Precariatization as a characteristic of modern digital society

The article analyzes the content of the process of precarization of society as a phenomenon of increasing nature and associated with the digital format of social relations. In addition to a theoretical exploration of the essence of digitalization as a developmental trend in the modern world, the author delineates the primary characteristics of precaritization and identifies the problem of an expanding composition of the precariat - relatively a new class in the stratification of society. The author concludes that digitalization, as a socio-economic process driven by the advancement of information and communication technologies, propels society towards the deformation and transformation of labor relations. The outcome of such changes is the proliferation of “precarious” or non-standard employment. It is posited that the issue of precarization within the Russian context manifests itself in the growth of social groups comprising individuals who lack stable employment, instead opting for platform-based or remote work formats. The article discusses the fundamental drawbacks of unstable or precarious employment and posits that the instability of employment, characteristic of the digital society, has the potential to engender social instability. The justification for this thesis is the results of a sociological study of the state of platform and remote employment in the Volgograd region (N = 120, semi-formalized in-depth interview method; the study was conducted within the framework of grant No. 24-28-20066 “The state of the Volgograd region labor market: behavioral trajectories taking into account remote and platform employment”). Nevertheless, from the author’s point of view, the existence of state monitoring and the necessary legal regulations could mitigate the negative aspects associated with this phenomenon.