This article explains the disjuncture between formal parliamentary laws and norms of informal economic activities on the basis of a contextual and layered idea of legitimacy. This explanation clarifies a misunderstanding in certain scholarly and policy circles characterising informal economic activities as extra-legal or illegal. The idea of legal legitimacy helps explain divergent normative logics of formal and informal spaces while indicating that informal activities are not performed in a regulatory void. In addition to helping redefine the informal space, the idea also helps clarify the interaction between formal and informal regulation. By employing Jürgen Habermas’ analytical characterisation of society as constitutive of lifeworld(s) and system, and drawing on the empirical literature, the article argues that a cautious interpretation of Habermas’ analytical categorization helps explain the legality of the informal space. If formal laws need to become legitimate for the informal context, they must integrate the contextual standards of legitimacy recognized in the informal space.
concernant la transition de l'économie informelle vers l'économie formelle. Elle sera mis en perspective à travers l'étude d'une initiative juridique récente en Inde visant les travailleurs domestiques
In India, more than 90 % of the workforce is informal. In spite of this enormous percentage of informal workers, informal workers remain excluded from law and policy circles. One reason for such exclusion and invisibility emanates from the absence of trade unionism involving informal workers. Overcoming this invisibility, informal workers are increasingly organizing into associations that differ from traditional trade unions. These organizations devise their strategies and their legal statuses in view of the atypical characteristics of informal activities. In this article, I document some of these organizations of self-employed informal workers in India. By documenting the characteristics and functions of these organizations, I contend that these organizations offer a model for collective action by informal workers. I argue that these associations of informal workers are a sui generis organization of informal workers, and could become a precursor to solidarity-based initiative by informal workers globally.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.