Inequality at work in the informal economy

Abstract

To discriminate is to distinguish between people on the basis of aspects of their identity, in ways considered unjust. This article offers some observations about the context of economic discrimination in the hope that they may contribute constructively to discussion about political responses to discrimination. The source of most of my observations, India, is a very large country which is integrating into global markets slowly, selectively and not always to the advantage of the mass of its people. And research in Nigeria leads me to believe that these observations may be more widely relevant (see Shah, 2002; Meagher, 2004). The opening section of the article introduces the notion of social regulation, to which the informal economy defaults in the absence of effective state regulation. The second section examines the role of identity, which is central to the discriminatory nature of social regulation. The third section considers what would need to be done to address discrimination in the informal economy, with sub-sections on the role of the State, trade unions, “new social movements” and market forces. A final section offers some concluding remarks.