The term ‘the precariat’ has been bandied about a lot in recent years. It comes from Guy Standing’s book The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class. It is a key concept for people involved in careers to understand as it says something very important about how many people experience work and career. In particular for many it is effectively a denial of the possibilities of career, progression and decent work on which much of the promise of career guidance is built. The precariat are stuck with little hope of a better future. So how do we relate to them.
If you want to discover more about this idea, a good place to start is with Standing’s TED talk.
It is also well worth looking at Ronald Sultana’s chapter ‘Precarity, austerity and the social contract in a liquid world: Career guidance mediating the citizen and the state‘ which you can find in the book Career guidance for social justice.
Ronald recently sent us this film from ARTE.tv which explores the idea in depth, drawing on footage and interviews from across Europe.
We would be really interested to hear more about your thoughts on the precariat and how career guidance might challenge precarity.
Critical Perspectives on Career and Career Guidance (COCAG) 
The ARTE video was nothing short of brilliant to watch – thank so much for sharing!
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