On the legitimization of precarious work

autonomy and justice as categories of engagement

Abstract

 Based on research with workers in popular commerce and commissioned sellers in retail stores, this paper proposes a reflection on the processes of engagement in forms of work considered precarious. We argue that the investigation of the meanings attributed by the agents to the activities they perform is fundamental to understand the legitimation processes of precarious labor relations. In this sense, we discuss how the pragmatic relationship with the idea of autonomy and the legitimation of unequal principles of distributive justice impact on workers’ dispositions for engagement in insecure and unstable forms of work.