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[[File:The-precariat.jpg|thumb]]
The term '''“Precariat”''' designates a social class characterized by economic insecurity, unstable employment, and a lack of predictable income, benefits, or occupational identity. It combines ''precarious'' and ''proletariat'', reflecting both the instability of modern labor conditions and their connection to working-class exploitation.
== Origins and Conceptual Development ==
The concept gained prominence through the work of '''Guy Standing''', particularly in ''The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class'' (2011). Standing proposed that global labor markets have undergone structural changes producing a new class distinct from the traditional working class. He argued that neoliberal economic policies, labor market deregulation, and the dismantling of social protections have created widespread precarity in employment and life conditions.
In Standing’s framework, The Precariat comprises individuals lacking stable labor contracts, occupational identity, or social protections—features that once characterized the industrial working class. Members of this group experience unstable, low-wage, and often temporary or gig-based employment. They are marked by income volatility, weak social integration, and limited access to welfare or labor rights.
Standing situates the rise of The Precariat within late 20th- and early 21st-century transformations in global capitalism: labor market deregulation, privatization, technological disruption, and the erosion of collective bargaining. These processes, he argues, have produced a distinct class structure in which the precariat occupies a position of structural disadvantage, insecurity, and political disaffection.
== Defining Features ==
The Precariat lacks the stable attributes associated with Fordist industrial employment: long-term contracts, social security, pensions, and collective bargaining rights. Members typically cycle through short-term jobs, part-time work, gig employment, or informal economic activities. This instability extends to their social identity and political voice, producing both economic and existential uncertainty.
Key characteristics include:
* '''Employment insecurity''': Temporary, zero-hours, or gig-based work arrangements.
* '''Income volatility''': Unpredictable earnings and limited access to benefits.
* '''Occupational fragmentation''': Weak attachment to a professional identity or career trajectory.
* '''Social disembeddedness''': Reduced integration into unions, communities, or welfare institutions.
* '''Educational mismatch:''' Often well-educated individuals performing low-skill or underpaid work.
== Scientists as The Precariat ==
Eric Weinstein has used '''The Precariat''' to refer to the class of scientists and intellects trapped in economic fragility. Once architects of prosperity, they no longer possess the security and [[Academic Freedom]] once associated with intellectual life, now living at the mercy of grants, bureaucracies, and "[[Peer Review]]" ([[Peer Injunction]]). Their work, a public good, creates wealth that never reaches them. Precarity silences dissent and breeds conformity; courage is unaffordable.
Weinstein points out that the postwar understanding between society and its scientists has disappeared. Stability and prestige have been replaced by grant cycles and bureaucratic oversight. What had been a revered calling has become a desperate contest for survival, an Academic Hunger Games. Weinstein argues that restoring security and prosperity to scientists would reignite innovation, rebuild national strength, and renew civilization’s creative core. Wealth, he insists, is the antidote to corruption, fear, and decay in science.
=== A Market Failure in Plain Sight ===
Weinstein argues that scientific labor is structurally undervalued. Researchers produce ''public goods'' — discoveries that benefit everyone and cannot be restricted — but receive compensation inconsistent with their societal value. This is a form of "market failure," since the system rewards administration and extraction rather than creation.
He wrote in 2023 that scientists generate wealth that flows away from them:
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1626466602542854146
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=You see scientists create what economists call a '''MARKET FAILURE''' in the form of a '''PUBLIC GOOD'''. That is the '''VALUE''' our scientists create isn’t captured in the '''PRICE''' they can command even in a free market. Then we broke our contract to take care of them  by sharing downstream wealth.
|timestamp=6:20 AM · Feb 17, 2023
}}
This condition, he maintains, distorts priorities. It leads to a society that treats knowledge as an afterthought while consuming its results.
=== The Price of Fear ===
Financial dependence changes how people speak and act. When scientists' jobs and grants are insecure, dissent becomes dangerous. Many remain silent to avoid jeopardizing their positions.
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1630978435068858368
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=A scientist needs to know she/he is not hanging by a thread. You need to be able to tell The Fauci/Collins/Daszaks of this world to Eff off. And survive. And Thrive.
We are paying for cheap science. It’s in your lungs now. Let’s start paying for real science. It’s much cheaper.
