Saving For a Space Ship Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05y0p8z I thought this was an interesting subject for hpc'ers, it was on R4 a few days ago. I'd not heard of the Precariat , but its been around for a few yrs. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05y0p8z The 'Precariat'; Humour in SociologyThinking Allowed Listen in pop-out player The 'Precariat': Laurie Taylor talks to Guy Standing, Professor in Development Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. His highly influential 2011 book introduced the 'Precariat' as an emerging mass class, characterized by inequality and insecurity. Professor Standing argues that that the increasingly global nature of the Precariat is leading to the kind of social unrest which carries grave political risks. Marking the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta, he takes his work a stage further, outlining A Precariat Charter which might award greater rights to this new 'class'. They're joined by Dr Lisa Mckenzie, Research Fellow in Sociology at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Also, whilst humour and laughter have been studied by social scientists, scholars who use wit, jokes and satire may get marginalised from the academy. Cate Watson, Professor in the School of Education at the University of Stirling, argues against this neglect of humour's potential. In sociology and economics, the precariat is a social class formed by people suffering from precarity, which is a condition of existence without predictability or security, affecting material or psychological welfare as well as being a member of a proletariat class of industrial workers who lack their own means of production and hence sell their labour to live. Specifically, it is applied to the condition of lack of job security, in other words intermittent employment or underemployment and the resultant precarious existence.[1] The emergence of this class has been ascribed to the entrenchment of neoliberal capitalism.[2][3] The term is a portmanteau obtained by merging precarious with proletariat.[4] The precariat class has been emerging in societies such as Japan, where it includes over 20 million so-called "freeters."[5] The young precariat class in Europe became a serious issue in the early part of the 21st century.[6 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precariat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porca misèria Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 New name for an old phenomenon, and one that's often been romanticised (think "bohemian"). Attlee made a valiant but futile effort to do away with it, and some of the unintended consequences are still with us today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Hovis Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 I heard the programme. It's an interesting concept of people who are apparently comfortable because they are middle class and educated but with the ephemeral nature of many jobs and the high cost of housing they are always close to going under. Recognised as a major political force who will vote for anybody that will give them a bit of stability. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
19 year mortgage 8itch Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 I heard the programme. It's an interesting concept of people who are apparently comfortable because they are middle class and educated but with the ephemeral nature of many jobs and the high cost of housing they are always close to going under. Recognised as a major political force who will vote for anybody that will give them a bit of stability. So the ***** voted Tory The irony. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porca misèria Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 I heard the programme. It's an interesting concept of people who are apparently comfortable because they are middle class and educated but with the ephemeral nature of many jobs and the high cost of housing they are always close to going under. Indeed, very familiar. I've been there since graduating. Well, except at times when (in terms of a system that supposedly puts a floor under one's circumstances) I've actually gone under. A few years back, there was a glorious moment when politicians started talking about the "squeezed middle", and I thought they'd started to notice. Of course it didn't last. There's no powerful lobby group for those who pay taxes so others can have the security of which we can only dream. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
interestrateripoff Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 But job insecurity and inequality are the driving forces of neo-liberalism helping everyone grow wealthy. You mean the plan has potential downsides? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riedquat Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 But job insecurity and inequality are the driving forces of neo-liberalism helping everyone grow wealthy. You mean the plan has potential downsides?Don't be daft. Growing wealth makes everyone's life better, simple as that. There are no downsides and nothing else that contributes towards quality of life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Hovis Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 So the ***** voted Tory The irony. And credited with voting in Syrzia in Greece. Basically any party that offers a promise of stabilising their lives. A not unreasonable request from an adult. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winkie Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 When the carrot becomes unreachable and the stick means digging heals in deeper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Venger Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 They have no power, so no chance of them affecting anything. Also no money against a powerful VI that resists all change. And it's proven fact (for me) they can be trod all over and still put others first; even those with multiple homes worth millions and millions of pounds. "They're innocents of HPI.. they don't want HPI at all. If only they knew the truth." Freeters: While they are young, freeters commonly live with their parents and have disposable income that would otherwise go towards rent. Their spending helps the manufacturing sector of the Japanese economy.By living in the same house as their parents and often not owning a car, freeters have a much lower impact on the natural environment than "high consumption" members of society owning cars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saving For a Space Ship Posted August 9, 2015 Author Share Posted August 9, 2015 http://www.rt.com/shows/keiser-report/311323-episode-max-keiser-791/ "Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert are joined by Guy Standing, co-president of the Basic Income Earth Network and author of “The Precariat: The Dangerous New Class." He's on from the start ..scary stuff imo In this special summer solutions episode of the Keiser Report, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert are joined by Guy Standing, co-president of the Basic Income Earth Network and author of “The Precariat: The Dangerous New Class,” to discuss the problem of declining incomes, automation of many jobs, and the rise of the Precariat. As a possible solution to the problem of ever fewer high-paying jobs, they discuss basic incomes – the arguments for and against. