Entreprecariat - Everyone is an entrepreneur. Nobody is safe

by Silvio Lorusso, Geert Lovink, Raffaele Alberto Ventura

Entrepreneur or precarious worker? These are the terms of a cognitive dissonance that turns everyone’s life into a shaky project in perennial start-up phase. Silvio Lorusso guides us through the entreprecariat, a world where change is natural and healthy, whatever it may bring. A world populated by motivational posters, productivity tools, mobile offices and self-help techniques. A world in which a mix of entrepreneurial ideology and widespread precarity is what regulates professional social media, online marketplaces for self-employment and crowdfunding platforms for personal needs. The result? A life in permanent beta, with sometimes tragic implications.

“A compelling and relentless j’accuse: debunking the social and political myths that push an increasing number of persons to perform in the entrepreneurship circus — with no safety nets.”

Genres: Economics, Nonfiction, Sociology, Design, Business, History, Entrepreneurship

260 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2018

About the author

Uno che fa un sacco di cose diverse, benino o maluccio, a seconda dei punti di vista.

Reviews

[nis · Rating 5 out of 5]

hyper-relevant painfully relatable societal critique illustrated with memes? sign me the fuck up

[Jaime Dear · Rating 5 out of 5]

2020 EDIT: Re-reading this now FEELS different, as so many more people have become precarised this year. WOOF...everyone should read this.

I got this book at the Chicago Art Book Fair, I was immediately drawn in by it. With the work I do I'm often questioning pyramid schemes and Instagram influencers. This definately gave me great language and context for thinking about these things! This book flows between being dense and easy to read. This is the first time I've been introduced to the idea of precarity. I have never really studied economics, politics, or history, so I think that is part of it. But, with some Google word searches I got through it. I hope more people read this book and think critically about the negativity-rejecting positivity-spewing culture of entrepreneurship. I'm very glad that it was translated!

Also, the photo examples were incredibly funny. And sad, and worrying. I think that was the point.

[Ai Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really really loved this--Lorusso does a great job of gathering together the work of a bunch of different theorists and making their work very accessible and in conversation with one another, and then offers up really great examples of how these systems that the theorists he talks about work in real life. The chapter on GoFundMe is particularly damning, and goes farther than the larger critiques of the use of the site to cover costs that should be covered by free healthcare. I want like every person I know to read this book, but especially folks who are freelancers, to start to see ourselves inside of this but also imagine collective ways to work through it.

If you're looking for a pretty accessible exploration of precarity and entrepreneurialism, definitely check out this book. I'll be chewing on it for a while for sure, and the bibliography leaves me a bunch of different ways to keep exploring the issue.

[Kariniix · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Google keyboard automatically suggests "entreprecariat" whenever I start typing entre...

Articulates so many of my perceptions on the world of entrepreneurship, and does it with memes. Such a plus.
👌

(Only gave it 4 starts cause some examples are more anecdotal and less "science-y")

[Cláudia Cunha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Um livro necessário para entender as dinâmicas das relações de trabalho da sociedade atual e que deveria ser lido por todos que se enquadram nas indústrias criativas, como freelancers ou como empreendedores.

[Sven Hoskens · Rating 4 out of 5]

I could probably consider myself an entrepreneur, and as such, this book hits uncomfortably close in the structures, both societal and psychological, it lays bare.

A must-read for anyone either intrigued or alarmed by the incessant, almost religious mantras of self-improvement and financial goal-setting of Instagram coaches, by the old admonishment to pull yourself up by your bootstrap, by everything wrong and inescapable about the gig economy...

Though by no means an easy read, I found it well-sourced and never obtuse. It definitely deserves a second read, after going through some of the sources, as Lorusso's message and viewpoint is an important one for this age and well-worth studying. Not only for those in the entreprecariat, but for just about anyone, as Lorusso shows none of us are quite safe.

A new and interesting dimension in class struggle, and one with disquieting implications.

[Taru Luojola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elokuun vieraskielisen kirjan luin italiaksi. Lorusso analysoi työelämässä viime vuosikymmeninä tapahtunutta muutosta, jossa korostetaan yrittäjähenkisyyttä ja jossa pakotetaan laajat työntekijäjoukot yrittäjyyteen. Kannustavat tarinat rikkauksista jäävät kuitenkin pääosin haaveiksi, koska tälle uudelle yrittäjäluokalle tunnusomaista on taloudellisesti epävarma asema. Luovien yrittäjien toimistona on koko maailma, lepoa ei ole, ja koko elämä tuotteistetaan verkossa toimiville alustoille ja kauppapaikoille. Keinoihin tilanteen korjaamiseksi ei tämän kirjan puitteissa paneuduta kovin syvällisesti, mutta yhteistoiminnallisuus ja mutualismi esitetään siinä tärkeiksi. Kaiken kaikkiaan varsin hyvä läpileikkaus aikamme uudesta luovasta yrittäjäköyhälistöstä, ja jos kiinnostaa lukea, niin tämä on käännetty myös englanniksi.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellently sourced and accessibly written

