Precarious Liberation
Workers, the State, and Contested Social Citizenship in Postapartheid South Africa

eBook Features
-
Read Anywhere
Read your book anywhere, on any device, through RedShelf's cloud based eReader.
-
Digital Notes and Study Tools
Built-in study tools include highlights, study guides, annotations, definitions, flashcards, and collaboration.
-
Text-to-Speech Compatible
Have the book read to you!
-
Offline Access
(
100% )
The publisher of this book allows a portion of the content to be used offline.
-
Copy/Paste
(
20% )
The publisher of this book allows a portion of the content to be copied and pasted into external tools and documents.
Additional Book Details
<p>Examines the relationship of precarious employment to state policies on citizenship and social inclusion in the context of postapartheid South Africa.</p><p>Winner of the 2012 CLR James Award presented by the Working Class Studies Association </p><p>Millions of black South African workers struggled against apartheid to redeem employment and production from a history of abuse, insecurity, and racial despotism. Almost two decades later, however, the prospects of a dignified life of wage-earning work remain unattainable for most South Africans. Through extensive archival and ethnographic research, Franco Barchiesi documents and interrogates this important dilemma in the country's democratic transition: economic participation has gained centrality in the government's definition of virtuous citizenship, and yet for most workers, employment remains an elusive and insecure experience. In a context of market liberalization and persistent social and racial inequalities, as jobs in South Africa become increasingly flexible, fragmented, and unprotected, they depart from the promise of work with dignity and citizenship rights that once inspired opposition to apartheid. Barchiesi traces how the employment crisis and the responses of workers to it challenge the state's normative imagination of work, and raise decisive questions for the social foundations and prospects of South Africa's democratic experiment.</p>
ISBNs | 9781438436128, 1438436122, 9781438436104 |
---|---|
Language | English |
Number of Pages | 353 |