Between Work Flexibility and Higher Education: the Digital Workers in Southern Italy

Abstract

The article presents an analysis of digital workers with degrees in Humanities: political, social, and communication sciences. In the context of the Mezzogiorno of Italy, characterized by a depressed economy, a qualitative study is used to analyze the new works of the knowledge society. The paper explores the important flexibilization process of subjects with high human capital and underemployment. After having discussed the labour market context and, in particular, the types of demand for work in the South of Italy, the Author analyzes the consequences on identities, the meaning of worker’s lives and the effects on the reduction of relationships. The results are based on thirty qualitative interviews of digital workers. The paper argues that precariousness does not reduce the expectations of the workers and their professional ability, but has an impact resulting in a decreased material standard of living.