Mobilizing precarious workers in Italy: two pathways of collective action intentions

ABSTRACT

Following increased flexibilization of labour market and related decline of traditional labour unionism over the last few decades, studying mobilization processes of precarious workers has become particularly timely. While localized forms of organization and unionization are gradually emerging, little is known about why workers intend to join these coordinated forms of collective action. Integrating social movement studies with social psychological literature on collective action, this study fills this gap by exploring collective action intentions in the current context of non-standard labour. To do so, we surveyed precarious workers enrolled by temporary hiring agencies in Italy (N = 379) and found two parallel psychological pathways explaining their collective action intentions. On the one hand, participants exhibited high collective action intentions when they were able to collectively identify with other precarious workers as part of the same social group. Collective identification with precarious workers increased group-based injustice that in turn predicted collective action intentions. On the other hand, participants also exhibited high collective action intentions when they were able to politically identify with unionized workers. Politicized identification with unionized workers increased collective efficacy that in turn predicted collective action intentions. By singling out the complementary role played by these two parallel pathways of collective action intentions among precarious workers, this study shed light on the socio-psychological determinants underlying the mobilization propensity of individuals still lacking any organizational affiliation, a topic that has been relatively ignored in scholarly literature. In doing so, we combine social movement studies and social psychological literature in innovative ways.

KEYWORDS:

• Precarious non-standard workers
• collective action intentions
• group-based injustice
• collective efficacy
• collective identification
• politicized identification

Acknowledgments

The research presented in this article was possible through the collaboration with the Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL), department of New Working Identities (NIdiL). Special thanks goes to Jacopo Gamba, coordinator of the educational project, while this survey was conducted.

Ethical statement

In line with the ethical procedures of the host institution (University of Lausanne, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences), correlational studies on societal issues employing adult samples were dispensed from an internal ethic committee. Nevertheless, the manuscript adheres to APA Code of Conduct ethical guidelines, as well as the Swiss National Science Foundation principles and procedures of integrity in scientific research. Moreover, this research was part of a project promoted by the Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL), department of New Working Identities (NIdiL). The research protocol was therefore discussed and validated by the NIdiL management office and integrated in their educational program.

Data availability statement

Dataset, main analyses and Supplementary online material can be found on the Open Science Framework repository. Identifier: Open Science Framework

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Notes

1. We choose to ask participants about the minimum income, because a ballot initiative about minimum income was highly debated at the time of the survey as a measure to address the increased job insecurity in Italy.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

E. Politi

E. Politi is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher funded by the Swiss National Foundation for Scientific Research (SNF) and visiting professor at Center for Social and Cultural Psychology of the Katholieke Universiteit of Leuven, Belgium. His main research interests are social psychological processes underlying political activism, social support and solidarity.

G. Piccitto

G. Piccitto is post-doctoral researcher at the Dondena Centre for Research on Social Dynamics and Public Policies of Bocconi University, Italy. His main research interests are structural characteristics and changing trends in labour markets, social stratification, inequality, and life course perspectives.

L. Cini

L. Cini is a post-doctoral researcher at the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences of the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa, Italy. He is member of COSMOS (Center on Social Movement Studies). His main research interests are social movements and conflicts in the current transformations of the labour market.

A. Béal

A. Béal is Mâitre de Conférence at the Ecole de Psychologues Praticiens of the Catholic University of Paris, France. He is member of the Capdroits coordination committee. His main research interests are the psychosocial determinants of take up and non-take-up of social rights and welfare benefits among people in vulnerable and precarious situations.

C. Staerklé

C. Staerklé is Associate Professor at the Social Psychology Laboratory and member of the Interdisciplinary Centre of Life Course Research of the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. His main research interests are public opinion about distributive justice principles and social psychological determinants of political ideologies.