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The Precariat. The New Dangerous Class

Good Jobs, Bad Jobs: The Rise of Polarized and Precarious Employment Systems in the United States, 1970s to 2000s

Surveys the history of the House of Representatives and describes its structure, current function, and influence on American society.

The House of Representatives

Gender inequality remains both a pressing social issue and a fruitful area of social science research. This edited volume seeks to examine gender inequality and the production of well-being in Europe from an interdisciplinary perspective that is perhaps more feminist economics than sociology. The chapters draw on historical and contemporary European examples and offer a somewhat different take (both theoretically and methodologically) on what is usually found in American sociology journals. This book takes a broader view on gender inequalities and the production of wellbeing, with the ‘‘capability approach’’ serving as the theoretical connection between the chapters. The chapters reemphasize that social reproduction is more complex than the production of goods. The various authors also call for and (in the empirical chapters) take into account the socio-political and economic context. An entire chapter is dedicated to the introduction of the capability approach (Chapter Two). But the description of the theory remains lacking amidst numerous references that point the reader towards clarification elsewhere. The authors posit that well-being is an important outcome, and that the production of well-being itself needs to be included in the study of gender inequality (Chapter One), while also demanding that women are not just another vulnerable group (Chapter Four). Chapter Three further challenges conventional notions about the evolution of the ‘‘modern family’’ in the wake of the industrialization process, and argues that the fragility of families is not a novel concept. These theoretical chapters call for a more multidimensional assessment of gender inequality, and remind readers of the importance of the concept and production of well-being. The topics covered in the two empirical parts of the book are very diverse in terms of subject, methodology, and historical time period. The first empirical section ‘‘Gender Care and Work’’ is held together by the challenge to the idea of women as passive victims and in need of assistance. Chapter Five demonstrates widows’ relative economic independence in urban Sweden and Finland from 1890 to 1910, and Chapter Six shows the centrality of female relatives in caring for extended family members in times of crisis. Chapter Seven reaffirms the idea that intergenerational support is not one-sided, and those often thought of as needing care due to older age are also givers of care and other forms of support. The findings from the chapters emphasize the importance of non-monetary transfers outside the market system. The theme of caregiving is readdressed in later chapters which illustrate how home caregiving in Belgium is situated between the public/market divide (Chapter Nine) and the problems of combining market work with caregiving, especially for those in the ‘‘sandwich generation’’ (Chapter Ten). In a seeming departure from studies in the capability approach tradition, Chapter Eight is a more typical time-use study that examines the gender asymmetry in unpaid labor in Italy. The results are not novel as women are found to do more unpaid work, especially in couples with children. The second empirical part of the book focuses on the intra-household allocation of resources. Three of the five chapters in this section center primarily on the nineteenth century, examining consumption patterns in Spain (Chapter 11), gender differences in children’s schooling in Switzerland (Chapter 12), and the differences in the treatment of and opportunities for celibate men and women in the Pyrenees (Chapter 13). These chapters illustrate gender differences, but not in

Managing the Margins: Gender, Citizenship, and the International Regulation of Precarious Employment

This article looks at pre-crime in the context of counter-terrorism. Pre-crime links coercive state actions to suspicion without the need for charge, prosecution or conviction. It also includes measures that expand the remit of the criminal law to include activities or associations that are deemed to precede the substantive offence targeted for prevention. The trend towards anticipating risks as a driving principle in criminal justice was identifi ed well before 2001. However, risk and threat anticipation have substantially expanded in the context of contemporary counter-terrorism frameworks. Although pre-crime counter-terrorism measures are rationalized on the grounds of preventing terrorism, these measures do not fi t in the frame of conventional crime prevention. The article argues that the shift to pre-crime embodies a trend towards integrating national security into criminal justice along with a temporal and geographic shift that encompasses a blurring of the borders between the states ’ internal and external coercive capacities. The counter-terrorism framework incorporates and combines elements of criminal justice and national security, giving rise to a number of tensions. One key tension is between the ideal of impartial criminal justice and the politically charged concept of national security. Pre-crime counter-terrorism measures can be traced through a number of interlinking historical trajectories including the wars on crime and drugs, criminalization and, more fundamentally, in colonial strategies of domination, control and repression. The article concludes by identifying a number of challenges and opportunities for criminology in the shift from post-crime criminal justice to pre-crime national security.

