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Job Quality Complexities

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  • Leanne Roncolato
  • John Willoughby

Abstract

This paper draws on feminist and Marxist traditions to develop a framework for analyzing job quality, which incorporates context, social relations, and power. Job quality among small business owners in low-income communities surrounding Cape Town, South Africa is analyzed using data from semi-structured, time-intensive interviews. The results reveal a complicated story of self-employment being a means of expressing creativity, forming identity and community, while simultaneously being characterized by insecurity and harsh constraints.

Suggested Citation

  • Leanne Roncolato & John Willoughby, 2017. "Job Quality Complexities," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 49(1), pages 30-53, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:reorpe:v:49:y:2017:i:1:p:30-53
    DOI: 10.1177/0486613415621751
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    job quality; Marx; feminist; self-employment; South Africa;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B5 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches
    • J4 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets
    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development

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