Lecture 10: bhattacharya and kesar

Question 1

Explain what formal work is (formality)

Answer 1

• receiving a wage
• regulated by state
• provision of employment protection

Question 2

according to bhattu and kesu is growing formality the endpoint of development?

Answer 2

No, according to them it is not. Taking India for example:
- over 90% of workers are informal (not moving from agriculture sector to formal as Smith and Marx predicted).
- and this is happening while India’s economy is growing

Question 3

Informality in the global north and south

first explain what global nroth and south entails

Answer 3

global north: rich countries, north america, central america kind of not rly, japan

global south: China, India, Indonesia, Brazil and Pakista

informality in the global north:
* increasing informalization of work
* decline of union representation - erosion of workplace protection
* platformization (platofrms)

however when talking about erosion of workplace protection, the trajectory is different from the south (india):
* Increasing dispossession
* Rapid economic growth w/o
formalization
* Non-agricultural labor remains
mostly informal

Question 4

now overall: in contemporary global society

Answer 4

there is strong continuation of dispossesion of people who have established ways of life.

but the labor that is freed up is not moving into formalized context as predicted by 19th century theorists

• india is an example because it moved from ag to informal

this shows you can be in a sector which based on historical precedent of global north you may assume to be formal but its not

Question 5

petty capital:

Answer 5

petty commodity producer VS capitalist producer:

1. people in petty - not paid wages (informal, no state regulation)
2. at the end of production cycle u have not generated more surplus (you’ve generated just enough to get by)

shows self-exploitation: pushing family to work long hours … idk this part

Question 6

explain the petty capital system

Answer 6

say u want to make garments; instead of going with the capitalismt model;

u offload it to households and send the order for them to work for that firm. much like the beedi rolling industry in india

indiv workers are not directly exploited and it is not entirely informal but thr company offloads risk on families and puts off labor laws. because family business is not states business

Question 7

what does this show

Answer 7

how thr accelatation of an economy could be due the informal sectpr allpowing companies to be profitable by not adhering to labor laws