Law and Precarity

This book will be of interest to researchers and students of law and society, political economy, anthropology, and Asian studies. It offers an original understanding of the paradoxical effects of law in the survival strategies of people who are caught to live and work in precarious circumstances.

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Why do some people invoke the law (or resist it) as a way to solve their problems and achieve more stability in life, only to end up in another challenging and uncertain situation? This book offers an original understanding of the important, but understudied, paradoxical effects of law on the survival strategies of Vietnamese people who are caught to live and work in precarious circumstances. It demonstrates how precarity influences the way people perceive, engage with, or resist the law; yet law, at the same time, creates and reinforces such a condition. Understanding the mutually reinforcing relationship between law and precarity sheds a new light on the way law enables individuals to better their condition but ultimately makes matters worse rather than better. This book will be of interest to researchers and students of law and society, political economy, anthropology, and Asian studies.