The Politics of Disablement and Precarious Work

YouTube video by Brian Bilston - Topic The Interview

‘Tell me: what do you enjoy the most about your current role - the low pay, the long hours, the workload you can’t control? Or your feeling of relief when you’re absolutely anywhere else?’

Brian Bilston & The Catenary Wires

youtu.be/xvwvI6eoyFs?...

a person is reading a book with a lot of words on it Alt: Gif of a person closing a book

Over the coming months, I will be working on a book that focuses on some aspects of the arguments developed through this project. Sharing this here as a way of pressuring myself into a more disciplined writing routine and to let mutuals know that something might be on the way.

Where People Meet: How We Celebrate, Sustain and Reimagine Community Centres - New Local This report sets out the vital role that community centres play in local areas and makes the case for investing in their future.

Interesting @wearenewlocal.bsky.social podcast episode on community centres (there are approx 21,000) in the UK!

www.newlocal.org.uk/publications...

'For me the most important thing is to kill that "little capitalist devil inside ourselves" because that's toxic to everyone and it's very stupid and it's generated by this interlocked system of oppression, capitalism, and normalcy. The starting point is to be better able to defend ourselves and other people, our comrades (either disabled or temporarily able-bodied) from oppressive demands that are placed in terms of productivity, workload, performance. Maybe on that basis, do not be honest with your employer or whoever that is'. - Egista

..'to defend ourselves and other people, our comrades (either disabled or temporarily able-bodied) from oppressive demands that are placed in terms of productivity, workload, performance. Maybe on that basis, do not be honest with your employer or whoever that is'.
- Egista 2/2

#20 - Egista
'For me the most important thing is to kill that "little capitalist devil inside ourselves" because that's toxic to everyone and it's very stupid and it's generated by this interlocked system of oppression, capitalism, & normalcy. The starting point is to be better able'..
- Egista 1/2

The really shit thing about the so called 8 hour work day is that it's not 8 hours. It's 8 plus your (unpaid) lunch (30 minutes to an hour), plus your commute time, plus the getting ready every morning. 10 to 12 hours really. Which means there's only 12-14 hours left. So we have to choose:

Graphic with a white background and text: The State of Critical Race Disability Studies A White Paper Report from the Disabled Scholars of Color Collective

The State of Critical Race Disability Studies A White Paper Report from the Disabled Scholars of Color Collective

disabilityvisibilityproject.com/2025/10/15/g...

Environmental Exposures, Disability, and Reproductive Justice Join this 'Sexuality, Reproductive Health, and Justice' reading group session with Dr Rosamund Greiner (Institute for Global Health)

Environmental Exposures, Disability, and Reproductive Justice
11 November 2025, 1pm-2pm
Join this 'Sexuality, Reproductive Health, and Justice' reading group session with Dr Rosamund Greiner (Institute for Global Health)
www.ucl.ac.uk/institute-of...

'... remember Margaret Thatcher only slept four hours a night and nobody wants to be like her, so more sleep is good, more rest is good. Maybe as well: we are experts in ourselves. Learning to understand ourselves without guilt and without shame - I think that's *huge*, you know? To be able to say: "no, this is what I need", to advocate for that, to self-advocate or advocate for other people - that, I think, is a really big one - for people to not feel the kind of shame'. - Julia

'Learning to understand ourselves without guilt & without shame - I think that's *huge* [...] To be able to say: "no, this is what I need", to advocate for that, to self-advocate or advocate for other people - that, I think, is a really big one - for people to not feel the kind of shame'
- Julia 2/2

#19 - Julia
'.. remember Margaret Thatcher only slept four hours a night and nobody wants to be like her, so more sleep is good, more rest is good. Maybe as well: we are experts in ourselves'
- Julia 1/2

'In hindsight, across my life, I just wish I'd learned to say "no" an awful lot more. I've just really come to realise that actually doing less doesn't mean that you have achieved less. I wish I had a much better sense of that when I was a young man coming into my career, really. Doing less things but to a better standard is as valuable as this intensification that we've ended up in. Say no, just say no!' - Gus

#18 - Gus
'Doing less things but to a better standard is as valuable as this intensification that we've ended up in. Say no, just say no!'
- Gus 2/2

