Reviews

State of Insecurity: Government of the Precarious by Isabell Lorey

amyi4's review against another edition

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informative reflective medium-paced

personalcurio's review against another edition

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A reader would be better served by checking the cited works for this book and reading those instead. I find that either the translation of this or the original text is struggling to summarize itself well, often ending a paragraph or section while its still circling its own idea. I have to leaf back a lot to see if I missed something, only to find that I think Lorey is just as lost as me and then going "you know, like Theorist X said!" with little-to-no deeper analysis or elaboration.

mps4's review against another edition

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5.0

I think this book found me at the best possible time.

taniatrn's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective slow-paced

3.75

garberdog's review against another edition

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4.0

A good, short introduction into thinking on precarity/precariousness from a feminist thinker. Lorey draws heavily from Judith Butler's work and European "precarious" politics. Features a clear, brief intro into Foucault's thinking on biopolitics. The text could be clearer at times, but the major concern is the real lack of racial/colonial analysis; however, this seems to be a more pervasive problem for thinking on precarity in general. Interesting take on our current political moment, but you could also still read Donna Haraway's still very relevant "Cyborg Manifesto" and get a similar, more fun to read analysis.

8amtrain's review against another edition

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4.0

short and lucid. i’m thinking 💭

1) ive often seen discussions about precarity used to exceptionalize the way white collar jobs are becoming more insecure (adjuncts, h1b visas) which reinforces a line between the unjustly-precarious middle class and the inevitably-precarious margin
2) interested in lorey’s proposal of making care work visible as a way of collapsing the gendered private/public spheres
3) also thinking about the potentiality lorey suggests of exodus, and forms of productivity that cannot be completely capitalized – thanks isabell!

folieassdeux's review against another edition

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3.0

If it weren't for the fact that Lorey literally repeats the same couple of ideas over and over again (literally just defining and redefining them with little analysis) in the first half of this book, it would get a solid 4 stars. The second half of the book was way more enlightening and useful to me in my own research so thanks! Also I really need to get around to reading Arendt.

temprile's review against another edition

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informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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