into our increasingly precarious social reality and will be a valuable resource for scholars, students and activists interested in issues of migration, precarity and resistance.

About the Author

Panos Theodoropoulos is a sociologist affiliated with the University of Glasgow, and co-founder of the radical theory platform Interregnum.