Labor Precarity and Uncertainty of Everyday Life in Spain

In this paper, I seek to discuss the theme of uncertainty in everyday Spanish life by examining the rise in non-standard work such as involuntary part-time time, temporary and under-the-table labor contracts in a context in which domestic job opportunities are still perceived to be scarce. I draw on various theoretical and ethnographic literature as well as initial primary ethnographic research to explore the role that expectations about work and income play practically in people's livelihoods as well as symbolically and affectively in human subjectivities and interpersonal spaces. Finally, I posit the possible connections among the everyday experiences and strategies arising from the deepening social and financial crisis of the average Spanish household and higher-level statistical and macroeconomic forms of representation and diagnosis, labor reform and economic policy-making. My paper will speak to "resilience" through questions such as, What are the means and what are the limits of household resilience in a time of austerity, financial instability, indebtedness and dearth of solid job opportunities? What is the specific shape of "resilience" demanded and privileged by European states and supranational bodies of their constituents and what kind of future might it herald?