Today an advanced degree is not a perfect, or even reasonably effective, defense against precarity. In fact, Guy Standing, who injected the term precariat into the public consciousness, sees degree holders as one of the precariat factions. Of this group (the “progressives”), he writes: It consists of people who go to college, promised by their parents, teachers and politicians that this will grant them a career. They soon realize they were sold a lottery ticket and come out without a future and with plenty of debt. This faction is dangerous in a more positive way. They are unlikely to support
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At a recent family brunch, this became clear as the next generation talked about their precarious situations. Home ownership is unlikely given student loan debt; children are unlikely given their housing challenges; tying decent health care to tenuous employment is a great way to extract money, but a terrible way to build a thriving society.
