Wage labor and social inequality in Kinshasa's informal economy: A class analysis

Héritier Mesa

ULB Institutional Repository from ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles

Abstract: This article explores the social trajectories of some “informal workers” and the dynamics of inequality they highlight. The study investigates how the structure of labor relations reveal class relations and unequal social positionalities more broadly within the informal economy. The research draws from ethnographic data collected about three forms of income-generating activities in Kinshasa: street bread, second-hand clothing, and urban agriculture. While access to capital offers some the opportunity to successfully develop a profitable income-generating activity, the limited access to various forms of capital constrains many to sell their labor power—often with weakened bargaining power—to those in possession of capital. Conversely, some actors have successfully overcome the constraint of the forms of asymmetric labor relations within the informal economy and secured a relatively decent living despite their precarious position.

Keywords: Democratic Republic of Congo; informal economy; Kinshasa; labor; social class; social inequality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-09-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hme and nep-iue
Note: SCOPUS: ar.j
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Published in: Cahiers d'études africaines (2022) v.245-246 n° 1-2,p.319-340

Downloads: (external link)
https://dipot.ulb.ac.be/dspace/bitstream/2013/3626 ... equalityKinshasa.pdf Full text for the whole work, or for a work part (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ulb:ulbeco:2013/362624

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://hdl.handle.ne ... lb.ac.be:2013/362624

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in ULB Institutional Repository from ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Benoit Pauwels (bpauwels@ulb.ac.be).