An exploration of precarity's material and political effects

Abstract

Precarity has been constituted as integral to neoliberalism. This thesis offers a sociomaterial exploration of precarity to account for the relationship between its corporeal and political effects. The uncertainties and insecurities created by precarity have been linked to increases in negative bodily responses, such as anxiety, which have given rise to wellbeing programmes that reinforce individualism and displace socio-economic factors. Several socio-cultural theorists have identified neoliberal responses to precarity as a site for critical and collective solutions. However, there remain doubts whether traditionally reactive, oppositional models of resistance can effectively address the disparately shared encounters of contemporary precarity.

Through theoretical analysis and empirical research, this study investigates how neoliberal discourses and practices individualise how precarity comes to be known and felt. By drawing together an assemblage of philosophical concepts and empirical data, a theoretical framework develops to explore how radical, ecological and embodied practices engender a more relational approach. Twelve qualitative interviews with alternative health practitioners, conducted between January and April 2022, explore relational, embodied forms of knowing, and extends the domain of exploration through new materialist and critical posthuman perspectives. These lenses emphasise openness to eco-systemic relationships between human and other-than-human entities.

Through this mapping, this thesis questions how power works through precarity, bodies and neoliberal subjectivities. A key insight is that the emphasis on human and other-than human inter-connections enables embodied practices to cultivate attitudinal shifts. Consequently, the thesis suggests that a broadening of relational sensibilities is necessary to navigate through a world that is increasingly precarious. It concludes by advocating for the need for creative, relationally embodied, and emergent spaces and practices. These spaces help nurture alternative ways of thinking and acting, that extend beyond the limited range of knowledge production available in neoliberal capitalism.

Date of Award	May 2023
Original language	English
Sponsors	Department for the Economy
Supervisor	Bethany Waterhouse-Bradley (Supervisor), Jennifer Hamilton (Supervisor) & Fidelma Ashe (Supervisor)