A collection of talks, media appearances and articles by Interregnum's Panos Theodoropoulos that relate to the publication of The Precarious Migrant Worker: The Socialization of Precarity (Polity Press, 2025).
As our readers probably know, Interregnum's Panos Theodoropoulos recently published The Precarious Migrant Worker: The Socialization of Precarity through Polity Press. It's a book about migration, precarity and resistance that draws on Panos's experience of working in Glasgow's precarious labour market, extensive interviews with migrant workers, and a decade of organising.
The book has received a range of positive reviews. Indicatively, renowned investigative journalist Hsiao-Hung Pai – whose work largely inspired Panos's research – labelled it a 'book of the year'. It has also been recommended by the Industrial Workers of the World, who wrote that it 'can be a difficult read at times, not due to any academic elitism, but to the contrary because it expresses so clearly the scars of capitalism on real people’s lives'.
You can see if the hype is real by ordering the book here.
As befits its subject matter, The Precarious Migrant Worker has began travelling the world. In the last two months, we have held book launches in Glasgow, Edinburgh, London, Nicosia and Melbourne. These engagements have included radio interviews, podcasts, academic seminars, open discussions and tens of conversations with organisers about how to resist the insidiousness of neoliberalism as it attempts to convince us to identify with our oppression. We have collected a few here for you.
Most recently, a portion of the public talk that Panos gave in Melbourne on the 15th of July 2025 (organised by the Migrant Workers' Centre) was replayed in Melbourne's radical 3CR Radio station. Many thanks to our comrade, Tobia Severi, for all his work at every stage of producing this show. You can listen to it below.
3CR is a community-based, radical radio project that has been running for decades. In order for their invaluable work to continue, please support them here.
Panos was also interviewed by King's College London's It's Just Research podcast series on a range of topics that emerge from the book. The hosts (Sara Black, Pippa Sterk, and Sylvie Carlos) participated in untangling some of the complexities of his analysis, with the discussion eventually focusing on the dominant narratives that surround migration. Panos argues that migrants in the West are seen through the prism of what he calls The Thief or The Cash Cow: in both cases, they are viewed purely in terms of their economic contributions to the host country. He argues that this binary illustrates our society's wider ideas about the value of humans as such under neoliberalism. You can read the full analysis here and listen to the podcast below.
It's Just Research podcast.
As part of the research underpinning the book, Panos spent some time working as a picker and packer in an Amazon warehouse in Glasgow. In an article for the now-closed ROAR Magazine (an inestimably important platform that was a foundational source of inspiration for Interregnum) he wrote about the rituals that Amazon employs in order to get workers to enthusiastically partake in their own exploitation. You can listen to the interview Panos gave on the topic for the historic Chicago-based This is Hell! radio show below.
This is Hell! radio.
Finally, for the more academically-inclined amongst our readers, we encourage you to check out Panos's hour-long seminar for the University of Glasgow's Study of Socialist Theory and Movements Network. This talk relates Panos's research to the existing scholarship on the subjects of migration, precarity, and resistance, and delves deep into unpacking some of the foundational concepts that he uses, such as the socialisation of precarity.
Many thanks to Stuart Platt for his work on the camera and the mics.
Masculinity is central to how men interpret themselves as workers and their capacities to endure the drudgery of precarity. Unfortunately, there was no space in the book to fully delve in to this. However, Panos and fellow Interregnum member Sam Lawton-Westerland have recently published an article on the issue, available to read for free here. You can also check out a seminar they delivered in King's College London here.
More book launches and open discussions are being organised in Athens, Sheffield, and, potentially, Belfast and Derry! Shoot us a message at contact@interregnum.live if you are interested in setting something up in your area, and we would be more than happy to work with you.
Interregnum will always be freely accessible, and the same applies to the work of our members. If you cannot afford the book, contact us. We will find a way to get it to you.
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Header graphic designed by Ilias SpyOne Tsafaras.
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