Work and Identity

Rereading Robert Castel on the Social Supports of Individuality

Abstract

This paper presents an overview of Robert Castel’s discussion on the status of the individual and its «problematic character» by focusing on the notions of social supports of individuality and social property. In exploring these notions and the history of the wage-earning society, the French sociologist sheds light on the genealogy of the crucial link between work, social (dis)affiliation and individual identity. Far from adopting a workist approach, he argues in favor of the reshaping of social welfare and labour law in contemporary, neoliberal, societies.