Robert Castel

The Rise of Uncertainties

This paper provides an overview, prepared by Robert Castel himself, of his last book, La montée des incertitudes (The Rise of Uncertainties). It describes how a new regime of capitalism has weakened and sometimes destroyed forms of social organization that had been established at the end of industrial capitalism. It discloses three main ongoing transformations: (1) Labour market deregulations – in the sense of questioning both the right to work and the employment statute, and advances in insecurity; (2) The reconfiguration of protective measures – in the sense of the restriction of rights and a rapid rise in social insecurity; (3) The paths of disaffiliation – or how it is that some categories of individuals find themselves destabilized and threatened with social invalidation in this new conjuncture.