Dimensions of precariousness

Independent professionals between market risks and entrapment in poor occupational careers

Datos Bibliográficos

ID21189706
AutoresPaolo Borghi (0000-0002-4533-5627), Paolo Borghi Paolo Borghi, Guido Cavalca, Guido Cavalca Guido Cavalca, Ivana Fellini (0000-0003-2301-802X), Ivana Fellini Ivana Fellini
Año2016
Volumen10
Número2
Fecha de publicación2016-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaWork Organisation Labour & Globalisation (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1745-641X • E-ISSN: 1745-6428
EditorialPluto Journals (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.13169/workorgalaboglob.10.2.0050
OpenAlexW2558759854
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas22

This article looks at the multifaceted precariousness of independent professionals through a qualitative analysis based in the urban area of Milan (Italy). It supports the hypothesis that at a more advanced stage of independent professionals' careers, the analysis of precariousness as a market risk can be enriched by adding the concept of ‘entrapment’ in vulnerable working paths and working and living conditions to the definition of poor occupational careers. Entrapment can be considered as the long-lasting condition of a large and weak part of young-adult independent professionals beyond the first stages of their careers. Our fieldwork confirms the widespread fragmentation of careers and increasing difficulties for young professionals to improve their positions due to structural economic and organisational changes. Four career dynamics of independent professionals emerge from the qualitative analysis – successful, dynamic, entrapped and temporarily interrupted. Career strategies play a major role in determining successful outcomes, but social relations are confirmed as also crucially important for job success, providing professional networks, welfare support and ‘local professional integration’

Business · Entrapment · Opportunity structures · Political science · Public relations · Qualitative analysis · Qualitative research · Sociology · Welfare · Employment and Welfare Studies · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Psychology · Youth Education and Societal Dynamics