Under neoliberalism, precarization – the insecurity of work and life – has become the norm for many people. The pandemic has reinforced this trend. Opportunities for long-term employment are dwindling, while contract work and jobs on demand continue to rise. For decades, the responsibility for social safeguards has been shifting to the individual. Being in debt has become the norm. When planning becomes ever more challenging, how does debt sustain the future and hold the present captive? How can a precarious and debt-ridden society be governed? How can debt relations be turned around? Looking beyond issues of morality and repayment, how can social relations of debt be turned into relationships of care? What alternative forms of democratic coexistence are there, based on care and interconnectedness? What are the implications for emancipation and the affirmation of precarity?

Isabell Lorey is a political theorist and professor of Queer Studies at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne. She also works with transversal (transversal.at), the publication platform of the European Institute for Progressive Cultural Policies (eipcp). Her books include: Figuren des Immunen. Elemente einer politischen Theorie (Zurich: Diaphanes 2011); Die Regierung der Prekären (Vienna: Turia+Kant 2020); Demokratie im Präsens. Eine Theorie der politischen Gegenwart (Berlin: Suhrkamp 2020).