|thread=
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1630976735436238849
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=Scientists made us wealthy.
It is time to return the favor.
Stop producing '''precarious scientists'''.
|timestamp=5:02 PM · Mar 1, 2023
}}
|timestamp=5:08 PM · Mar 1, 2023
}}
Weinstein cites the pandemic years as evidence, reminding his audience that scientists repeated the views of administrative leaders such as Fauci and Collins instead of challenging them. The issue is structural: a precarious academic profession cannot remain intellectually open. There is no possibility of dissent without fear of losing everything.
=== Cheap Science, Costly Consequences ===
Weinstein contends that modern research culture favors compliance and volume over originality. Budgets are cut, expectations rise, and institutions reward caution. He describes this as "cheap science" — a system that appears efficient yet yields diminished outcomes.
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1490951516085448705
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=I spent a lot of time in beautiful homes and second homes of older research scientists as a grad student.
We should be embarrassed how far into '''precariousness''' we pushed Generation X & Millennials. Our entire economy is now bet on bargain science provided way below market.#Enough
|timestamp=7:31 AM · Feb 8, 2022
}}
The consequence is declining trust and stagnation. Bureaucracy replaces discovery, and administrative logic overtakes radical curiosity and risk taking.
=== The Expert Class in Decline ===
Weinstein's concern applies not only to scientists but also the larger "expert class." Journalists, academics, and professionals (e.g., doctors) face the same conditions of dependence and instability.
He wrote:
<blockquote>
“''You aren’t having an expertise crisis. You’re having an '''artificial precariousness crisis''' imposed on your expert class by broken tacit agreements turning the community into expert witnesses who no longer can afford to put that expertise in public service.''” -'''Eric Weinstein''' on [https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1910686332512592304 X]
</blockquote>
Weinstein characterizes this as a structural process that turns independent expertise into [[Managed Reality TM|managed opinion]]. When professional survival depends on sponsorship or compliance, the public’s access to independent judgment erodes.
=== Restoring the Builders ===
Weinstein maintains that stability is essential for intellectual honesty. A scientist must be able to [[Academic Freedom|resist authority and still remain employed]]. Without that foundation, even the strongest institutions risk devolving into performance structures.
Eric refers to mid-20th-century science as an example of a time when careers were durable and inquiry was protected. Restoring the appropriate framework would include dramatically increasing [[Academic Freedom]] and compensation, removing the [[Extractive Elite]] from positions of power to replace them with the [[True Elite]], and returning to an older model of "[[Peer Review]]", where fiercely independent editors run journals.
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1971639845278961819
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=Editors who are distinguished fiercely independent researchers themselves, with huevos of steel, integrity, a cuture of collegiality, autonomy, money, and a variety of strong differing opinions.
|quote=
{{Tweet
|image=ha1331-profile.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/ha1331/status/1971633993000145312
|name=Henrik
|usernameurl=https://x.com/ha1331
|username=ha1331
|content=What sould replace peer review or would improve on the current system?
|timestamp=5:52 PM · Sep 26, 2025
}}
|timestamp=6:15 PM · Sep 26, 2025
}}
=== The Stakes ===
Weinstein presents '''The Precariat''' as evidence of a [[Universal Institutional Betrayal|deep imbalance between creators and institutions]]. A society that cannot secure its knowledge producers risks losing its ability to generate new ideas.
He calls for the renewal of the social contract with the scientific and expert classes — one that links stability, freedom, and responsibility. Without that foundation, the engines of discovery falter, and those capable of truth are compelled to choose survival over candor.
== Quotes ==
<blockquote>
<blockquote>
''We need to unleash American scientists, get them secure, happy, well-fed. Rich. If you make your scientists, relatively wealthy and prosperous—they don't have to be ridiculously wealthy and prosperous, but right now, they're '''precarious'''. They're part of '''The Precariat'''. If we did that, I think what we could do is we could usher in a renaissance that would filter down to technology startups and the whole tech ecosystem.
''We need to unleash American scientists, get them secure, happy, well-fed. Rich. If you make your scientists, relatively wealthy and prosperous—they don't have to be ridiculously wealthy and prosperous, but right now, they're '''precarious'''. They're part of '''The Precariat'''. If we did that, I think what we could do is we could usher in a renaissance that would filter down to technology startups and the whole tech ecosystem.
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</blockquote>
</blockquote>


