Changing global economies

The global neo-liberal restructuring and the 2008 financial crisis has transformed capitalist work. They have also weakened the relationship between employment and the reproduction of daily life, or ‘social reproduction’. This has resulted in a marked increase in unsecure employment.

Where this has, it has challenged the sustainability of formal waged employment. This means that the forms of citizenship and welfare that support the survival and social reproduction of urban communities are also challenged. Consequently, informal employment in many places has become normalised, and can be related to a range of activities undertaken by social actors that are attempting to address this crisis.

Impact on the global South

The global transformation of work has been more devastating in the global South and has increased levels of unemployment and poverty. In places where the break down between employment and social reproduction has been most extreme, the issue of how to ensure survival has been forced back on urban communities and the organisation of ‘work’ has moved beyond formal boundaries.

Survival strategies

In the cities of the South, the organisation of new productive activities beyond the formal workplace have become linked with issues such as poverty, hardship and exclusion. This has resulted in collective actions on issues such as housing, food, land, education and health. These ‘survival strategies’ are increasingly spreading to areas of the Global North, as formal employment opportunities have been undermined by the impact of the global crisis and austerity policies.

We believe that these alternatives are a source of knowledge and experience that can feed into alternative forms of policy.

Positive steps forward

Our work focuses on capturing some of the positive and proactive collective strategies that attempt to reorganise work and life beyond employment. We seek to understand the transformatory role of the social actors involved in these projects and initiatives. In addition, we look at the ways these emerging forms of ‘work’ outside employment, including cultural production, contribute to the social reproduction and re-imagination of communities.

Project outputs

• Publications in English and Translation
• Exhibitions
• Website
• Conferences
• Workshops
• ESRC grant application: Beyond Informality: Organising life and work in urban spaces

Project team

• Ana C Dinerstein, University of Bath
• Maurizio Atzeni, National Research Council, Argentina
  
• Suzanne Bergeron, Women's and Gender Studies, University of Michigan-Dearborn, USA
• Sávio Machado Cavalcante, University of Campinas, Brazil
• Greig Charnock, University of Manchester
• Nora Fernández, Institute for Ecuadorian Studies, Quito, Ecuador
• Andréia Galvão, University of Campinas, Brazil
• Graham Jeffery, University of the West of Scotland
• Theodoros Karyotis, Independent Researcher, Thessaloniki
• Karolos Kavoulakis, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
• Ravi Kumar, South Asian University, New Delhi, INDIA
  
• Ricard Moren-Alegret, University Autónoma of Barcelona
  
• José Marcos Novelli, Federal University of São Carlos
• Hernán Ouviña, Institute for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Buenos Aires
• Theo Papadopoulos, University of Bath
• Ben Parry, Bath Spa University
• F. Harry Pitts, University of Bristol
• Nicky Stubbs, University of Bath
• Jeanne van Hiiswijk and Annet Otterl, Freehouse and Afrikaanderwijk Cooperative, South Rotterdam, Netherlands