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Mexico has an economically active population of nearly 48 million inhabitants, sixty percent lacks of social protection. Throughout the country's history has been a strong division between workers at the formal sector who have access to the social security system and informal sector who has lacked of any protection. The informal sector represents sixty percent of the economically active population and within that universe there are four self-employed dimensions recognized by the social security law for their integration in the social security system. This article is a critical analysis of the legal framework to show the regressivity of the Mexican social security system towards self-employed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the power dynamics that shape the wastescape of Sri Lanka. Using theories of power and hegemony, we investigate how the discourses of expert knowledge and formal waste management processes marginalize the discourses and practices of the informal waste sector. By analyzing these discourses and practices, we demonstrate how legitimate and authoritative knowledge is constructed. The analysis uncovered five themes that frame the dominant model of waste management in Sri Lanka: (a) the discourse of development, (b) expert systems, (c) political decision-making, (d) coercion and alienation, and (e) removal of waste. We demonstrate that small-scale informal waste management can be both a solution to Sri Lanka's waste problem and a much needed income source for the poor. Thus, instead of alienation, coercion, and exclusion, informal waste workers should be recognized as valuable contributors of the urban wastescape to create a sustainable wastescape in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]