A System of Precarity: Exploring the History of Capitalism through Literature and Film.

The article focuses on the volume *Representing Social Precarity in German Literature and Film*, which examines the historical and aesthetic representation of social precarity in German literature and film from the early nineteenth century to the turn of the millennium. It situates precarity as a central feature of capitalism linked to neoliberalism and modern wage labor, exploring its depiction across different periods and genres, including nineteenth-century pauperism, Weimar-era labor conditions with a gendered perspective, and contemporary cultural expressions. The volume highlights literature and film as reflective of socio-economic changes and traces an anticapitalist cultural tradition, while also identifying gaps such as the relationship between precarity and class and the role of precarity in aesthetic form development. Overall, it offers a social-historical framework for understanding precarity's long-standing cultural significance in German studies.