Rodgers, P., Shahid, M.S. and Williams, C.C. orcid.org/0000-0002-3610-1933 (2019) Reconceptualizing informal work practices: Some observations from an ethnic minority community in urban UK. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 43 (3). pp. 476-496. ISSN 0309-1317
Abstract
Whilst paid informal work has been conceptualized as a form of paid employment imbued with solely economic motivations, this article critically argues that such a market‐oriented reading fails to take into account alternative explanations for the existence of informal work practices. Using evidence from 50 interviews conducted within a Pakistani urban community in a northern UK city, this article, uses a mixed‐embeddedness perspective to highlight the importance of predominantly socially and culturally driven motives in the decision to engage in informal work. The findings highlight that participation in informal work, whilst a product of marginalization due to certain institutional and structural factors, is also driven by a range of non‐monetary motives—a result of certain socially embedded work relations between ethnic minority workers and their employers. It is this social embeddedness of the employer–employee relationship in the Pakistani ethnic minority community that explains the continuation of informal work practices in the face of prevailing laws and regulations. The findings add weight to the understanding of informal work as being about more than just economics and constraints, offering these ethnic minority workers opportunities, even status, and giving them agency in an otherwise disempowered situation.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2019 Urban Research Publications Limited. This is an author-produced version of a paper subsequently published in International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | informal work; mixed‐embeddedness theory; ethnic minority, UK |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Management School (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 25 Mar 2020 13:14 |
Last Modified: | 09 May 2021 00:38 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1111/1468-2427.12774 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:158735 |