== On X ==
== More On X ==
=== 2022 ===
=== 2022 ===
{{Tweet
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
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|content=I spent a lot of time in beautiful homes and second homes of older research scientists as a grad student.
|content=I spent a lot of time in beautiful homes and second homes of older research scientists as a grad student.


We should be embarrassed how far into '''precariousness''' we pushed Generation X &amp; Millennials. Our entire economy is now bet on bargain science provided way below market.#Enough
We should be embarrassed how far into [[The Precariat|precariousness]] we pushed Generation X &amp; Millennials. Our entire economy is now bet on bargain science provided way below market.#Enough
|thread=
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1490949894076469249
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=Keep your mouth shut or lose job security.
 
Sometimes @skdh drives me nuts. Usually, it’s in a good way. Can no one  with money or power fix this situation? No? Of course not. You want science slaves. How’s that working in virology?
 
Somebody get our scientists wealth &amp; [[Academic Freedom|freedom]].
|quote=
{{Tweet
|image=skdh-profile.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/skdh/status/1490945304438345728
|name=Sabine Hossenfelder
|usernameurl=https://x.com/skdh
|username=skdh
|content=Of course the vast majority of people who work in the foundations of physics want me to stop pointing out they are working on pseudoscience. Of course I know that this means I will never get a permanent position.
|timestamp=7:07 AM · Feb 8, 2022
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|timestamp=7:25 AM · Feb 8, 2022
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|timestamp=7:31 AM · Feb 8, 2022
|timestamp=7:31 AM · Feb 8, 2022
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=== 2023 ===
=== 2023 ===
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G) Graduate students are workers disguised as students. Foreign students are a foreign workforce.  
G) Graduate students are workers disguised as students. Foreign students are a foreign workforce.  


H) Peer review is astonishingly recent and doesn’t work.  
H) [[Peer Review|Peer review]] is astonishingly recent and doesn’t work.  


I) There is a quasi military function to research universities. They are part of National Security. Patriotism matters.
I) There is a quasi military function to research universities. They are part of National Security. Patriotism matters.
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Machine learning leap to mind. This must be studied.  
Machine learning leap to mind. This must be studied.  


L) The AAU, NSF, NAS etc. have all conspired against the welfare of American scientists and their families. Scientists need to be in the rooms where their fates are determined.  
L) The AAU, [[National Science Foundation (NSF)|NSF]], [[National Academy of Sciences (NAS)|NAS]] etc. have all conspired against the welfare of American scientists and their families. Scientists need to be in the rooms where their fates are determined.  


M) The difference between a research university and a college takes place almost exclusively within three groups of people: Professors, Graduate Students, and PostDocs/Researchers/Visitors. It often takes place in the afternoons. In seminars. In Labs. Etc. If you aren’t part of that world you aren’t part of the University. You are working or studying in BigEd but not involved with the university itself.
M) The difference between a research university and a college takes place almost exclusively within three groups of people: Professors, Graduate Students, and PostDocs/Researchers/Visitors. It often takes place in the afternoons. In seminars. In Labs. Etc. If you aren’t part of that world you aren’t part of the University. You are working or studying in BigEd but not involved with the university itself.
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N) The great man/woman theory is basically correct in academics. Individual academicians change the world.  
N) The great man/woman theory is basically correct in academics. Individual academicians change the world.  


