Click here to download

Working in the informal economy: the case of streets mechanics in the Parisian suburbs
Journal Title: SOCIOLOGIA DEL LAVORO  
Author/s: Attila Bruni, Denis Giordano 
Year:  2015 Issue: 139 Language: Italian 
Pages:  12 Pg. 95-106 FullText PDF:  114 KB
DOI:  10.3280/SL2015-139008
(DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation:  clicca qui   and here 


Referring to the results of an ethnographic research concerning streets mechanics in the Parisian suburbs the paper aims at looking at informal economy through a practice-based perspective, with a particular emphasis on the activities that constitute its articulations. Looking at the daily work of unofficial mechanics, we will show the relationships of cooperation and trust that mechanics seek and mend both in the relation with the customer, as in the one with the wider social context in which they operate. This enables unofficial mechanics to create different services for customers and gain recognition and legitimacy despite the violation of laws, making the boundaries between formal and informal economy increasingly porous.
Keywords: Work practices, informal economy, ethnography, illegalism, trust

  1. Bajada C., Schneider F. (2009). Unemployment and the Shadow Economy in the OECD. Revue économique, 60(5): 1033-67., DOI: 10.3917/reco.605.103
  2. Boltanski L., Chiapello E. (1999). Le nouvel esprit du capitalisme. Paris: Gallimard.
  3. Bourgois P. (2002). In search of respect. Selling crack in El Barrio. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (trad. it.: Cercando rispetto. Drug economy e cultura di strada. Verona: Derive&Approdi, 2005).
  4. Bruni A., Gherardi S. (2007). Studiare le pratiche lavorative. Bologna: il Mulino.
  5. Bureau X.,Fendt J. (2010). L’entrepreneuriat au sein de l’économie informelle des pays développés: une réalité oubliée? In: Actes de la Conférence de l’Association Internationale de Management Stratégique (AIMS), Luxembourg.
  6. Castel O. (2007). De l’économie informelle à l’économie populaire solidaire: concepts et pratiques. In: Hainard F., Ischer P., a cura di, L’économie informelle: une alternative à l’exclusion économique et sociale? Berna:
  7. Editions Université de Neuchâtel. Coletto D. (2010). The informal economy and employment in Brazil: Latin America, modernization, and social changes. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Corbin J., Strauss A. (1993). The articulation of work through interaction. The sociological quarterly, 34(1): 71-83., DOI: 10.1111/j.1533-8525.1993.tb00131.
  8. Corsani A., Lazzarato M. (2008). Intermittents et précaires. Paris: ed. Amsterdam.
  9. Dal Lago A., Quadrelli E. (2003). La città e le ombre: crimini, criminali, cittadini. Milano: Feltrinelli.
  10. De Leonardis O. (2013). Altrove. Sulla configurazione spaziale dell’alterità e della resistenza. Rassegna Italiana di Sociologia, 14(3): 351-378., DOI: 10.1423/7474
  11. Duneier M. (1999). Sidewalk, New York: Macmillan.
  12. Foucault M. (1973). La Société punitive. Paris: Seuil, 2013.
  13. Foucault M. (1975) Surveiller et punir, Paris: Gallimard (trad. it.: Sorvegliare e punire. Torino: Einaudi, 1976).
  14. García H., Lara F. (2004). Repas ambulants Informalité urbaine et modernité industrielle à la frontière nord du Mexique. Sociologie du Travail, 46(1): 42-53.
  15. Giordano D. (2012). Nei panni di un meccanico di strada. Snodi, 10: 66-75.
  16. Giordano D. (2014). Lavorare nell’economia informale: i meccanici di strada nella metropoli parigina, PhD Thesis, Università di Trento.
  17. Hainard F., Ischer P. (2007). L’économie informelle: une alternative à l’exclusion économique et sociale?, rapporto congiunto Unesco e Università di Neuchâtel, Berna.
  18. Hart K. (1973). Informal Income Opportunities and Urban Employment in Ghana. Journal of Modern African Studies, 11(1): 61-89., DOI: 10.1017/S0022278X0000808
  19. Hughes E.C. (1958). Men and their Work. Glencoe: The Free Press.
