The research explores the working activities performed in the informal economy focusing on the street vending sector. Informal street vending is traditionally widespread and studied in developing countries. Nevertheless, the interest in the analysis of this activity has recently increased also in developed countries. Despite that, much of the knowledge concerning the phenomenon comes from the vast empirical literature on the Global South realities. Many studies conducted in these countries contribute to the understanding of urban informality in concrete settings, in a scenario of great socio-economic transformations generated by globalised economy. Especially, urbanist and post-colonial scholars explore informality in many Global South realities emphasising the blurred boundaries between the formal and informal spheres of the sector, the relationship between the formal regulatory environment and workers, and the resistance mechanisms and strategies adopted by informal workers to react against macro-structural constraints. The literature on developed countries, on the other hand, mainly explore the phenomenon by highlighting the precarious and uncertain conditions of migrant informal workers. However, little attention is paid to the analysis of the formal-informal overlaps and how informal workers organise their working life on the streets to improve their working conditions and replace formal guarantees denied to them. In order to fill these gaps in the studies of informality in the Global North, this research explores the street vending sector and its concrete manifestations focusing on the case of Milan. The objective is to understand to what extent the formal regulatory environment as well as micro contextual and interactional dynamics affect the street vendors’ working conditions and mechanisms to regulate their working activities. Furthermore, given the recent interest in interactions among the two poles of the economy, the research also aims to explore the overlaps and connections between the regular and irregular sector sides to investigate whether and how these interactions affect working activities. An ethnographic approach has been used to study the dynamics of several Milan open-air markets. The empirical material has been collected during fieldwork lasted between June 2020 and April 2021. Thus, the research resort to participant observation as well as qualitative open-ended interviews with 45 street vendors and semi-structured interviews with 8 key informants. The study shows the great fluidity and interactions between the regular and irregular segments of the sector, which translate into shared working routines and bottom-up governance models that regulate the working life on the street. Particularly, the findings suggest that many informal workers resort to the support of licensed vendors to exploit daily benefits, guarantees, and protection, which positively affect their working conditions. Thus, in Milan, informality is enforced by a “hybrid” governance arrangement model, in which both state and non-state actors concur to regulate daily working activities.

La ricerca esplora le attività lavorative svolte nell'economia informale concentrandosi sul settore della vendita ambulante. Il commercio ambulante informale è tradizionalmente diffuso e studiato nei paesi in via di sviluppo. Tuttavia, l'interesse per l'analisi di questa attività è recentemente aumentato anche nei paesi sviluppati. Nonostante ciò, gran parte della conoscenza del fenomeno proviene dalla vasta letteratura empirica sulle realtà del Sud del mondo. Molti studi condotti in questi paesi contribuiscono alla comprensione dell'informalità urbana in contesti concreti, in uno scenario di grandi trasformazioni socio-economiche generate dall'economia globalizzata. In particolare, studiosi urbani e post-coloniali esplorano l'informalità in numerosi contesti del Sud del mondo, sottolineando i confini sfumati tra la sfera formale e quella informale del settore, il rapporto tra le istituzioni e i lavoratori, così come i meccanismi e strategie di resistenza adottate dai lavoratori informali per reagire ai vincoli macro-strutturali. La letteratura sui paesi sviluppati, invece, esplora principalmente il fenomeno evidenziando le condizioni precarie e incerte dei lavoratori informali migranti. Tuttavia, poca attenzione è dedicata all'analisi delle sovrapposizioni tra la sfera formale e quella informale e ai modi in cui i lavoratori informali organizzano la loro vita lavorativa cercando di migliorare le loro condizioni di lavoro e sostituire garanzie formali loro negate. Per colmare tali lacune negli studi sull'informalità nel Nord del mondo, questa ricerca esplora il settore dei venditori ambulanti e le sue manifestazioni concrete concentrandosi sul caso di Milano. L'obiettivo è comprendere in che misura il contesto normativo formale e le dinamiche interazionali influenzino le condizioni di lavoro dei venditori ambulanti e i meccanismi di regolazione delle loro attività lavorative. Inoltre, dato il recente interesse per le interazioni tra i due poli dell'economia, la ricerca mira anche a esplorare le sovrapposizioni e le connessioni tra il settore regolare e quello irregolare per indagare se e come queste interazioni influenzino le attività lavorative. Un approccio etnografico è stato adottato per studiare le dinamiche di diversi mercati all'aperto di Milano. Il materiale empirico è stato raccolto durante un fieldwork condotto tra giugno 2020 e aprile 2021. Nello specifico, si è ricorso alla tecnica dell'osservazione partecipante e sono state raccolte 45 interviste qualitative con venditori ambulanti e 8 con testimoni privilegiati. Lo studio mostra un certo grado di fluidità e costanti interazioni tra il segmento regolare e quello irregolare del settore, le quali si traducono in routine di lavoro condivise e modelli di governance bottom-up che regolano la vita lavorativa in strada. In particolare, i risultati suggeriscono che molti lavoratori informali ricorrono quotidianamente al supporto dei venditori regolari, che si traducono in benefici, garanzie e protezioni che influenzano positivamente le loro condizioni di lavoro. Pertanto, a Milano, l'informalità è regolata da modelli di governance "ibridi", in cui sia gli attori statali che non statali concorrono a configurare le attività lavorative quotidiane.