O) The Mansfield amendment, Dole-Bayh, Eilberg, IMMACT90 etc laws need to be undone. The damage has been incalculable.
O) The [[Mansfield Amendment (1969)|Mansfield amendment]], [[Bayh-Dole Act (1980)|Dole-Bayh]], [[Eilberg Amendment (1976)|Eilberg]], [[IMMACT90]] etc laws need to be undone. The damage has been incalculable.
|quote=
{{Tweet
|image=sfmcguire79-profile-FzUJV2Yy.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/sfmcguire79/status/1894469745946021940
|name=Steve McGuire
|usernameurl=https://x.com/sfmcguire79
|username=sfmcguire79
|content=Full page ad in today’s WSJ taken out by leaders at @VanderbiltU and @WashU:
 
Higher Education is at a Crossroads
 
To university leadership, Board members and alumni:
 
American higher education is at a crossroads. Ideological forces in and outside of campuses have pulled too many universities away from the core purpose, principles and values that made them America's great engines of learning, innovation and discovery, and the envy of the world.
 
It is imperative that universities reaffirm and protect these core principles, strengthen their compact with the American people, and build on their unmatched capacity for teaching and innovation. They must do so not only because universities provide education that is transformative and research that improves everyday life—but also because their work is vital to American prosperity, competitiveness and national security.
 
To this end, the leadership of Vanderbilt University and Washington University in St. Louis recently took action at the board level to affirm our commitment to three indispensable principles that have long guided us:
 
-Excellence in all aspects of our institutions' work, free of political litmus tests, grounded in a commitment to institutional neutrality in words and deeds;
 
-Academic freedom and freedom of expression, to ensure unfettered inquiry, perspectives drawn from a wide range of human experience, and dialogue and debate that are free from censorship and disruption; and
 
-An environment that fosters growth and development, including a commitment to minimizing financial and other barriers that impede students' access to our institutions or that hinder their academic success.
 
Learn about the Vanderbilt-WashU Statement of Principles and efforts to restore confidence in America's great universities at HigherEdStatementofPrinciples dot com
 
Bruce Evans</br>
Chairman, Board of Trust</br>
Vanderbilt University
 
Andrew Bursky</br>
Chair, Board of Trustees Washington University in St. Louis
 
Daniel Diermeier</br>
Chancellor</br>
Vanderbilt University
 
Andrew D. Martin</br>
Chancellor</br>
Washington University in St. Louis
|media1=sfmcguire79-X-post-1894469745946021940-GkqCMUbX0AAbPNZ.jpg
|timestamp=7:29 PM · Feb 25, 2025
}}
|timestamp=7:27 PM · Feb 26, 2025
|timestamp=7:27 PM · Feb 26, 2025
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|timestamp=1:28 PM · Apr 11, 2025
|timestamp=1:28 PM · Apr 11, 2025
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|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=Here is a challenge for any of my colleagues who think this is a nothingburger: given the craziness of the widely discussed and publicized claims in a field that has not seen a change in the Fundamental models of physics in 50 years (!), who are the 25 most prominent physicists and mathematicians who have discussed the @pmarca claims publicly? Nobel laureates? Fields medalists?  
|content=Here is a challenge for any of my colleagues who think this is a [[Nothing Burger|nothingburger]]: given the craziness of the widely discussed and publicized claims in a field that has not seen a change in the Fundamental models of physics in 50 years (!), who are the 25 most prominent physicists and mathematicians who have discussed the @pmarca claims publicly? Nobel laureates? Fields medalists?</br>
Chaired professors worried about the health of science? Top science communicators? PhD level debunkers demanding @pmarca to put up or shut up?
Chaired professors worried about the health of science? Top science communicators? PhD level debunkers demanding @pmarca to put up or shut up?


In a functional world where scientists are not '''precarious''', it would be a *huge* topic of interest, discussion and academic freedom. Or it would be debunked. That’s it. There are no other options. Just those two.
In a functional world where scientists are not '''precarious''', it would be a *huge* topic of interest, discussion and [[Academic Freedom]]. Or it would be debunked. That’s it. There are no other options. Just those two.


