Informal labor, formal politics, and dignified discontent in India

Bibliographic Information

Informal labor, formal politics, and dignified discontent in India

Rina Agarwala

(Cambridge studies in contentious politics)

Cambridge University Press, 2013

  • : hardback
  • : pbk

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Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. 225-240) and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Since the 1980s, the world's governments have decreased state welfare and thus increased the number of unprotected 'informal' or 'precarious' workers. As a result, more and more workers do not receive secure wages or benefits from either employers or the state. This book offers a fresh and provocative look into the alternative social movements informal workers in India are launching. It also offers a unique analysis of the conditions under which these movements succeed or fail. Drawing from 300 interviews with informal workers, government officials and union leaders, Rina Agarwala argues that Indian informal workers are using their power as voters to demand welfare benefits from the state, rather than demanding traditional work benefits from employers. In addition, they are organizing at the neighborhood level, rather than the shop floor, and appealing to 'citizenship', rather than labor rights.

Table of Contents

  • 1. Introduction: informal workers' movements and the state
  • 2. Struggling with informality
  • 3. The success of competitive populism
  • 4. Communism's resistance to change
  • 5. Why accommodation leads to minimal gains
  • 6. Conclusion: dignifying discontent.

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