  20. ILO (1972) Employment, Income, and Equality. A Strategy for Increasing Productive Employment in Kenya. Geneva: ILO.
  21. ILO (2002). Decent Work and the Informal Economy, Report VI. Geneva: ILO. Kesteltoot C., Meert H. (1999). Informal spaces: the geography of informal economic activities in Brussels. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 23(2): 232-251., DOI: 10.1111/1468-2427.0019
  22. Laé J.F. (1989). Travailler au noir. Paris: Metaillé.
  23. Lascoumes P. (1996). L’illégalisme, outil d’analyse. Societé & Représentation, 3: 78-84.
  24. Latouche S. (1993). Le planète des naufragés. Paris: La Découverte.
  25. McNay L. (2009). Self as Enterprise: Dilemmas of Control and Resistance in Foucault’s The Birth of Biopolitics. Theory, Culture & Society, 26(6): 55-77., DOI: 10.1177/026327640934769
  26. Pink S. (2009). Doing Sensory Ethnography. London: Sage.
  27. Reyneri E. (2005). Sociologia del mercato del lavoro. Bologna: il Mulino.
  28. Rubić T. (2013). Je me “débrouille” L’économie informelle et le chômage en Croatie. Ethnologie française, 43(2): 217-27., DOI: 10.3917/ethn.132.021
  29. Saitta P. (2011). Etnografia di un’economia informale in Sicilia. Etnografia e ricerca qualitativa, 3: 395-421., DOI: 10.3240/3579
  30. Saitta P. (2013). Informali. Stato, élite e marginali alle prese con l’irregolarità: un’introduzione critica. Etnografia e ricerca qualitativa, 6(1): 5-12., DOI: 10.3240/73064
  31. Schneider F. (2005). Shadow economy around the world: what do we really know? European Journal of Political Economy, 21(2): 598-642., DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2004.10.00
  32. Schneider F. (2013). Size and development of the shadow economy of 31 European and 5 other OECD countries from 2003 to 2013: a further decline.
  33. Discussion Paper. Linz: Department of Economics, University of Linz.
  34. Schneider F., Enste D. (2002). Hiding in the shadows: the growth of the underground economy, Vol. 30. Washington: International Monetary Fund., DOI: 10.5089/9781589061514.05
  35. Sepulveda L., Syrett S. (2007). Out of the shadows? Formalisation approaches to informal economic activity. Policy & Politics, 35(1): 87-104., DOI: 10.1332/03055730777965773
  36. Strati A. (2003). Centralità della ‘pratica’ nello studio dell’organizzazione e conoscenza sensibile. Sociologia del lavoro, 92: 119-133.
  37. Tafenau E., Herwartz H., Schneider F. (2010). Regional Estimates of the Shadow Economy in Europe. International Economic Journal, 24(4): 629-636., DOI: 10.1080/10168737.2010.52601
  38. Tafferant N. (2007). Le ‘Bizness’: Une économie souterraine. Paris: PUF.
  39. Vannucci A., a cura di (2009). Nero, grigio, sommerso. Attori e politiche per l’emersione del lavoro irregolare dal contesto italiano alla dimensione locale: il caso della provincia di Pisa. Pisa: Felici.
  40. Venkatesh S. (2006). Off the books. The underground economy of the urban poor. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
  41. Weber F. (1989). Le travail à-côté. Une ethnographie des perceptions. Paris: Ehess.
  42. Wenger E. (1998). Communities of practice: learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge: University Press.
  43. Williams C. (2004). Cash-in-Hand Work: The Underground Sector and the Hidden Economy of Favours. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
  44. Williams C. (2014). Out of the shadows: a classification of economies by the size and character of their informal sector. Work, Employment & Society, 28(5): 735-753., DOI: 10.1177/095001701350195

Attila Bruni, Denis Giordano, Working in the informal economy: the case of streets mechanics in the Parisian suburbs in "SOCIOLOGIA DEL LAVORO " 139/2015, pp. 95-106, DOI:10.3280/SL2015-139008

   

FrancoAngeli is a member of Publishers International Linking Association a not for profit orgasnization wich runs the CrossRef service, enabing links to and from online scholarly content