This volume is about why ‘work’ changed to become more precarious around the turn of the century. This happened not just in the developed world but also inside sectors that were demarcated as organized and modern within developing countries like India. In these sectors, unlike the greater part of the Indian economy, insecure jobs were uncommon before winds of change made them normal. This shift had occurred before the great global financial crisis of 2008.

Between 2005-8 a survey based on over thousand structured interviews with workers in offices, factories, shops and...