As the economic, environmental, and social instability of the polycrisis continues, more and more people are experiencing uncertainty and loss. This growing group, the New Precarious, represents a dormant yet powerful
political and social force. As changemakers, we must find ways to engage rather than ignore them. This guide sets out two possible pathways for engaging with the Precarious, depending on the focus and expertise of your organisation or network.
The Precarious are an audience segment that emerged from Mindworks’ Anger & Agency Monitor. If you are one of the fortunate countries in which Mindworks has carried out our research, we have a profile of the Precarious in your country and you can get in touch to know more. If not, you can utilise the commonalities we summarised in part one of this paper to get a sense of your audience. Engaging them for the first time also requires some careful communication:
“Usually, when people are sad, they don’t do anything. They just cry over their condition. But when they get angry, they bring about a change.”
Malcolm X
Anger has always been the key political emotion. For the elites, keeping anger in check was a primary task to maintain stability, including the stability of their power. For the oppressed, it was always the emotion to mobilise.
In times of abundance, social anger is limited and often short-lived as a temporary reaction to scandals. However, in times of increasing scarcity, such as today, anger builds, bubbling under the surface. Large parts of this anger are not visible, restrained by social norms and cultural beliefs. However, that doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Pretending it isn’t there, ignoring it or simply striving for mindfulness as the answer can have fatal consequences: opening the gates for others to use this emotion’s power.
Changemaking in the polycrisis and engaging with the Precarious, therefore, requires us to better understand the different Anger Types and learn the skill of modulating, redirecting, unleashing, and dissolving this emotion. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, “The supreme task is to organise and unite people so that their anger becomes a transformative force.”
The three main anger groups, Constructive, Restrained, and Toxic are all represented in the Precarious. The Constructive and Toxic are aware of their situation and outspoken in expressing their anger. However, the majority Restrained group is silent and often unaware of their emotional state. While established populist approaches have put a lot of energy into transforming Restrained anger into Toxic anger, our approach needs to focus on turning this anger from Restrained to Constructive.
The biggest Anger Type held by the Precarious, the Restrained, do not allow themselves to be angry. They suppress anger because of social norms or blame themselves for the economic loss or the loss of control they are experiencing (shame). For this group the first step is to give them the space to express their anger.
Those Precarious who hold Constructive anger are the easiest to engage and offer a strong ally to help you engage the Restrained. Not only does their anger allow them to see that the problem is impacting them personally, but they are also willing to resolve the problem for all, not only for themselves. Thus, it is easy to engage them in collective and political processes.
The Toxic anger group splits into different sub-groups, the biggest of which is Narcissistic anger. You need to convince the narcissist that changing things collectively has personal and collective advantages. They also need to experience the value of community. The other Toxic anger groups, Vengeful, Supremacy, and Rogue, are much harder to win; they need very intensive care and listening to change their worldviews and perceptions.
Once we have started to engage with the anger of the Precarious, nothing is more important than giving them the feeling of regaining control over their lives. However, to sustain this sense of empowerment over time, any solution needs to also build connections and social capital.
Your narratives need to resonate with the existing narrative; you cannot expect that people will instantly discard what they used to think. Try to stay close to the stories that explain the world for them and change as little as possible, be it the villains, the heroes or the plot. Put the precarious desire for security and control at the centre of your story. For example:
A second pathway to engage with the Precarious is to find ways to dissolve the anger we mentioned above, either by building their tolerance to uncertainty or tackling the economic instability they face.
People have different levels of tolerance to uncertainty. This tolerance is shaped more by social values and cultural characteristics than by an individual’s exposure to uncertainty. For example, the belief in a rule-based system is critical in determining people’s level. Research has shown that uncertainty tolerance in different countries shows surprising stability over time: the UK has a higher tolerance than India, which is more tolerant of uncertainty than Germany, which, in turn, has higher levels than Greece.
For most people, uncertainty itself does not drive anxiety, but the sense of losing control associated with it. Building a collective tolerance for uncertainty, therefore, isn’t about training people to deal with it. It is about shifting cultural norms and decoupling control and certainty in people’s minds.
We need to challenge the idea that “if I can’t predict it, I can’t control it.” In its place, we can promote what is called adaptive control – “I can’t control what happens, but I can control how I respond.”
This is especially important in the polycrisis – where certainty is a myth – and for the Precarious – who our research has shown are more exposed and worried about uncertainty. Any campaigns that want to improve the uncertainty tolerance of the Precarious should find ways to build their ability to navigate change, make decisions and still move forward.
Our cultures are filled with stories of adaptive control. The Hollywood movie star who constantly navigates unexpected challenges, military and business strategies built around adapting, such as the OODA loop or even the biographies of successful leaders overcoming hurdles. The common thread isn’t about foresight but the flexibility to respond. You can connect to these stories when encouraging people to become masters of uncertainty.
i) Make adaptive control a skill and teach how to embrace uncertainty
People who are unable to tolerate uncertainty often prefer to deny it, whether this is related to personal vulnerabilities like disease or death or collective realities like climate change. If they cannot embrace the uncertainty they are facing, people will be unable to learn to tolerate it. Adapting to change and uncertainty is often seen as constant innovation on the spot, which is exhausting. We have to reframe adaptive control as a skill that can be learnt.
ii) Normalise stories of control in uncertain times
In order for the Precarious to believe that they can be in control as they adapt to a constantly evolving world around them, we must normalise stories and behaviours that show this.
iii) Give people a choice and a voice
Refrain from any inclination to provide people with solutions and roadmaps to success. Give them a voice and choice to shape their own ways of adapting to uncertainty.
iv) Celebrate progress
The last step in the ritual of normalising adaptive control and uncertainty tolerance is to celebrate progress on your journey.
The final recommendation for dissolving the anger of the Precarious is finding ways to tackle the economic instability itself. This is not an individual problem but an area where many governments, organisations and initiatives invest a lot of time. From soup kitchens to proposals for universal basic income, countless initiatives aim to combat this.
Psychologically, the fear of loss – whether of wealth, status, or security – is a more powerful motivator than the hope of gain. This makes the mobilisation of precarious communities not just necessary, but strategic. Many organisations already hold deep expertise in economic justice and structural reform, from grassroots groups practising solidarity economies to global campaigns advocating for tax reform and income redistribution. Rather than giving recommendations on how to do this, our research aims to complement many of these initiatives, offering insight into how emotional drivers, like anger or agency, can help mobilise and unify the Precarious.
Following these steps, you will forge a powerful group of precarious minds, building on constructive anger, social capital, and collective agency. They will not only have the power to improve their own lives, but they will also grow their tolerance for uncertainty and thereby their resilience in the polycrisis. Depending on the size of your audience, they can become essential pioneers, increase community resilience, or win elections. At the same time, it will also help you to tackle polarisation in your country.
If you would be interested in applying or testing some of these recommendations and finding a way to engage with the Precarious you can get in touch at hello@mindworkslab.org.
The Precarious Mind is a two part paper written by Mindworks in 20215. Author: Stefan Flothmann and edited by Robin Perkins.
Cover photo by Luis Quintero on Unsplash back-cover by Jon Tyson on Unsplash
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