[Manuel D'Orso · Rating 5 out of 5]

Libro consigliatissimo, che riesce a dare una panoramica sulla teoria contemporanea intorno al precariato ed al suo intreccio con l'imprenditorialità, affermandosi per me come perfetto testo-trampolino sull'argomento.
Dalle riflessioni sulle modifiche radicali all'umano che il precariato apporta alle implicazioni sindacali di Linkedin, Fiverr e GoFundMe.
Non risparmia le sferzate nel vivo come in Teoria della Classe Disagiata e avvisi ai naviganti.

Ho particolarmente apprezzato la seppur timida conclusione dove si abbandona il didascalico per consigliare una visione del mondo appena descritto e portare una tesi anche se più intellettuale che pragmatica; Buona pratica spesso negletta e che manca ad esempio in Teoria della Classe Disagiata.
Spaventosamente realista la resa dell'imprenditorialità da startup e dei lavoratori della gig economy, fornendo sempre storie vere ad avvalorare le tesi.

In più il publishing coadiuva la narrazione dell'estetica dell'entreprecariat e la scrittura è fluida e immediata. Ci vuole fegato per beccarsi tutta questa verità, specie se siete dentro il mondo dell'entreprecariat. Ma è questo che mi piace in queste letture.

[Joana Pestana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book delves in the relationships between precarity and entrepreneurship (the American neoliberal dream). With extensive sense of humor, the Entreprecariat discusses the values behind book titles such as "The Start Up of You", LinkedIn platform slogan "a CV that never sleeps", the jargon used on social media platforms ("endorsement") as well as the overall ranking systems that sustain such platforms. A very beautiful reflection on powerlessness closes the book. The text is illustrated with memes.

[Yuri Fidélis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Descreve com eloquência e aprofunda no esgotamento mental que venho sentindo em relação a cultura de trabalho atual e a criatividade a serviço do capitalismo. Acaba sendo mais um ponto de partida para várias ideias e autores, mas cumpre bem esse papel.

[Ana Ulin · Rating 3 out of 5]

My notes: https://anaulin.org/blog/book-notes-e...

[fernando akira · Rating 4 out of 5]

bom demais pra lembrar que tão fazendo a gente de trouxa e a gente ta aceitando

[Paula Luisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Entreprecariat” by Silvio Larusso, published in 2019 describes the rise of a new social class, the “Entreprecariat”. This group consists of individuals who are often self-employed, freelancers or gig-workers. They are caught in precarious work conditions without the benefits of traditional employment.
Lorusso critiques the glorification of entrepreneurship, arguing that many of these "entrepreneurs" are actually just struggling workers in a system that lacks protections.
He also goes further and explores the change in our society through the spread of technical advancements and how they’ve become a blessing and a curse in precarious situations. He analyses the evolution of the concept of work, the boundaries it has crossed and the advancements that came with it.
The Book illustrates the change in our society in a clear tone, supported by images, artworks as well as memes. It spreads awareness on a social class that is otherwise rather overlooked, he gives the individuals a voice by uniting their struggles.
It is a good read to understand the unseen structures and causes that lead to the “Entreprecariat”.

[Avedon Arcadio · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s great to know a book like this exists and that more people should read it. After all the majority of the working class falls under these types (as do I) as it labels them, and it’s breakdown of society’s evolution in the workforce in history until now is well defined.

[Nolan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Humans, for all our creativity, have made the internet a place that has more or less transformed every single thing we do into labor. It’s like when convenience was introduced into the post-WWII home — it just added more things to the list of housework since you had “more time”. Now AI gets to make art while we grind away into oblivion.

A revised edition for the post-Covid world would make this five stars, but it was published right before a lot of things written about here changed, and quickly.

[Nedislav · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book touches on very contemporary questions of how we work and what we want to find through working. It was interesting to read about digital nomadism, different types of entrepreneurialism and digital platforms like Fiverr and GoFundMe.

In general, the book is really thorough, it goes into details and it is fairly critical. I didn’t enjoy the myriad of references to philosophers and theoreticians as it confused me too much. A lot of times I lost the connection, so I had to go back. So in general, it needs your attention as a reader.

[Simon · Rating 2 out of 5]

if the topic appeals to you ,you are better off with what design can’t do (same author) or, still my favourite to this point, caps lock (ruben pater). the idea and its portmanteau are great, relevant and should be discussed. but the books looses quickly its focus. the phenomena discussed (linkedin, wework, fiverr or gofundme) are to general to only link them to precarious working conditions. i miss empirical data: how many people, which industries? i miss reasons and perspectives.