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"Everyone does it": Unpaid Work in a Rural Peripheral Region

Author

Listed:
  • Lawrence F. Felt

    (Institute of Social and Economic Research at the Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada)

  • Peter R. Sinclair

    (Department of Sociology at the Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada)

Abstract

In this paper we document the extensive informal sector of unpaid productive labour in an isolated, peripheral area in Canada. The study is based on interviews with all adults in 250 households. We consider various socio-economic characteristics as determinants of participation in the informal economy with respect to home construction, other types of subsistence activity and the unpaid work that is done for other households. Our central hypothesis is that the extent of participation is independent of socio-economic status. Our analysis challenges the general adequacy of accounts by Pahl and by neo-Marxist authors. We argue that the informal economy is best understood partly as a constructive response to deprivation and partly because many of the activities are culturally valued.

Suggested Citation

  • Lawrence F. Felt & Peter R. Sinclair, 1992. ""Everyone does it": Unpaid Work in a Rural Peripheral Region," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 6(1), pages 43-64, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:6:y:1992:i:1:p:43-64
    DOI: 10.1177/095001709261003
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Feige,Edgar L. (ed.), 1989. "The Underground Economies," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521262309.
    2. Nattrass, Nicoli Jean, 1987. "Street trading in Transkei--a struggle against poverty, persecution, and prosecution," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 15(7), pages 861-875, July.
    3. Peattie, Lisa, 1987. "An idea in good currency and how it grew: The informal sector," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 15(7), pages 851-860, July.
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    Cited by:

    1. Nikulin, Alexander (Никулин, Александр), 2018. "Informal Economy of Rural Households in Russia: Regional and Sectoral Features, Interaction with the State and Society [Неформальная Экономика Домохозяйств Сельской России: Региональные И Отраслевы," Working Papers 041807, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.

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