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Working Lives in India: Current Insights and Future Directions

Author

Listed:
  • Anita Hammer

    (University of Essex, UK)

  • Janroj Yilmaz Keles

    (Middlesex University, UK)

  • Wendy Olsen

    (University of Manchester, UK)

Abstract

India presents a rich context for research on work and employment, epitomising the paradox of an ‘emerging economy’ but one where 92.4% of the workforce is informal – insecure, unprotected, poor – and women and disadvantaged groups most vulnerable. It displays a wide range of production relations in its formal/informal economy, embedded in diverse social relations, and the related forms of exploitation and resistance. This WES Themed Collection aims to review existing WES scholarship on India since 2001, identifying both gaps in scholarship and fruitful avenues for future research on India. The purpose is to showcase some of this scholarship while also advancing the internationalisation and expansion of the journal’s presence in countries in the Global South. This effort is timely as decolonisation of scholarship and increased focus on the South is on the intellectual agenda, challenging established structures of power and knowledge in academia.

Suggested Citation

  • Anita Hammer & Janroj Yilmaz Keles & Wendy Olsen, 2022. "Working Lives in India: Current Insights and Future Directions," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 36(6), pages 1139-1154, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:36:y:2022:i:6:p:1139-1154
    DOI: 10.1177/09500170221083511
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anita Hammer, 2019. "Comparative capitalism and emerging economies: formal-informal economy interlockages and implications for institutional analysis," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(2), pages 337-360, March.
    2. Parvati Raghuram, 2001. "Caste and Gender in the Organisation of Paid Domestic Work in India," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 15(3), pages 607-617, September.
    3. Amrita Chhachhi & Jan Breman & Marcel Linden, 2014. "Informalizing the Economy: The Return of the Social Question at a Global Level," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 45(5), pages 920-940, September.
    4. Mark Graham & Isis Hjorth & Vili Lehdonvirta, 2017. "Digital labour and development: impacts of global digital labour platforms and the gig economy on worker livelihoods," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 23(2), pages 135-162, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Divya Satish Revankar & Aswini Kumar Mishra & Arfat Sofi, 2025. "Precarious Work and Employment Deprivation: An Econometric Study of Unemployment Duration in India (2020–2024)," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 68(4), pages 1279-1315, December.

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