Work Outside the Hamster’s Cage: Precarity and the Pursuit of a Life Worth Living in Catalonia

Abstract

This chapter asks why people deliberately choose to engage in precarious forms of work. It brings ethnographic attention to forms of work enacted by people involved in two alternative economic projects in Catalonia: an eco-network and an anti-capitalist cooperative. Members of both the eco-network and the Cooperative aimed to minimize their dependence on wage labour and instead sought out a ‘life worth living’ through forms of ‘alternative work’ (feina) and collective forms of living that offered them a sense of mastery and ownership over their lives. However, in addition to generating feelings of autonomy and empowerment, these activities also created forms of insecurity and exclusion. These findings challenge the materialism present in much of the literature on precarious work and suggest the need to reclaim work not only from the wage relation but also particular ideas of community.