ILPC 2026

The notion of precariat has been popular with academics and practitioners, what has been evident in the social scientists’ fascination with ‘the age of insecure employment’ (Fevre 2007) and the BBC’s formulation of a large internet survey on social classes (Savage et al. 2013) according to which precariat constitutes 15% of British labour force. In this paper, we argue against the notion of precariat as a social class which is presented in opposition to a stable working class. We postulate use of Marxian approach which sees precariousness as a defining element of working class existence and the norm of capitalism.

For Marx precariousness is intertwined with the constant threat of being thrown into the reserve army of labour. Traditionally, this surplus population has been perceived as existing outside of organisations in the form of unemployed or underemployed. We want to draw attention to the form of surplus population existing within organisations and on the verge of the so called boundaryless organisations. Our case study research of a multinational organisation based in the UK generated qualitative data from focus groups and in-depth interviews with a set of highly skilled ICT professionals. Experiences of our respondents such as internal commissioning of work and ‘the bench’, project work including engagements on external assignments, transfer of undertakings and Lean IT highlight the commonality of precariousness as a process which permeates society beyond the periphery implied by the notion of precariat. Furthermore, it illustrates that the privileged position of the primary group has been overstated.