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Trapped in contradiction: Precariousness and the ideological orientations of younger workers in hospitality-related occupations

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  • Gregoris Ioannou

    (University of Sheffield, UK)

Abstract

This article explores the ideological orientations of ‘younger workers’ in relation to their experience of precarious employment in Scotland and Greece. Based on 60 semi-structured interviews with workers in hospitality-related occupations in two national settings, it counterposes their actual material conditions to their ideational conceptions, values and worldviews. By interrogating stances on issues such as flexibility, future plans, collectivism and trade unionism, on the ideals of freedom and fairness and on their thoughts about what is possible in their field of work, it enquires about the impact of prevailing market-centred values and neoliberal axioms on younger workers. It identifies tensions, unease and contradictions in workers’ ‘subjective’ articulations and explains how these are not a product of ideology per se but have their causes in the ‘objective’ realm, the socio-economic conditions prevailing since the financial crisis.

Suggested Citation

  • Gregoris Ioannou, 2024. "Trapped in contradiction: Precariousness and the ideological orientations of younger workers in hospitality-related occupations," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 45(3), pages 891-913, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ecoind:v:45:y:2024:i:3:p:891-913
    DOI: 10.1177/0143831X231201276
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gregoris Ioannou & Ruth Dukes, 2021. "Anything goes? Exploring the limits of employment law in UK hospitality and catering," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(3), pages 255-269, May.
    2. Orestis Papadopoulos & Gregoris Ioannou, 2023. "Working in hospitality and catering in Greece and the UK: Do trade union membership and collective bargaining still matter?," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 29(2), pages 105-122, June.
    3. Craig Berry & Sean McDaniel, 2022. "Post-crisis precarity: Understanding attitudes to work and industrial relations among young people in the UK," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 43(1), pages 322-343, February.
    4. Leandro Iván Canzio & Felix Bühlmann & Jonas Masdonati, 2023. "Job satisfaction across Europe: An analysis of the heterogeneous temporary workforce in 27 countries," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 44(3), pages 728-754, August.
    5. Adam Mrozowicki & Vera Trappmann, 2021. "Precarity as a Biographical Problem? Young Workers Living with Precarity in Germany and Poland," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 35(2), pages 221-238, April.
    6. Jill Rubery & Damian Grimshaw & Arjan Keizer & Mathew Johnson, 2018. "Challenges and Contradictions in the ‘Normalising’ of Precarious Work," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 32(3), pages 509-527, June.
    7. Thelen,Kathleen, 2014. "Varieties of Liberalization and the New Politics of Social Solidarity," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107679566, January.
    8. McGovern, Patrick, 2014. "Contradictions at work: a critical review," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 45188, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
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