Demanding the Impossible: the Precariat, Social Outrage and Anti-austerity Movements

Eliza Kania

doi:10.14746/ssp.2020.4.3

Abstract

The article analyses major legacies of anti-austerity movements since 2011: Indignados/as and Occupy Wall Street (known also as the movements of the precariat). Based on the author’s research developed in her book: The precariat and the process of precarisation of labour - new directions of global socio-economic changes (original title: Prekariat i proces prekaryzacji pracy – nowe kierunki zmian społeczno ekonomicznych w świecie), the article summarises the most significant outcomes of these movements’ activities and demands, in four primary dimensions: identity, social awareness, organisation and politics. The author also answers the question of whether, in the course of anti-austerity movements’ activities, a new social group – the precariat – gained political subjectivity.

Highlights

The article analyses major legacies of anti-austerity movements since 2011: Indignados/as and Occupy Wall Street
The massive social outrage led to the emergence of two social movements: Indignados/as1 in Spain and Occupy Wall Street in the US, and internationally
To analyse and summarise the outcomes of the activities of the Indignados/as and Occupy Wall Street movements, I decided to focus on four dimensions: (1) identity, (2) social awareness, (3) organisation, and (4) politics

Summary

Basic concepts

After almost two decades of initial deliberations on the process of the precarisation of labour, in 2011 a British scientist, Guy Standing, initiated a broader discussion on the precariat in his newly published book (Standing, 2011). The massive social protests of the Indignados/as and Occupy Wall Street movements in 2011 can be considered marking the closure of the first phase and the commencement of the second phase (representation). Standing defines this phase as the ability to create and use a collective (and individual) voice that can make a real influence on state institutions and political actors and can initiate global action. Both in Madrid and Barcelona, started setting up acampadas – long-term camps occupying the public space Another significant event was the march to Madrid from many cities all over Spain planned for 22 July 2011. At the time of its most significant activity, the Occupy Wall Street movement enjoyed public support of 50 per cent, but a few months later, it dropped to 33 per cent (Earle, 2012, p. 5)

Major demands

Major outcomes

Findings

Conclusions