The new employment contract erodes the margin for refusal

Evidence

This “new contract,” alongside other missing forms of government protection, closes the margin for refusal and leads to a life lived in economic fear. When Hacker describes the new situation faced by those for whom precarity was not already a matter of course, the margin has eroded completely: “Americans increasingly find themselves on an economic tightrope, without an adequate safety net if—as is ever more likely—they lose their footing.” Any argument about mindfulness or attention must address this reality. — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing, 313

Categorization

• XREF: Directly relevant to the reader’s question about whether Odell’s solutions require privilege — she herself concedes any attention argument must address precarity.