#18 - Gus
'In hindsight, across my life, I just wish I'd learned to say "no" an awful lot more. I've just really come to realise that actually doing less doesn't mean that you have achieved less. I wish I had a much better sense of that when I was a young man coming into my career, really'
- Gus 1/2

'Avoid burnout and keep some positivity. That's very important: having a positive vision for the future. Yes, there are many challenges, but we are all together. We're going to make it. And if the box doesn't fit you, throw it. Don't try the second time, the third time; just throw it. If it's not for you, it's not worth the effort. Throughout the journey you're going to come across wonderful people. Just keep your eyes, your ears, and your heart open to see them, to listen to them, to connect with them. And I'd send them a big smile'. - Ronald

'Just keep your eyes, your ears, and your heart open to see them, to listen to them, to connect with them. And I'd send them a big smile'.
- Ronald 3/3
#Rest #Disability #Work

'Avoid burnout and keep some positivity. That's very important: having a positive vision for the future. Yes, there are many challenges, but we are all together. We're going to make it. And if the box doesn't fit you, throw it. Don't try the second time, the third time; just throw it. If it's not for you, it's not worth the effort. Throughout the journey you're going to come across wonderful people. Just keep your eyes, your ears, and your heart open to see them, to listen to them, to connect with them. And I'd send them a big smile'. - Ronald

And if the box doesn't fit you, throw it. Don't try the second time, the third time; just throw it. If it's not for you, it's not worth the effort. Throughout the journey you're going to come across wonderful people'.
- Ronald 2/3
#Rest #Disability #Work

#17 - Ronald

''Avoid burnout and keep some positivity. That's very important: having a positive vision for the future. Yes, there are many challenges, but we are all together. We're going to make it. And if the box doesn't fit you, throw it'.
- Ronald 1/3
#Rest #Disability #Work

Precarity and the Collectivization of Struggle Panos Theodoropoulos shares notes for organisers in Scotland based on years of struggle alongside precarious migrants in Glasgow.

‘This connection between life and organising might be an answer to our constant burnout. Rather than individualising our capacities to resist – reflecting the pressures placed upon us by our precarious working lives – we can begin collectivising our projects’ scottishleftreview.scot/precarity-an...

Precarity and the Collectivization of Struggle Panos Theodoropoulos shares notes for organisers in Scotland based on years of struggle alongside precarious migrants in Glasgow.

Panos Theodoropoulos on precarity & IWW’s General Defence Committees: ‘The idea is to create a feedback loop where the community is connected to the workplace, & vice versa. Such initiatives allow us to go beyond seeing solidarity as a form of “activism”’ scottishleftreview.scot/precarity-an...

"A vintage green typewriter with a blank yellow sheet of paper inserted, set against a solid red background."

CONTRIBUTE: The Sociological Review’s #openaccess digital magazine is inviting early career scholars to submit pitches for our #ResearchInsights series.

Editors Iris Pissaride & @juliettephd.bsky.social are seeking proposals for our December issue. Pitch deadline is 5 September.

🔎 buff.ly/Q5KZlcJ

YouTube video by Tom Rosenthal Tom Rosenthal - Don't You Know How Busy & Important I Am? (Official Music Video)

‘Don't you know how busy and important I am?
I got soooo much to do
Don't you know how busy and important I am?
I got soooooo much to do
Oh, I'm too busy to finish this so—‘

youtu.be/iG9h3KUtaIc?...

#PoliticsOfRest

'Self-care is absolutely crucial. You can't help others or produce anything if you are unable to look after yourself and your needs, so that you are meeting the world with your best self, your best good, feeling, capable self. If you don't look after yourself, you get into the spiral where you work too hard, try too hard, and it breaks you. It's not productive for you, it's not self-fulfilling and it usually backfires on you. And organise - organise, organise, organise. If we all got together and really insisted on what we need, it'd be difficult for them to keep fucking us over one-by-one, which is I think what happens to workers who are precarious in body/mind, as they see it'. - Ursula

'And organise - organise, organise, organise. If we all got together and really insisted on what we need, it'd be difficult for them to keep fucking us over one-by-one, which is I think what happens to workers who are precarious in body/mind, as they see it'
- Ursula 3/3

