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Sociologist: Job Insecurity Is the New Normal

Posted by samzenpus on from the to-the-highest-bidder dept.

Mr.Intel writes: Allison Pugh, professor of Sociology at University of Virginia, and author of The Tumbleweed Society: Working and Caring in an Age of Insecurity, says workers in the U.S. are caught up in a "one-way honor system," in which workers are beholden to employers. She says that the golden era when Americans could get a job, keep it, and expect to retire with an adequate pension are over. JP Morgan Chase has cut 20,000 from its workforce in the past 5 years, last year HP cut 34,000 jobs, and many others have announced layoffs. In this interview Pugh talks about the social effects of this "insecurity culture."

2 of 585 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Unions by NostalgiaForInfinity · · Score: 1, Troll

    Right now, unless you happen to live in one of the few states where companies are required to offer you more than simply at-will employment, or you're one of the few people still in a union, you pretty much have few protections against the company deciding to fire you tomorrow,

    Ah, yes, because that's exactly what skilled people want: getting paid and hired/fired not based on how good they are or how much they contribute to a company, but based on criteria like seniority and other kinds of b.s. that unions come up with.

    And yes, as much as people decry unions, and the abuses that comes with unions, that's your answer in terms of balancing the power. One person alone just doesn't have the power, unless they're being hired for an executive/C-level position.

    Software developers, engineers, and other professionals have no problem negotiating good working conditions for themselves. Union membership is down to 11% of the workforce in the US, for the simple reason that almost nobody wants to be a member of a union. You'd get laughed out of the room if you tried to unionize the software developers where I work; and if you succeeded, probably half of them would just leave.

  2. Re:Troll by thinkwaitfast · · Score: 0, Troll

    I've been to Soviet Russia (Stalingrad (now St. Petersberg)) and lived in it personally, first hand.` Have you? I agree with the poster who said he'd take free market capitalism over socialism ANY DAY.