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South Africa is a country with both high levels of marginalization in the labor force and a strong labor movement. The country's largest union federation, COSATU, enjoys relatively high institutional influence within the government and the ruling party. Because of its strong institutional position, some see it as favorably placed to be a political voice for the marginalized of South Africa. This paper compares COSATU's responses to marginalization to those of three independent unions. It determines that COSATU's institutional strength has allowed the federation to advocate for the marginalized in various ways. However, the institutional strength has also prevented COSATU from undertaking innovative forms of organizing and coalition building that would incorporate the marginalized into the union movement. It is independent unions and social movement organizations, who lack institutional power, who have made attempts at organizing the marginalized. The conclusion discusses the implications of the South African case for union movements elsewhere that follow the institutional model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local currency systems seek to build economic and social capital in their communities. This comprehensive, quantitative case study explores the motivations, trading patterns, and outcomes of participation in a "Time Bank." Membership survey data and organizational records are employed in social network and multiple regression analyses. Members are largely female, low-income, and highly educated. There is consistency in the types of people joining this Time Bank for social and economic reasons. Those who are motivated by their needs and those seeking more social ties are more likely to spend greater time participating. Overall, this Time Bank has been more successful in generating cultural and economic capital rather than social capital. Lower-income and unemployed participants are more likely to gain social capital outcomes however. Those located in denser trading networks report that they are more likely to get the services that they need and want. Those who joined for social reasons and those who are engaged more in this system are more likely to gain a variety of outcomes. The continuing growth of Time Banks and the findings here suggest that this movement is efficacious. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis study explores the emergence of an art community in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) region of South Texas. In researching this objective, I relied on observations at many gallery public functions where I had the opportunity to observe the interactions between prospective buyers, gallery owners and artists. I also visited with gallery owners and artists many times in small group settings where I raised open ended questions about the region's artists and other historical developments that would allow me to put together a cohesive story about the emergence of the art community. This study began as an unstructured exploration into the formation of the RGV art community. In the process of pursuing this objective, I was exposed to grounded theory and realize that as a qualitative methodology it provided the best fit between my overall research perspective and the open approach of artists to their work. Relying on the methodology of grounded theory, this research tells a story. The story of regional artists, from both sides of the border; who were by chance or purpose drawn into the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas and who together began to gradually build the Valley art community. The observations which were extracted from grounded theory included: the artists' motivations for engaging in the arts, unique characteristics and lifestyles of the artists', including hedonism and consumerism, which I have labeled here as a counter consumer culture, and observations of how the artists' unique attributes equip them with a high amount of social capital and strong assets for collective action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the social construction of order in the informal economy. The case study involves two very large and successful flea markets in the New York metropolitan area and their source of successful acquisitions of goods and services in the informal economy or as I call it - the cash underground economy. It demonstrates the socio-cultural influences on economic behavior from an interactionist perspective. As such, it seeks to demonstrate Durkheim's axiom: there can be no economics without pre-established cultural norms, the concepts of contract, and the moral sentiments and social understandings as underpinnings for economic action. Concepts as trust, reciprocity, mutual dependencies, cooperation, common agreements that are embedded in culture, are explored from a human centered approach. Lastly, it allows for a re-examination of some of the fundamental postulates of neoclassical economic theory such as an economy and business transactions as being separate from society and 'outside influences', consisting of atomistic individuals relating as lone individuals coldly calculating and maximizing their own utility. Quite the contrary view is described here. The rich, contextual, multifaceted, interpersonal qualities of exchange are established. How these recurrent expectations and concerns of economic actors get organized into roles and relationships is the focus of this paper. