The temporary contract is supplanting permanent institutions across social life

Evidence

This orientation corresponds to the course that the evolution of social interaction is currently taking; the temporary contract is in practice supplanting permanent institutions in the professional, emotional, sexual, cultural, family, and international domains, as well as in political affairs. This evolution is of course ambiguous: the temporary contract is favored by the system due to its greater flexibility, lower cost, and the creative turmoil of its accompanying motivations—all of these factors contribute to increased operativity. In any case, there is no question here of proposing a “pure” alternative to the system: we all now know, as the 1970s come to a close, that an attempt at an alternative of that kind would end up resembling the system it was meant to replace. — Jean-François Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition, 458

Categorization

• XREF: Foreshadows the flexible-precarity thesis that Jameson and later theorists (incl. the fluid-precarity literature) develop from Lyotard. — connects to: Social bonds now form around shared volatility and precarity — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living With…, 11; Institutions coordinate agent behavior and persist beyond individuals

Broader Connections

• Institutions coordinate agent behavior and persist beyond individuals #contradicts (0.80)
• Social bonds now form around shared volatility and precarity #expands (0.75) — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 11