'Self-care is absolutely crucial. You can't help others or produce anything if you are unable to look after yourself and your needs, so that you are meeting the world with your best self, your best good, feeling, capable self. If you don't look after yourself, you get into the spiral where you work too hard, try too hard, and it breaks you. It's not productive for you, it's not self-fulfilling and it usually backfires on you. And organise - organise, organise, organise. If we all got together and really insisted on what we need, it'd be difficult for them to keep fucking us over one-by-one, which is I think what happens to workers who are precarious in body/mind, as they see it'. - Ursula

'If you don't look after yourself, you get into the spiral where you work too hard, try too hard, and it breaks you. It's not productive for you, it's not self-fulfilling and it usually backfires on you'.
- Ursula 2/3

#16 - Ursula

'Self-care is absolutely crucial. You can't help others or produce anything if you are unable to look after yourself and your needs, so that you are meeting the world with your best self, your best good, feeling, capable self'.
- Ursula 1/3

120th ASA Annual Meeting Reimagining the Future of Work August 8-12, 2025 Chicago, IL ASA The poster includes a representation of six people working at a table.

Yesterday, I presented at the American Sociological Association @asanews.bsky.social Annual Conference, on the Disability, Work & Economies of Difference panel. Many thanks to Richard Scotch for excellent chairing and to Pyung Kim, Junzhe Gu, Jennifer Brooks & Matthew Saleh for great presentations!

'The men still work eight hours, there are too many pins, some employers go bankrupt, and half the men previously concerned in making pins are thrown out of work. There is, in the end, just as much leisure as on the other plan, but half the men are totally idle while half are still overworked'.

In Praise of Idleness, by Bertrand Russell

“In this we have been foolish, but there is no reason to go on being foolish for ever.”

1: Emulate Bertrand Russell.
2: Post his writings to motivate others.

harpers.org/archive/1932...

YouTube video by Historical Materialism: Critical Marxist Theory SLSA-MDN Disability & Rights Conference - Workers’ and Charities’ Mobilisation of Rights panel

SLSA-MDN Disability & Rights Conference - Opening Remarks (Clare Williams) & Workers’ and Charities’ Mobilisation of Rights panel (Shruti Iyer & Linda Steele)

Video:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6vx...

Abstracts: marxismdisability.wordpress.com/their-rights...

@slsauk.bsky.social
#Marxism (1/8)

[Videos] SLSA-MDN Conference – Disability & Rights: The Possibilities and Limits of Rights Discourse under Neoliberalism On Friday, 13th of June & Saturday, 14th of June 2025, the Disability Law and Social Justice Stream of the Socio-Legal Studies Association and the Marxism and Disability Network …

The 8 video recordings of the Disability & Rights: The Possibilities and Limits of Rights Discourse under Neoliberalism conference co-organised/hosted with the SLSA Disability Law and Social Justice Stream are now available online!
marxismdisability.wordpress.com/2025/07/25/v...
#Marxism #Disability

New LSA Executive Members:

A warm welcome to...

---Adam Talbot (Research and Enterprise Officer): [UWS]

---Adele Doran (Membership Officer): [Sheffield Hallam]

---Ioana Cerasella Chis (Ordinary Member): [University of Birmingham]

---Alberto Amore (Ordinary Member): [University of Oulu]

by the present sort of sensible, business arithmetic. We still have to make the case for our sort of sensible arithmetic that is based upon community care, the sharing of responsibility, the sharing of resources and the fact that most of the problems that now confront the great mass of working people in this country cannot be solved, and will not be solved, by the arithmetic of the market forces that are displayed in full ferocity in The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists. Robert Noonan,

‘and will not be solved, by the arithmetic of the market forces that are displayed in full ferocity in The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists’.
- Norman Willis’ lecture on Tressell and the Unions

by the present sort of sensible, business arithmetic. We still have to make the case for our sort of sensible arithmetic that is based upon community care, the sharing of responsibility, the sharing of resources and the fact that most of the problems that now confront the great mass of working people in this country cannot be solved, and will not be solved, by the arithmetic of the market forces that are displayed in full ferocity in The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists. Robert Noonan,

‘We still have to make the case for our sort of sensible arithmetic that is based upon community care, the sharing of responsibility, the sharing of resources and the fact that most of the problems that now confront the great mass of working people in this country cannot be solved’ 1/2