Out of the Shadows
Political Action and the Informal Economy in Latin America
288 pages | 6 x 9 | 2006
ISBN 978-0-271-02750-0 | cloth: $83.00 sh
ISBN 978-0-271-02751-7 | paper: $28.00 sh
“With few exceptions, scholars from Left to Right have presented simplistic accounts of the political ramifications of economic informality in the underdeveloped world. Such depictions have been curiously out of synch with the salutary influence of the ‘bringing the state back in’ scholarship of the last couple of decades or so. This volume makes a crucial contribution to the scholarly and policy literatures by emphasizing the embeddedness of informal economies in state-society arrangements that cut across local, national, and transnational terrains of the Latin American and global political economies. The volume represents essential reading for scholars, policy specialists, students, and others who seek to make sense of the politico-social consequences of deepening inequality and poverty in the contemporary world.”—Richard Tardanico, Florida International University
Since the beginning of scholarly writing about the informal economyin the mid-1970s, the debate has evolved from addressing survivalstrategies of the poor to considering the implications for nationaldevelopment and the global economy. Simultaneously, research on informal politics has ranged from neighborhood clientelism to contentioussocial movements basing their claims on a variety of social identitiesin their quest for social justice. Despite related empirical and theoretical concerns, these research traditions have seldom engagedin dialogue with one another. Out of the Shadows brings leadingscholars of the informal economy and informal politics togetherto address how globalization has influenced local efforts to resolve political and economic needs—and how these seemingly separate issues are indeed deeply related.
In addition to the editors, contributors are Javier Auyero, Miguel Angel Centeno, Sylvia Chant, Robert Gay, Mercedes González de la Rocha, José Itzigsohn, Alejandro Portes, and JuanManuel Ramírez Sáiz.
"PatriciaFernández-Kelly is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at PrincetonUniversity, where she also holds an appointment with the Officeof Population Research.
JonShefner is Associate Professor of Sociology at the Universityof Tennessee.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Patricia Fernández-Kelly
1 The Informal Economy in the Shadow of the State
Miguel Angel Centeno and Alejandro Portes
2 Risk and Regulation in Informal and Illegal Markets
John C. Cross and Sergio Peña
3 Neoliberalism, Markets, and Informal Grassroots Economies
José Itzigsohn
4 Vanishing Assets: Cumulative Disadvantages Among the Urban Poor
Mercedes González de la Rocha
5 Female Household Headship, Privation and Power: Challenging the “Feminization of Poverty” Thesis
Sylvia Chant
6 Protest in Contemporary Argentina: A Contentious Repertoire in the Making
Javier Auyero
7 The Even More Difficult Transition from Clientelism to Citizenship: Lessons from Brazil
Robert Gay
8 Informal Politics in the Mexican Democratic Transition: The Case of the People’s Urban Movement
Juan Manuel Ramírez Sáis
9 “Do You Think Democracy Is a Magical Thing?”—From Basic Needs to Democratization in Informal Politics
Jon Shefner
References
Index