Precarity of Life Arrangements: A Perspective on Precarious Working and Living Conditions Using the Concept of Recognition

Authors

  • Mona Motakef TU Dortmund
  • Christine Wimbauer Humboldt Universität zu Berlin

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-20.3.3222

Keywords:

recognition, precarity, precarization, gainful employment, care, social inequality, life arrangement, gender, couple relationships, Honneth, Butler, interpretative paradigm, hermeneutic sociology of knowledge, couple interview

Abstract

Recognition has not previously played a systematic role in precarity research, even though precarity—closely related to employment or extended to the life context—also challenges the recognition of relationships. Consequently, we have developed an empirically based perspective on precarity of life arrangements that has been expanded using the concept of recognition (HONNETH, BUTLER). The empirical foundation is provided by partially guideline-based and partially narrative-based individual and couple interviews with 24 precarious workers (who are employed in insecure, flexible or e.g., part time positions and/or have a low income), which we have analyzed in a case-reconstructive and case-comparative manner, based on the hermeneutic sociology of knowledge. We illustrate the strengths of our eight-dimensional heuristic by using the example of one precarious worker and two precariously employed couples. With our perspective expanded by recognition, the subject-oriented and knowledge-sociological interpretations of precariously employed "individuals in relationships," as well as the accumulations of various strains essential for life-arrangement research, become visible. In addition, this allows us to understand the constitutional contexts, relations and interconnections of different dimensions of precarity. Our heuristic might therefore also inspire further research that is focused on the multidimensionality and complexity of insecure living conditions.

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Author Biographies

Mona Motakef, TU Dortmund

Mona MOTAKEF (Dr. phil.) is professor of sociology of gender relations at Technical University of Dortmund. Her research interests are gender studies, sociology of work (especially precarious labor and care work), social inequalities, sociology of the couple and intimate relations, sociology of the body, sociological theory and qualitative methods. Her publications include: "Prekäre Arbeit, prekäre Liebe. Über Anerkennung und unsichere Lebensverhältnisse“ (Frankfurt/M.: Campus, 2020), with Christine WIMBAUER; "Das Paarinterview" (Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 2017), with Christine WIMBAUER; "Prekarisierung" (Bielefeld: transcript, 2015).

Christine Wimbauer, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin

Christine WIMBAUER (Dipl.-Soz., Dr. phil.) is professor of sociology of work and gender relations at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Her research interests are gender studies, sociology of work (especially precarious labor and care work), sociology of the couple and intimate relations, love and family beyond heteronormativity, social inequalities and social structural analysis, social and family politics, recognition theory, qualitative methods, (esp. hermeneutical methods) and methodology. Her publications include: "Prekäre Arbeit, prekäre Liebe. Über Anerkennung und unsichere Lebensverhältnisse“(Frankfurt/M.: Campus, 2020), with Mona MOTAKEF; "Das Paarinterview" (Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 2017), with Mona MOTAKEF; "Wenn Arbeit Liebe ersetzt" (Frankfurt/M.: Campus, 2012); "Co-Parenting und die Zukunft der Liebe" (Bielefeld: transcript, 2021).

Published

2019-09-26

How to Cite

Motakef, M., & Wimbauer, C. (2019). Precarity of Life Arrangements: A Perspective on Precarious Working and Living Conditions Using the Concept of Recognition. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 20(3). https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-20.3.3222