Drawing on ethnographic research in Houston, Texas, I explore how oil and gas experts negotiate social power and precariousness within the US hydrocarbon sector. In an industry long associated with corporate power, the careers of experts are precariously balanced on rising and falling hydrocarbon prices. This makes the social power these experts wield as fluid as the commodities they are premised on. I show that informal social networks solidified by industry associations can buffer this precariousness by opening new employment opportunities and allowing them to maintain their connection to elite industry circles through periods of unemployment and uncertainty. For many working in the industry, precariousness defines the US hydrocarbon sector as much as the wealth that it is known to generate. Precariousness, I argue, is not just experienced by specific groups of people but rather is a general characteristic of capitalism that touches all but a select few.

借鉴德克萨斯州休斯顿的民族志研究，我探索了石油和天然气专家如何在美国碳氢化合物行业内协商社会权力和不稳定。在一个长期与企业权力联系在一起的行业中，专家的职业生涯在碳氢化合物价格的上涨和下跌之间岌岌可危。这使得这些专家运用的社会权力与他们所依赖的商品一样具有流动性。我表明，行业协会巩固的非正式社交网络可以通过开辟新的就业机会并允许他们在失业和不确定时期保持与精英行业圈的联系来缓冲这种不稳定。对于许多在该行业工作的人来说，不稳定对美国碳氢化合物行业的定义与其众所周知的财富一样多。我认为不稳定，