Precarious psyche

By Dr. Maurizio Capezzuto - www.psicologodiroma.com -

In March 2001 a book by Richard Sennett entitled "The flexible man" was published in Italy. The author begins the book by telling of a meeting that took place one day at the airport. While the protagonist waited for the call for his flight, he came across a man he had not seen for over fifteen years: Rico, Enrico's son. From the name given to the characters one already senses that the author wants to convey the idea, for one, of a full identity (Enrico), for the other, of a half identity (Rico is only a part of enRico!) The author tells that the thing that struck him most when he met Enrico, was the linearity of his life time. Enrico had created a very clear path in which his experiences, both from a material point of view and from a psychological point of view, presented themselves as a linear narrative.

Enrico's life was represented by a whole series of objectives that had been achieved during his journey. He had gleaned the sum that would allow him to buy a house where he could live with his family. Over time he had raised the money to allow his children to attend university. He had always acquired experiences and skills that allowed him to have a series of promotions at work. Enrico, in other words, felt that he had become the creator of his own life and this allowed him to develop a sense of self-worth. Rico, the son, however, had managed to become a successful man. He had changed several companies, always receiving a higher recognition both socially and economically. Rico, however, had several fears: the fear of not knowing his children at all, of not being able to transmit those values ​​that had been transmitted to him by his father, of not being ready to face marital difficulties, of no longer feeling the affection of the his friends who because of the various transfers had increasingly failed.

As the story unfolds, a sense of unease becomes increasingly palpable, allowing the reader to identify with the precarious condition experienced by Rico.

Taking this story as a starting point, I do not want to say that a man who carries out the work of an employee (the so-called permanent position) is more serene than a freelancer and vice versa. What I am interested in highlighting is how this new conception of work affects our psyche. There is no need to go beyond the borders of our country to realize these changes. In post-war Italy, the people who worked in Fiat, for example, were not simply workers who worked for the Agnelli family. They were people who contributed to the rebirth, as well as to their family, including Italy. They were proud to work in Fiat (as well as in hundreds of other companies in Italy) and the hours spent screwing bolts were not just mere stereotypical work. In that routine there was much more. There was the idea of ​​giving dignity to the hours spent in that company. In those hours the ego did not cancel because it was an active part of a much more ambitious project. In those hours the person did not have the feeling of being an object that has as its sole objective, to accumulate other objects. It was the individual who defined himself and the object did not have the power to provide identity, but simply remained what it is: a tool capable of simplifying life (provided it is used well!). When the person is the author of his own life, he can feel satisfied, indeed proud. The possibility of building a story allows the individual to "follow a thread" and therefore to give coherence and continuity to his own life, in other words, to give it meaning. Unfortunately, the current concept of work limits this process by far. The mass media, our politicians, our administrators are well aware of the damage they have generated but, as in a vicious circle worthy of the most chronic of psychopathologies, they do nothing but deny and to dispel their misrepresentation of reality. And here appear on TV so-called "winning" people who say they have managed to achieve their goals, to have realized; and you, who are on the other side, think you are an inept, that it is only your fault of your state, that you are the only one responsible, that you are wrong about the path, the direction, the speed if you chase mobile goals, which shrink because more and more distant.

In the current reality, we are witnessing a paradoxical phenomenon: those that are secondary needs are exchanged for primaries and vice versa. It becomes primary to change one's car because it is not the last model on the market and secondary to build meaningful relationships or become autonomous with respect to one's family of origin.

In this way, the person confuses meanings and levels: the sense of self becomes the sense of things and social responsibilities become personal failures.

With this I do not want to solicit or justify a passive attitude towards life, but I want to highlight that the way of understanding work influences our psyche. Already in the 1800s, Marx maintained that work is what characterizes man "particularly". Through work, man improves his material living conditions; in it, man reflects all of himself, what he thinks, what he feels. Through work, man reverses the relationship with nature, transforms it, turns it to its purposes.

In the capitalist era, however, Marx sees the "outside" work of the worker, makes him dissatisfied, unhappy, exhausts his body and destroys his spirit. It is no longer the fulfillment of a need, but a means to satisfy extraneous needs.

In the process of constructing identity the concept of a "secure base" is very important, which corresponds to the presence of a significant figure capable of making the child safe and able to explore the world thanks to the awareness of this lighthouse that guides it and which you can rely on. By analogy, the precarious condition in the workplace, does not allow the acquisition of a sense of security that allows exploration: a person who has a precarious working condition can hardly acquire a life planning, including the relational one.

Forced into this situation, unable to satisfy primary needs (autonomy, discovery, planning, affectivity), man runs the risk of replacing these needs with others, more immediate and less demanding, but which make more evanescent the idea of ​​Self, more massified. The mass swallows the individual and makes him forget the peculiarities, therefore identity loses its boundaries and becomes increasingly blurred and indefinable.

The job insecurity is like the King Midas, but with very different results: the first transformed everything he touched into gold, the second makes everything even precarious, even the identity.