Theorising informality and social embeddedness for the study of informal transport. Lessons from the marshrutka mobility phenomenon

Lela Rekhviashvili and Wladimir Sgibnev

Journal of Transport Geography, 2020, vol. 88, issue C

Abstract: This paper builds upon recent post-structuralist writings on informal economic practices, using most importantly a Polanyian institutionalist framework, to discuss formal/informal and market/non-market practices in the transport sector. The article proposes a critical reading of the literary canon of informal transport, which largely assumes a naturalness and omnipresence of markets. We illustrate how reductionist definitions of informal transport marginalise analytically important empirical detail, and furthermore, lead to misleading theoretical conclusions. In contrast, we analytically de-couple informality and markets, showing that formal and informal economic practices can be embedded in diverse social-cultural institutions. Such a theoretical framework allows for consistent evaluation and empirical examination of transport options, as substantiated by evidence from the marshrutka mobility phenomenon in Bishkek and Tbilisi. We observe marketisation, dis- or re-embedding, formalisation and informalisation as dynamic, inter-dependent and conflictual processes. On these grounds, the article argues for a critical re-appraisal of other forms of informal transport, old and emerging, both in the Global South and the Global North.

Keywords: Informality; Social embeddedness; Marshrutka; Marketisation; Polanyi; Ride-sharing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:88:y:2020:i:c:s0966692317306531

DOI: 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2019.01.006

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