Footloose Labour: Working in India's Informal Economy (Contemporary South Asia, