Mitchell Sonntag

Lehigh Valley Vanguard Collections Volume TEN Mitchell Sonntag

Through emphasizing various realities of the precariat (a social class defined by their lack of predictability, job insecurity, undercut by neoliberal policy) writers in this volume shine light on the lack of material and psychological welfare accessible to this group. Flexibility in work is often framed as a sexy, hip mode of operating in a capitalist society. It has also encouraged estrangement, as Marx predicted. In many ways precarious labor has intensified alienation and mortified the human brain and heart. Constant worry for lack of knowing if giving oneself up to work for the dreams of another will be a sustainable way to live: this seems to be the precursor of conditions we experience in the working class. Many feel this psychological violence their whole lives, unable to define it, but certain the symptoms are causing a deterioration of a spark they used to possess.