Imagining Future Crime in the ' War on Terror '

This article describes the secrecy provisions embodied in the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Legislation Amendment Act 2003 (Cwlth). The article explains how these provisions curb freedom of speech and remove ASIO's activities from the domain of public scrutiny. It argues that by effectively criminalising open discussion of ASIO's activities the provisions insulate much of the domestic 'war on terror' from the public gaze. It also argues that the provisions implicitly sanction lawlessness by ASIO in open breach of the rule of law. By undermining free speech and the rule of law, this legislation increases the risk of torture of persons detained by ASIO. The legislation also exacerbates the punitiveness of such detention. Moreover, the secrecy offences will distort Australian politics by enabling the government to control and manipulate 'security' information. The article concludes that the increase in state secrecy and its impact are part of a continuing shift in the relative distribution of power between state and subject in liberal democracies; a shift that signals a move to more repressive or authoritarian forms of rule.

Secret State, Transparent Subject: The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation in the Age of Terror

Temporary migrant workers are widely regarded as a precarious group of workers. This precariousness is often traced back to the sphere of employment, though recent research also points to the impli...

Temporary migrant nurses in Australia: Sites and sources of precariousness:

How democratic is the way in which political parties are funded? This report identifies two central problems: a lack of transparency around the way parties are funded and the way in which their money is spent; and an inequality in the system that favours the Coalition and ALP at the expense of the minor parties.

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Political finance in Australia: a skewed and secret system

One of the most dramatic and contentious measures introduced immediately after 9/11 was the power to detain suspected international terrorists indefinitely, on the say-so of the security service. Detention without trial is an extreme measure in any country at any time, and it is one that was used in Britain on only two occasions in the 20th century. The occasions for such drastic action were the First and Second World Wars, when German nationals and others were locked up. In both cases the detentions gave rise to legal challenges, which in both cases were unsuccessful, the House of Lords in each case coming down uncompromisingly in favour of security at the expense of liberty.1 Otherwise, powers of detention have been used in Northern Ireland, with the internment of IRA suspects taking place at various points throughout the 20th century, and most recently in 1969. Internment without trial, however, was held by the European Court of Human Rights to be a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR),2 though the power to intern long survived its use in practice. But no sooner had these powers been removed by the Terrorism Act 2000 than fresh powers of internment were taken,3 this time directed at foreign nationals based in the United Kingdom, who could not be deported because of the decision in Chahal v United Kingdom.4 The practice of detention

The Continuing Futility of the Human Rights Act

Most international students in Australia take up paid work during their studies, generally as part‑time employees in low‑wage, low‑skill labour markets. Though little is known about the detail of their work experiences, scattered reports suggest that wages and working conditions are often poor and pose significant issues of social justice. This article examines the characteristics of jobs held by one group of international students, drawing on in‑depth qualitative interviews that form part of a case study of Melbourne's caf , restaurant and takeaway food services sector. The evidence indicates that precariousness in employment is widespread in this sector and that it centres on underpayment and non‑payment of wages, in breach of labour regulation. The article suggests that such illegal employer practices are facilitated by use of undeclared casual work. Underpayments are most severe in what are typically regarded as ethnic cafes and restaurants, which concentrate on employment of international students, but they are also widespread in mainstream cafes and restaurants, where international students share precarious work conditions with other workers. The findings underline the case for more concerted research and new policy initiatives.

Joo-Cheong Tham

Papers

Secret State, Transparent Subject: The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation in the Age of Terror

Temporary migrant nurses in Australia: Sites and sources of precariousness:

Political finance in Australia: a skewed and secret system

The Continuing Futility of the Human Rights Act

Inhospitable workplaces? International students and paid work in food services