Grey Work, Precarity, and Recognition in the Italian Performance Society

This article investigates the symbolic and material invisibility of grey and humble labor in contemporary Italy, drawn on a comparative empirical study conducted between Italy and Japan. Focusing on the Italian data, the research explores how workers engaged in non-standard, precarious, or undeclared labor experience social judgment, lack of recognition, and emotional distress. Through a mixed-methods approach combining quantitative data and qualitative interviews, the study reveals how grey work is structurally excluded from both welfare protections and cultural legitimacy. The analysis is grounded in the theoretical frameworks of Axel Honneth, Nancy Fraser, and Guy Standing, highlighting the symbolic wounds caused by the absence of recognition, the dual injustice of misrecognition and maldistribution, and the political voicelessness of the precariat. The findings show that even when workers find personal satisfaction in their roles, they often face stigma, invisibility, and internalized failure. The article concludes by calling for inclusive labor policies and a cultural shift toward recognizing all forms of work–not only those deemed productive or prestigious–as socially valuable and worthy