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Institutional change and transformations in labour and employment standards

Author

Listed:
  • Marie-Christine Bureau

    (LISE-CNAM, France)

  • Patrick Dieuaide

    (Université Sorbonne-Nouvelle, Laboratoire ICEE, France)

Abstract

Initially employed by lawyers and geopolitical experts, the concept of ‘grey zones’ can be usefully applied to analyse the recent changes on the labour market. It provides a means of bypassing the dualist approaches that contrast waged work and self-employment, insiders and outsiders, or, then again, formal and informal work in a binary way. It provides visibility of the decoherence between the institutions associated with waged status and actual employment practices, and the layering of several different kinds of regulation. The ‘grey zones’ approach thus provides an analytical framework for understanding a wide variety of situations and studying various processes of institutional change, giving the actors of this change their rightful place. Although grey zones are often areas where laws are absent or weak, through these actors they can also give rise to new institutions.

Suggested Citation

  • Marie-Christine Bureau & Patrick Dieuaide, 2018. "Institutional change and transformations in labour and employment standards," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 24(3), pages 261-277, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:treure:v:24:y:2018:i:3:p:261-277
    DOI: 10.1177/1024258918775573
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Cinara L Rosenfield, 2018. "Labour, self-entrepreneurship in Brazil and paradoxes of social freedom," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 24(3), pages 337-352, August.
    2. Nick Wailes & Gaby Ramia & Russell D. Lansbury, 2003. "Interests, Institutions and Industrial Relations," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 41(4), pages 617-637, December.
    3. Marie-Christine Bureau & Antonella Corsani, 2018. "Collective actions on the margins of the salariat," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 24(3), pages 279-295, August.
    4. Bruno Palier & Kathleen Thelen, 2010. "Institutionalizing Dualism: Complementarities and Change in France and Germany," Politics & Society, , vol. 38(1), pages 119-148, March.
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