The Making and Unmaking of the (In)formal Sector
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the received category of the informal sector in order to demonstrate two results: (i) the process of "making" the informal sectors in terms of the formal sector is defined, and (ii) attempts to introduce heterogeneity within an already homogeneously defined informal sector are shown to be failing.
Abstract: Using class-focused Marxist theory we examine the received category of the informal sector in order to demonstrate two results. First, we explicate the process of ‘making’ the informal sector in terms of the formal sector. Derived from a centrist logic that shapes the mainstream development para digm, this involves a process of its devaluation in terms of the norm of the formal sector. Moreover, attempts to introduce heterogeneity within an already homogeneously defined informal sector are shown to be failing. Second, we show how placing the concept of the informal sector within the non-centric class-focused economic terrain fundamentally displaces , indeed ‘unmakes’ , the received definition of the informal sector. Our analytical frame of a non-centric class-focused economic ter rain reveals, on one hand, how the ‘making’ of the informal sector serves as a political rationale for shaping societal transition in favor of modern capitalism, and on the other, the problematical nature of the rationality .
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170 citations
TL;DR: The rational choice approach to social behaviour rationality, egoism and social atomism models of the actor rationality, action and deliberation individualism, and social structure was proposed in this article.
Abstract: The rational choice approach to social behaviour rationality, egoism and social atomism models of the actor rationality, action and deliberation individualism and social structure.
154 citations
01 Jan 2008
TL;DR: Early European exploration of the Orient ism Orientalist art Early European views of Muslims Universal values versus cultural relativism The clash of civilisations The emergence and function of rogue states The axis of evil and the war on terror Future predictions as discussed by the authors
Abstract: TOPICS European exploration of the Orient Oriental ism Orientalist art Early European views of Muslims Universal values versus cultural relativism The clash of civilisations The emergence and function of rogue states The axis of evil and the war on terror Future predictions
137 citations
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors studied the economic activities of the low-income section of the labour force in Accra, the urban sub-proletariat into which the unskilled and illiterate majority of Frafra migrants are drawn.
Abstract: This article originated in the study of one Northern Ghanaian group, the Frafras, as migrants to the urban areas of Southern Ghana. It describes the economic activities of the low-income section of the labour force in Accra, the urban sub-proletariat into which the unskilled and illiterate majority of Frafra migrants are drawn.Price inflation, inadequate wages, and an increasing surplus to the requirements of the urban labour market have led to a high degree of informality in the income-generating activities of the sub-proletariat. Consequently income and expenditure patterns are more complex than is normally allowed for in the economic analysis of poor countries. Government planning and the effective application of economic theory in this sphere has been impeded by the unthinking transfer of western categories to the economic and social structures of African cities. The question to be answered is this: Does the ‘reserve army of urban unemployed and underemployed’ really constitute a passive, exploited majority in cities like Accra, or do their informal economic activities possess some autonomous capacity for generating growth in the incomes of the urban (and rural) poor?
2,473 citations
"The Making and Unmaking of the (In)..." refers background in this paper
...Reprints and Permissions: DOI: 10.1177/0896920510365198 http://www.sage.pub.co.uk/journals.permissions.nav activities of the poor’ Hart (1973) suggested that poor people join the informal sector not to reap profit out of production, but to survive with the goods and services produced therein....
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Book•
01 May 1989
2,275 citations
"The Making and Unmaking of the (In)..." refers background in this paper
...In contrast, De Soto (1989) defined the informal sector as the activities which are desirable and productive, but carried on outside the law....
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Book•
04 Sep 1996
TL;DR: Gibson and Graham as discussed by the authors presented a groundbreaking and controversial argument for envisioning alternative economies and outlined the economic research and activism they have been engaged in since the book was first published.
Abstract: In the mid-1990s, at the height of academic discussion about the inevitability of capitalist globalization, J. K. Gibson-Graham presented a groundbreaking and controversial argument for envisioning alternative economies. This new edition includes an introduction in which the authors address critical responses to The End of Capitalism and outline the economic research and activism they have been engaged in since the book was first published. "Paralyzing problems are banished by this dazzlingly lucid, creative, and practical rethinking of class and economic transformation." -Meaghan Morris, Lingnan University, Hong Kong "Profoundly imaginative." -Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, City University of New York "Filled with insights, it is clearly written and well supported with good examples of actual, deconstructive practices." -International Journal of Urban and Regional Research J. K. Gibson-Graham is the pen name of Katherine Gibson and Julie Graham, feminist economic geographers who work, respectively, at the Australian National University in Canberra and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
1,314 citations
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TL;DR: The authors of as discussed by the authors suggest that a wide range of services which were once produced in the money economy are increasingly provided informally on a self-service basis. But they do not consider the role of the state in the provision of these services.
1,023 citations
821 citations
"The Making and Unmaking of the (In)..." refers background in this paper
...The aspect of legality was further highlighted in Portes et al. (1989) in terms of characteristics like the nature of employment, wage structure, working condition and labor status....
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