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPin Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 Indeed, very familiar. I've been there since graduating. Well, except at times when (in terms of a system that supposedly puts a floor under one's circumstances) I've actually gone under. A few years back, there was a glorious moment when politicians started talking about the "squeezed middle", and I thought they'd started to notice. Of course it didn't last. There's no powerful lobby group for those who pay taxes so others can have the security of which we can only dream. Yes. Pin has spoken (again). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XswampyX Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 They sound like poor people who haven't realised it yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPin Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 They sound like poor people who haven't realised it yet. Aren't we all! We should rise up and vomit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porca misèria Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 Yes. Pin has spoken (again). Pin has not spoken, he has merely quoted the pig. Oink, oink. (the Pig, having never in his life had job security, is once again out of work. Ho, hum). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SNACR Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Surprised at the current spate of joblessness amongst HPC off-topicers. Given what's happened to the price of diesel you'd expect road haulage to be booming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPin Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Surprised at the current spate of joblessness amongst HPC off-topicers. Given what's happened to the price of diesel you'd expect road haulage to be booming. Last time I had a period of unemployment in 2009, I actually thought of getting a HGV licence, as a backup, but actually there are a lot of unemployed truckers, and it doesn't pay so well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SNACR Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Last time I had a period of unemployment in 2009, I actually thought of getting a HGV licence, as a backup, but actually there are a lot of unemployed truckers, and it doesn't pay so well. You'd have to pay a chunk in training (I would guess knocking on for £3k, these days, and that's probably assuming first time passes). Then once you'd got them no-one will want to take you on without experience to prove you're not going to put the wagon on it's side or stove it into a bridge as soon as you're given the keys so you'd have to time serve with fly by nights. I think I pay about £12/hour but there's all sorts of unsocial bonuses but the tacho's going to cap your max income to some extent. I doubt you could get much over £25kpa without some serious unsocial hours or living in the cab, away from home, all week (tramping in trucker lingo but marriage wrecker is probably more appropriate). I think it's a vocation that often gets thought of as an employment quick fix ie I drive a car, I know I'II drive a truck but think you're right it doesn't stack up - oddly I have often found it really, really easy to pick up women when I've been out driving trucks though so that might need adjusting for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPin Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 You'd have to pay a chunk in training (I would guess knocking on for £3k, these days, and that's probably assuming first time passes). Then once you'd got them no-one will want to take you on without experience to prove you're not going to put the wagon on it's side or stove it into a bridge as soon as you're given the keys so you'd have to time serve with fly by nights. There's the problem! And the reason I never went for it. My regular car licence (obtained before 2000) allows me to drive 7.5 Tonne ones with electric tailgate, I've hired a few of those, and haven't managed to dent them. Although looking at the state of the vans, others have. If you have a newer car licence, you are limited to 3.5 Tonne. I think they are quite big after driving a Micra, and people get confused. . Although of course MrPin would not be driving a Micra. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porca misèria Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Surprised at the current spate of joblessness amongst HPC off-topicers. Given what's happened to the price of diesel you'd expect road haulage to be booming. Even if there were the business to be had, that's not relevant to those of us whose eyesight falls short of what would be safe in charge of a motor vehicle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPin Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Even if there were the business to be had, that's not relevant to those of us whose eyesight falls short of what would be safe in charge of a motor vehicle. I went to Vision Express, and they made glasses for me. F8gging expensive though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Bear Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 I went to Vision Express, and they made glasses for me. F8gging expensive though. Wore glasses from I was about 8 years old. Eyesight went to hell after a bout of measles. First thing in the morning, reach for glasses. Corrected eyesight OK, the CAA gave me a class2. Then a couple of years back I went to the doctor with some sort of irritation in the eye. Was sent off immediately to the eye vet. The irritation was only dry eyes, no problem, but BTY, did I know that I had cateracts. I said that the opticina had said taht they were coming on but no problem for a while yet and that in any case I thought that nothing could be done until they were really bad. No, I was told, they can be removed at any time now, go and see your GP. I did so and cataracts were removed. Result, perfect distant vision and although I can read without glasses The eyes tire quickly so i use pound shop reading glasses. No more expensive trips to Vision Express or any of their ilk. In fact the nurse in the hospital said after I had the second one doen, 'Pay £1 for glasses and no more tha £1' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
council dweller Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 I had an earwax problem until I went to the surgery and had my ears cleaned out a few weeks ago. They`ve got a machine which will blast out wax. Apparently you shouldn't push cotton buds into your ears until you can feel them coming out of your opposite ear. No one told me..... I`m now fighting fit.....but not inclined to work! I must admit that I find it a little difficult to get my head round this Pricariate thing but I`m enjoying living a frugal life and living on a combination of benefits (non means tested) and my savings . Although I`m not `one of those` I`m actually living on what Is something like a Citizens income. Btw, over the last two years four months I`ve spent £4 on socks! (12 pairs) Just thought I`d mention.....! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPin Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Btw, over the last two years four months I`ve spent £4 on socks! (12 pairs) Just thought I`d mention.....! Extravagance! Are you some sort of giant spider? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porca misèria Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Extravagance! Are you some sort of giant spider? He's Gregor Samsa. And wants a change of socks, too. /me doesn't wear socks. Nasty things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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