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing smoking rates in the U.S. to approximately 23% of the population is a great success story for public health, but public health has focused insufficiently on young adults, particularly those not attending college. Recent survey data from Baltimore, reveal that in some inner-city communities, over half of the young adults (18-24 years old) smoke cigarettes. This paper explores the community level factors contributing to high smoking rates among young adults in Baltimore. Our analysis is based on focus group data from a one-year community based participatory research project with two job training organizations (Urban Youth Corps and Youth Build in Sandtown-Winchester). We present data from four focus groups with 28 program participants (23 smokers and 5 non-smokers). Our analysis focuses on two emergent themes. First, the importance that participants placed on sharing cigarettes and smoking together, and second, the impact of ubiquitous loose cigarette vendors within the community on cigarette acquisition. We conclude that there are community-specific factors that specifically undermine existing tobacco prevention efforts at the policy level. Policy planning needs to include a consideration of the impact of community structures on implementation, in order to reduce health disparities caused by smoking, instead of facilitating widening the gap. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the determinants of homelessness among day laborers in San'ya, Tokyo's largest yoseba, or day labor ghetto. Yoseba have long served as kakikomidera, or "temples of refuge," for Japan's unemployed. However, under the Heisei Recession since 1990 demand for day laborers has dramatically declined and homelessness has exploded. While the link between the recession and rising homelessness among day laborers has been affirmed by social science researchers in Japan, this paper is the first research effort to empirically explore the factors that determine whether or not an individual day laborer becomes homeless. A binomial logistic regression analysis is performed on survey data from day laborers in San'ya, showing that, contrary to expectation, characteristics such as youth and possession of job-related skills were not found to significantly prevent homelessness. However, day laborers were able to draw on their formal education, past experiences as a day laborer, and interpersonal connections with labor brokers to avoid homelessness. These relationships with employers proved to have the largest impact, suggesting that this form of social capital is the most important asset in avoiding homelessness in Japan's yoseba. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Street Markets commonly known as Ferias Libres in Santiago de Chile are being threatened. With the consolidation of structural reforms in Latin American, locational models of enterprises has been changing, making possible large retail enterprises such as supermarkets and malls to locate close to working class neighborhoods that were not accessible in earlier times and which were classically served by informal channels of commerce such as street vending. During the late twentieth century, while the presence of supermarkets and malls is increasingly associated with large urban renewals, municipalities have incorporated street markets to limit their growth within suitable commercial areas. For street vendors, economic spatial behavior (the 'search for the client') has been controlled in such a way that their right to use the public space is claimed as a political issue. This paper explores how images of public space between public officials and street vendors are expressed in the regulation currently enforced for street markets in Santiago de Chile. Summarizing data from interviews and secondary sources, compiled during summer 2004 and 2005, from public officials and street vendors' organizations, I search for identifying contemporary trends on the political struggle for public space. A claim is being made that this regulation policy illustrates the inadequacy of the aim to transform lived spaces to controlled and planned spaces. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper traces the efforts of the New York mass transit authorities to stem the tide of theft-of-service using governmental, technological and design instruments. While these efforts were narrowly successful, they interacted in unintended ways to produce a series of consequences, a variant on Strauss' "cumulative mess trajectory". These new problems include public safety liabilities, a blunting of police strategy and, the focus of this paper, a new informal economy brokering illegal entry into the subway system. This practice, known as "selling swipes" is described in detail based on information from interviews with New York subway workers who observe this practice, as well as on-site observations. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migration researchers know that many types of intermediary are involved in the process of migration and settlement from formal to informal ones. Many studies, however, overlook what kinds of role an intermediary undertakes, aside from a utilitarian point of view. Through a case study of Latino day laborers and nonprofit organizations, the paper argues that the role of intermediary is to reinforce the legitimacy of casual employment of undocumented workers in the U.S. They use the Workers' Center as a space to mold undocumented workers to socially desirable subjects. First, they foster a state of 'governmentality from below' (Feurguson and Gupta 2002) among day laborers by using the notion of democracy as a source of power. Then, they proclaim the workers' civic citizenship by presenting them to the people in adjacent neighboring communities as a harmless and hard-working group of people who are just waiting for work outside. They also advertise the availability of day laborers in newspapers and at media conferences. Through these activities, what an intermediary actually does is that they erase the shadowy image of hiring undocumented workers, and imbues the public with a new perspective that we are supporting their alternative economic adjustment to the American economy. