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Capitalism, Work & Precarity (Spr) (L2901B)

15 credits, Level 5

Spring teaching

This module offers you training in sociological approaches to and analyses of the phenomenon of work under capitalism. It addresses precarity as a social, political, and economic process. The module aims to give you an advanced critical understanding of precarity and the casualisation of working arrangements not as a neoliberal novelty and exception but, rather, as a structural trait of capitalism.

In this module, there’s a:

• first part focusing on the theory and history of the ‘making’ of exploitable working subjects
• second part addressing contemporary sociological studies that investigate temporal reconfigurations in emerging working arrangements (gig economy, remote working, AI/automation and its training, etc).

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 150 hours of work. This breaks down into about 22 hours of contact time and about 128 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2025/26. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.

We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.