The Regime of Contract in South African Retailing: A History of Race, Gender, and Skill in Precarious Labor

Kenny, Bridget

doi:10.1017/s0147547915000320

Cited by 6 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 17 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Nevertheless, this explanation does not fit the context of developing economies, in which "insecurity for many has always been a core feature of labor markets and economies" (Kenny, 2016, p. 20). In the Global South, countries have different laws and cultures concerning labor in comparison of countries with an older industrialization history, and this new forms of precarious employment emerge in complex frameworks of regulations (Kenny, 2016). This is not simply the case of workers who had an account of rights and lost them, moving from the social classes above (e.g.…”

Section: Precarious Labor Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Clean rules and dirty clothes: institutional approach to ethics in fashion and apparel retail

Rudolph¹

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Fashion and apparel retail firms have been scrutinized over the past few years regarding the regular occurrence of precarious labor conditions and slave labor in firms composing their supply chains. Even though this phenomenon presents many issues that comprise the theoretical scope of the institutional economics field of literature, scarce contributions have been found using this literature applied in this sector. From this starting point, this thesis combines theoretical and empirical efforts to develop a analytical framework grounded in institutional economics to observe the issues and propose solutions to ethical concerns regarding precarious labor conditions and contemporary slavery in fashion and apparel retail, in terms of institutional change. The overall methodological approach of the thesis is exploratory and qualitative, developed in four different but interconnected papers that comprise the development chapters of the thesis. The first two papers are theoretical, and combine contributions from four key literature backgrounds regarding our theme: business ethics, institutional economics, labor conditions and fashion and apparel retail. These were used to compose a theoretical proposition and a preliminary framework. The last two papers are empirical, both used to clarify the understanding over the proposed analytical framework. As a result, these empirical papers provide novel and contemporary evidence concerning the practices implemented by private and public agents in order to reduce and eradicate precarious labor conditions in this sector, and how they relate between each other, supporting and giving feedback, in terms of institutional change. The overall contribution of this thesis is to propose a novel approach, with analytical framework and propositions, to issues concerning labor conditions in fashion and apparel retail, as well as extending the scope of institutional change analysis to this contemporary phenomenon.

show abstract

Section: Precarious Labor Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Precarious employment practices and contemporary slavery emerge in complex frameworks of regulations, regarding the context of developing countries (Kenny, 2016). And this is the case of Brazil, this complexity that allows for both good and bad cases in the same institutional framework motivated this empirical investigation.…”

Section: Final Remarksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clean rules and dirty clothes: institutional approach to ethics in fashion and apparel retail

Rudolph¹

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Historicizing Precarious Work: Forty Years of Research in the Social Sciences and Humanities

Betti

2018

Int Rev of Soc His

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This survey article seeks to contribute to the understanding of the concepts of precarious work and precarization in the history of industrial capitalism by addressing the debate in the social sciences and humanities over the past forty years. Based on a gendered global approach, this article aims to offer a critique of the Global North-centric perspective, which largely conceives precarious work as a new phenomenon lacking a longer historical tradition. The first part discusses the multiple origins, definitions, and conceptualizations of “precarious work” elaborated with regard to industrial as well as post-industrial capitalism, taking into account selected contemporary sources as well as studies conducted by historians and social scientists. In the second part, the influence of different approaches, such as the feminist and post-colonial ones, in globalizing and gendering the precarious work debate is examined in their historical contexts, exploring also the crucial nexus of precarious work and informal work. In the conclusion, the limitations of the available literature are discussed, along with suggestions for further directions in historicizing precarious work from a global perspective.TRANSLATED ABSTRACTS FRENCH – GERMAN – SPANISHEloisa Betti.En historicisant le travail précaire: quarante ans de recherche dans les sciences sociales et humaines.Cette enquête tente de contribuer à la compréhension des concepts de travail précaire et de précarisation dans l’histoire du capitalisme industriel, en examinant le débat dans les sciences sociales et humaines durant les quarante dernières années. Sur la base d’une approche globale de genre, l’article entend proposer une critique de la perspective globale nordique, qui conçoit en grande partie le travail précaire comme un nouveau phénomène dépourvu d’une assez longue tradition historique. La première partie examine les multiples origines, définitions et conceptualisations du “travail précaire” élaborées à propos du capitalisme industriel et post-industriel, en tenant compte de sources contemporaines sélectionnées et d’études conduites par des historiens et spécialistes des sciences sociales. Dans la seconde partie, l’influence de diverses approches, telles que les approches féministes et post-coloniales, mondialisant et générisant le débat sur le travail précaire, sont examinées dans leur contexte historique, tout en étudiant également le lien crucial du travail précaire et du travail informel. En conclusion, les limitations de la littérature disponible sont examinées et assorties de suggestions d’orientations ultérieures pour historiciser le travail précaire dans une perspective globale.Traduction:Christine Plard

show abstract

In Search of Shelter: Precarity, Protest, and Pronatalism among Laboring Women in Kazakhstan

Tourtellotte

2023

Inter. Labor Working-Class Hist.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In 2019, near Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, five children perished in a house fire while their parents were away at night shift jobs. This widely-reported tragedy brought to light conflicting imperatives and highlighted the precarity of gendered productive and reproductive labor across Kazakhstan. This highly-publicized incident ignited a conflagration of protests by “mothers with many children” (mnogodetnye mamy, kopbala analar), the official designation for low-income women who have four or more children and are eligible for state support. This paper analyzes the mothers’ protests of 2019, and the public and official responses to these protests. It finds that, by centering motherhood and traditional gender norms in their protests, these protestors successfully linked their demands for social benefits back to historic Soviet-era protectionist and paternalist policies, thus legitimizing their demands. However, the article argues that at the same time these gendered labor norms force women, especially marginalized mothers, to engage in precarious forms of labor that neither Western-style NGOs nor limited government support are able to adequately address. The article further concludes that “mothers with many children” labor under precarious conditions and are subject to skepticism and censure, as their actions challenge idealized national scripts of proper womanhood in Kazakhstan. This research contributes to the study of labor, gender, and reproduction in Central Asia and calls for centering the study of gendered labor precarity within Central Asian studies.

show abstract

The Regime of Contract in South African Retailing: A History of Race, Gender, and Skill in Precarious Labor

Cited by 6 publications

References 17 publications

Clean rules and dirty clothes: institutional approach to ethics in fashion and apparel retail

Clean rules and dirty clothes: institutional approach to ethics in fashion and apparel retail

Historicizing Precarious Work: Forty Years of Research in the Social Sciences and Humanities

In Search of Shelter: Precarity, Protest, and Pronatalism among Laboring Women in Kazakhstan

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About