Revitalising Deprived Urban Neighbourhoods by Colin C. Williams Jan Windebank

Author:Colin C. Williams, Jan Windebank [Colin C. Williams, Jan Windebank]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781138258051
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2016-10-19T00:00:00+00:00

The 'Marginality Thesis'

The standard theorisation of paid informal work has been that it is low-paid informal employment conducted by marginalised areas and groups for unadulterated economic reasons. Due to its views on where it takes place, who does it, what it is and why people engage in it, this has become known as the 'marginality thesis'. First, that is, this approach views paid informal work as more profligate in marginalised areas (e.g., Blair and Endres, 1994; Button, 1984; Elkin and McLaren, 1991; Haughton et al., 1993; Robson, 1988). Elkin and McLaren (1991, p. 217), for example, talk of 'disadvantaged localities where informal employment is often very important', whilst Haughton et al. (1993, p.33) assert that,

the distribution of informal work. .. may well be especially important in areas of high unemployment, in part acting as a palliative, in part merely recycling people between employment and unemployment and possibly reducing official unemployment statistics.

Such work is seen to be spatially concentrated in this manner because marginalised groups are believed to conduct the vast majority of this work (e.g., Lagos, 1995; Maldonado, 1995; Rosanvallon, 1980). This has been asserted to be the case in diverse socio-economic contexts. In France, for example, Rosanvallon (1980) asserted that high unemployment at the end of the 1970s did not result in the traditional French reaction of rioting in the streets because the unemployed, many of whom were not entitled to any benefits at all at the time, were working informally. In the recession of the early 1980s in the UK, meanwhile, Parker (1982, p.33) claimed that 'with high unemployment more and more people are getting caught up in the web of the underground economy', whilst in the heyday of laissez-faire free marketeers, Robson (1988, p.55) asserted that 'the informal economy is more feasible as an alternative prop to those who are out of work. . .'. In the US, similarly, Stauffer (1995, p.1) argues that 'the informal sector can act as an important buffer against unemployment', whilst Blair and Endres (1994, p.288) assert that 'The role of the informal sector in providing a source of support for unemployed workers or individuals receiving public assistance is an important function of the unobserved sector'. The assumption underlying many analyses, therefore, is that 'a significant percentage of the officially unemployed are in reality working "off the books", being paid in cash without intercession of a tax collector' (Gutmann, 1978, p.26).

Inextricably related to this theorisation that paid informal work is conducted by marginalised areas and groups are particularistic conceptualisations of the character of this work and the motives of participants. Such work, that is, is viewed as low-paid peripheral employment and work that is primarily undertaken as an economic survival strategy. This conceptualisation of both its nature and the motives of participants gained currency throughout the 1970s and 1980s (Button, 1984; Castells and Portes, 1989; Gutmann, 1978; Isachsen et al., 1982; Matthews, 1983; Petersen, 1982; Rosanvallon, 1980; Sassen, 1989; Simon and Witte, 1982). Indeed, they have remained in circulation throughout the 1990s up until the present day (e.

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