A Changing Labour Market under the Intensification of Dualization. The Experience of a Southern European Society

Abstract

AbstractFifty years ago, a Portuguese sociologist, Adérito Sedas Nunes (1964), used the image of a ‘dual society under evolution’ to refer to Portugal. Since then, the image of Portugal as a country simultaneously old and new, (post) modern and traditional was used by several social scientists in various fields of research (migration, urban studies, social policy, education, culture). In spite of the remarkable process of modernization the country has experienced during this period of time, inequalities and dualisms continue to be deeply embedded in the economic and social system and were even intensified by recent austerity measures in the context of massive unemployment and economic distress.In the article, I examine two specific domains where signs of dualism(s) persist, the labour market and the system of welfare, and investigate how the interconnectedness between the two is generating new forms of social and economic inequalities. Reforms in the labour market have been under constant reform within the last decades, representing, for a large and increasing number of individuals, more precarious working conditions, low paid jobs, unstable lives with intermittent careers. At the same time, governmental policies have contributed to diminish the level of social protection for labour market participants in precarious employment as well as for people without jobs.This article aims at providing a contribution to the literature on dualization focusing on the link between changing forms of integration in the labour market and transformations in the social protection system, examining its specific configuration in one of the countries belonging to the Southern European welfare regime.