The Precarization of NGO Employment and the Coping Strategies

Abstract

This study examines the work experiences of professional middle-class employees in humanitarian aid NGOs, drawing on data from a field study conducted in Türkiye. It advances two interrelated lines of analysis. First, it analyzes the strategies developed by humanitarian aid employees to cope with various dimensions of precarization—such as job insecurity, wage pressure, and intense and exhausting labour processes—as well as the limits of these strategies. Second, it explores how dimensions specific to humanitarian aid employment, including social motivation, job satisfaction, and emotional rewards, interact with and shape experiences of precarization. Overall, the study shows that humanitarian aid employees, on the one hand, normalise and adapt to the precariousness embedded in their working conditions; on the other hand, as this same process erodes the social and emotional significance they attach to their work, it fosters increasing alienation from the sector.

Keywords

• NGO employment
• Professional middle classes
• Precarization

Supporting Institution

TÜBİTAK

Project Number

TÜBİTAK 1001 program project no: 122K012

STK İstihdamının Prekarizasyonu ve Başetme Stratejileri

Abstract

Bu çalışma, Türkiye’de yürütülen bir saha araştırmasından elde edilen verilere dayanarak, insani yardım STK’larında çalışan profesyonel orta sınıf çalışanların iş deneyimlerini incelemektedir. Çalışma, birbiriyle ilişkili iki analiz ekseni ortaya koymaktadır. İlk olarak, insani yardım çalışanlarının iş güvencesizliği, ücret baskısı ve yoğun ve yorucu çalışma süreçleri gibi güvencesizleşmenin çeşitli boyutlarıyla başetmek için geliştirdikleri stratejileri ve bu stratejilerin sınırlarını analiz etmektedir. İkinci olarak, sosyal motivasyon, iş tatmini ve duygusal ödül gibi insani yardım istihdamına özgü boyutların, güvencesizlik deneyimleriyle nasıl etkileşime girdiğini ve bu deneyimleri nasıl şekillendirdiğini araştırmaktadır. Çalışma, insani yardım çalışanlarının bir yandan çalışma koşullarına yerleşik güvencesizliği normalleştirdiklerini ve buna uyum sağladıklarını; diğer yandan ise, bu sürecin işlerine atfettikleri sosyal ve duygusal önemi aşındırması nedeniyle, sektörden giderek daha fazla uzaklaşmalarına neden olduğunu göstermektedir.

Keywords

• STK İstihdamı
• Profesyonel Orta Sınıflar
• Prekarizasyon

Project Number

TÜBİTAK 1001 program project no: 122K012

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