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The globalization and liberalization era has resulted in an increased proportion of workers who do not receive secure wages or social benefits either from employers or the state. This study examines how the informal nature of employment affects workers' collective action strategies in India, the largest democracy in the world. Contrary to much of the globalization literature on labor and on social movements to date, I find that informal workers are organizing along class lines to improve their livelihoods through demands for state-supported benefits. Their informal employment conditions have, however, altered their mobilization strategies to create a new form of unionism that appeals to the state, rather than the employer, for increases in welfare (such as support for health care, education, and housing) rather than workers' rights (such as minimum wages and job security). In addition, because their employers change frequently, informal workers organize around the neighborhood, rather than the shop floor. Given the growing rhetoric about the decline in workers' movements and the decreased welfare state, these findings are surprising and reveal important insights into what strategies are available for marginalized groups to express their political voice, even as state policies erode their material circumstances. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine a sample of urban fathers, all of whom were unwed at the time that their children were born. Integrating research on race, poverty, family, work, and crime, this study tests whether fathers' participation in regular work, underground employment, and illicit hustles affects involvement with children in a similar fashion. The results show that the more time that fathers spend engaged in hustling, the less involved they are with their children. In contrast, time spent working in other forms of the urban underground economy, such as off-the-books work and time spent working in the formal economy have no effect on father involvement. These effects persist even after controlling for fathers' race/ethnicity, age, educational attainment, and cohabitation status/relationship with their children's mothers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shoppers tend to buy in the nearest place. Central Place theory, which began with the rise of industrial cities, posits that the urban structure of commerce is conditioned by the concentration of population and access to transport within central areas of the city. In Santiago de Chile, while the presence of supermarkets and malls is increasing, municipalities have regulated street vending to limit their growth within suitable commercial areas. For these actors, economic spatial behavior (the 'search for the client') has been controlled in such a way that their right to use the public space is claimed as a political issue. This paper aims to identify the spatial patterns of local street markets compared to supermarkets in terms of potential population demand and neighborhood characteristics. Using Census data for 1992 and 2000, with a sample of six selected districts in Santiago, a distance & cost weighted-distance spatial analysis have been applied demonstrating that street markets are more sensitive to neighborhood socioeconomic deterioration than increasing population demand. I argue that this situation demonstrates the nature of a more pronounced segmented market and inequality among the population living in Santiago. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a study related to workers in the informal sector in India. As part of the study, the author conducted several interviews with labor leaders, government officials, and workers in India. The study focused on seven informal worker organizations in three Indian states. The author found that informal workers in India are organizing in order to improve their living conditions through government-supported benefits. Informal workers in the country are also organizing along class lines.

The article focuses on free goods transactions. According to the status of the recipient, the value and extent of these free resources varies vastly. These goods tend to be transacted informally. Free stuff including plastic flatware, condiment packets, straws and salt complete a system needed to make related commodities consumable in a conventional way. People extract benefit from free stuff by giving them away to lower status people. Statistical examinations of wealth and the economy can be enriched by identifying the retail values of substantive free things.

This paper examines patterns of self-identification among immigrant day laborers on the street corners of San Francisco, focusing in particular on the ways in which they seek and affirm dignity in the face of rampant stigmatization, ever-present uncertainty and poverty. Drawing upon interviews and ethnographic data, it presents evidence that many who work in this informal labor market maintain a sense of dignity and claim their moral worth by fashioning themselves as entrepreneurs, jacks-of-all trades and/or role models, taking pride in the seemingly unparalleled autonomy this work affords them as well as in the skill and work ethic their work purportedly exemplifies. These findings challenge popular perceptions about immigrant day laborers as well as existing scholarship on the relationship between work and dignity among the urban subproletariat. This paper furthermore argues that attempts to affirm this dignified status come all too often at the expense of others. Many of these street corner day laborers engage in a variety of practices of social distancing and differentiation, deflecting stigma onto other "undesirables" who share the same social space and joining in the dominant discourse of denouncing those who undeservingly profit from social assistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a study about the social order that existed among the men at the workplace. The social order among day laborers helped to illustrate the implications of various identity positions in the exchanges that took place on the street corner that were not solely restricted to exchanges of labor. Building on the literature of Herbert Blumer and Erving Goffman, this study examines the management of identity in the workplace. There were powerful implications of race and ethnicity in the exchanges that took place at the worksite. The study illustrates how gender is an integral element in the work processes that took place on the street corner.