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.