Precarious Enterprise on the Margins: Work, Poverty, and Homelessness in the City

This book explores the contemporary conditions of marginal work within the context of persistent unemployment, poverty, and homelessness in wealthy nations. Drawing from research concerning three citiesùMelbourne, San Francisco, and LondonùJessica Gerrard offers a rich account of one of the most precarious informal forms of work: selling homeless street press (The Big Issue and Street Sheet). Combining analyses of sellersÆ everyday work experiences with theorizations of marginality, working, and learning, Gerrard provides much-needed insight into contemporary forms of entrepreneurial and precarious work. This book demonstrates that those who are unemployed and seemingly unproductive are, in fact, highly productive. They value, desire, and seek practical work experience whilst also struggling to fulfill the basic needs that many of us take for granted.

• | Author: Jessica Gerrard
• | Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• | Publication Date: Jul 23, 2017
• | Number of Pages: 227 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Hardcover/Social Science
• | ISBN-10: 1137594829
• | ISBN-13: 9781137594822