Please leave your list below with links! 🙏
Please leave your list below with links! 🙏
|thread=
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1922242777422954949
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=A very interesting question is why academics almost uniformly make fun of conspiracy theories
when presented by colleagues at least.
Los Alamos, Tuskegee, Human Terrain Systems, etc. all involved conspiracy BY ACADEMICS. Some were good. Some bad. Some ambiguous.
But isn’t it odd that conspiracies are a permanent part of human existence, yet trying to study them or theorize about them results in crippling professional penalties?
I am astonished that I have not heard one single physicist call @pmarca a liar for claiming the Biden Whitehouse revealed that entire public subfields of theoretical physics were taken off-line by the government for security reasons, and disappeared or went dark.
Nor have I heard “We have to look into this!”.</br>
Nor have I heard “Wow! That is super interesting.” Just silence.
But what I have heard is academics finding it laughable that others find this is interesting.
The @pmarca claim about physics is thus one of the most anti-interesting claims I have ever heard. Everyone in physics just seems to intuitively know not to ask about it.
Has anyone seen @michiokaku, @neiltyson, @bgreene etc. commenting on this claim? I haven’t.
They all just know: Don’t go there girlfriend.
|quote=
{{Tweet
|image=tsarnick-profile-PRpYEDXP.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/tsarnick/status/1813393267679240647
|name=Tsarathustra
|usernameurl=https://x.com/tsarnick
|username=tsarnick
|content=Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz say that when they met White House officials to discuss AI, the officials said they could classify any area of math they think is leading in a bad direction to make it a state secret and "it will end"
|media1=tsarnick-X-post-1813393267679240647.jpg
|timestamp=2:00 AM · Jul 16, 2024
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|timestamp=10:49 AM · May 13, 2025
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|timestamp=11:09 AM · May 13, 2025
|timestamp=11:09 AM · May 13, 2025
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|timestamp=4:55 PM · Oct 12, 2025
|timestamp=4:55 PM · Oct 12, 2025
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{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/ericrweinstein/status/1978320840111567135
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=So look at this poll.
I am here to tell you we the United States, are drowning in top scientific talent and we are making their lives into a '''precarious''' hell conning them into make everyone else rich. Except them.
“Make value for us to capture.”
Around 1970, Scientific research was transformed into a TERIBLE and '''PRECARIOUS''' U.S. career.
Made much worse in 1990.
Why is no one ringing this alarm? I have no clue.
Look at the poll results.
I repeat:
Scientific research was transformed into a TERIBLE and '''PRECARIOUS''' U.S. career.
Why is no one else ringing this alarm?
I’m simply right on this. It does not matter what the consensus is. This is not a hill to die on. I will win every time.
I am telling you the truth. You are signed up for more pandemics, more drone incursion, more inflation, more Pharma recalls, and to lose to China.
Deal your scientists back in and away from the precariat. This is insane.
Look at this poll. There really is no question about this. It’s a catastrophe.
|quote=
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1977614904174809588
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=U.S. National Interest Poll.
Which competitive occupation can America *least* afford to surrender as a highly attractive career path for Americans:
|media1=ERW-X-post-1977614904174809588.jpg
|timestamp=5:58 AM · Oct 13, 2025
}}
|timestamp=4:43 AM · Oct 15, 2025
}}
}}


== Related Pages ==
== Related Pages ==
* [[Academic Freedom]]
* [[Academic Freedom]]
* [[Anti-Expert]]
* [[Anti-Fragility]]
* [[Bayh-Dole Act (1980)]]
* [[Eilberg Amendment (1976)]]
* [[Extractive Elite]]
* [[FU Money]]
* [[FU Money]]
* [[IMMACT90]]
* [[Labor Shortages]]
* [[Managed Reality TM]]
* [[Mansfield Amendment (1969)]]
* [[Peer Injunction]]
* [[Peer Review]]
* [[Science, The Endless Frontier (1945)]]
* [[True Elite]]
* [[Welfare Queens in White Lab Coats]]


[[Category:Concepts]]
[[Category:Concepts]]
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