Phenomenology of precarious work in Iran

Document Type : Research Article

Author

Department of Sociology. Social Science Faculty. Imam Khomeini International University. Qazvin. Iran

10.22084/csr.2024.29179.2279

Abstract

Objectives: This paper is about understanding of lived experience of economic precarity in Iranian workers. This study tries to answer that why workers choose path of adaptation and hope against a risky and insecure work life. In this regard we relied on the lived experience of precarious situations of workers and concept of cruel hope by Lauren Berlent.

Methods: This study was conducted among young educated men who work with short-term contract status in Iranian industry, using qualitative method, in-depth interview and participatory observation, to track precarity as an emotional state in workers.

Results: In the process of gathering information, a different definition of hope appears in Iranian geographical and economic context; and it is shown how despite the enduring anger of working men from the structural barriers of economic instability and experience of feelings such as being stuck, exhausted and reaching a dead end, hope and distraction is replaced with actions of resistance against precarity by consumerism, religious beliefs, movies, belief in meritocracy and doctrine of self-help and individual responsibility.

Conclusions: Results show that hope of success promised by the dominant economic system continues to live powerfully and cruelly and Workers work hard to promote their job position and do not back down.

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Main Subjects

Two Quarterly Journal of Contemporary Sociological Research

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 10 August 2024

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