At Work in the Informal Economy of India

Description

‘A large workforce of the country remains invisible, voiceless, isolated, and its work without validity. In this book, Jan Breman fulfils the need to speak up on behalf of the massive working poor.’—ELA R. BHATT, Founder, Self Employed Women’s Association, India. With labour being pushed out of agriculture, Jan Breman analyses why, when, and how the massive shift in production and employment came about. The book is divided into two parts. The first part discusses the past and present path of capitalism and dwells on the abominable condition of the unorganized workforce and the commodification of labour, familiarizing the reader with the concept of informality and its ramifications. The second part, a compilation of well-established, critical readings in the field by the author, elaborates on themes and issues introduced in the first part of the book. Drawing upon detailed field accounts and a critique of the informal sector at both analytical and empirical levels, the author examines different aspects of the labour regime that, in the past decades, has become dominant in the world at large, with serious consequences for the labouring poor in India.

Table of contents

AT WORK IN THE INFORMAL ECONOMY OF INDIA
List of Tables
Preface
List of Abbreviations
Introduction

1. The Political Economy of Dualism
2. A Short History of the Informal Sector
3. At Work
4. Circulation and Immobilization of Labour
5. Social Profile and Locale
6. Resistance to Exclusion and Coping with Insecurity

1. The Market for Non-agrarian Labour: The Formal versus Informal Sector
2. The Study of Industrial Labour in Post-colonial India: The Formal Sector—An Introductory Review
3. A Question of Poverty
4. Quality of the Labour Process
5. The Expulsion of Labour from the Formal Sector of the Economy
6. Neo-bondage: A Fieldwork-based Account
7. Proletarian Life and Social Consciousness
8. Informality as a Regime of Exploitation and Marginalization
9. Myths of the Global Safety Net
10. The Eventual Return of Social Darwinism