(2022). UNDERSTANDING WORKING CONDITIONS AND MECHANISMS OF REGULATION IN THE INFORMAL ECONOMY: THE CASE OF STREET VENDORS IN MILAN. (Tesi di dottorato, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, 2022).

UNDERSTANDING WORKING CONDITIONS AND MECHANISMS OF REGULATION IN THE INFORMAL ECONOMY: THE CASE OF STREET VENDORS IN MILAN

RECCHI, SARA
2022

Abstract

The research explores the working activities performed in the informal economy focusing on the street vending sector. Informal street vending is traditionally widespread and studied in developing countries. Nevertheless, the interest in the analysis of this activity has recently increased also in developed countries. Despite that, much of the knowledge concerning the phenomenon comes from the vast empirical literature on the Global South realities. Many studies conducted in these countries contribute to the understanding of urban informality in concrete settings, in a scenario of great socio-economic transformations generated by globalised economy. Especially, urbanist and post-colonial scholars explore informality in many Global South realities emphasising the blurred boundaries between the formal and informal spheres of the sector, the relationship between the formal regulatory environment and workers, and the resistance mechanisms and strategies adopted by informal workers to react against macro-structural constraints. The literature on developed countries, on the other hand, mainly explore the phenomenon by highlighting the precarious and uncertain conditions of migrant informal workers. However, little attention is paid to the analysis of the formal-informal overlaps and how informal workers organise their working life on the streets to improve their working conditions and replace formal guarantees denied to them. In order to fill these gaps in the studies of informality in the Global North, this research explores the street vending sector and its concrete manifestations focusing on the case of Milan. The objective is to understand to what extent the formal regulatory environment as well as micro contextual and interactional dynamics affect the street vendors’ working conditions and mechanisms to regulate their working activities. Furthermore, given the recent interest in interactions among the two poles of the economy, the research also aims to explore the overlaps and connections between the regular and irregular sector sides to investigate whether and how these interactions affect working activities. An ethnographic approach has been used to study the dynamics of several Milan open-air markets. The empirical material has been collected during fieldwork lasted between June 2020 and April 2021. Thus, the research resort to participant observation as well as qualitative open-ended interviews with 45 street vendors and semi-structured interviews with 8 key informants. The study shows the great fluidity and interactions between the regular and irregular segments of the sector, which translate into shared working routines and bottom-up governance models that regulate the working life on the street. Particularly, the findings suggest that many informal workers resort to the support of licensed vendors to exploit daily benefits, guarantees, and protection, which positively affect their working conditions. Thus, in Milan, informality is enforced by a “hybrid” governance arrangement model, in which both state and non-state actors concur to regulate daily working activities.
FULLIN, GIOVANNA
COLETTO, DIEGO
Economia informale; Venditori ambulanti; Condizioni di lavoro; Meccanismi regolator; Milano
Informal economy; Street vendors; Working conditions; Regulatory mechanism; Milano
SPS/09 - SOCIOLOGIA DEI PROCESSI ECONOMICI E DEL LAVORO
English
30-mag-2022
ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROCESSES
34
2020/2021
embargoed_20250530
(2022). UNDERSTANDING WORKING CONDITIONS AND MECHANISMS OF REGULATION IN THE INFORMAL ECONOMY: THE CASE OF STREET VENDORS IN MILAN. (Tesi di dottorato, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, 2022).
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10281/382011
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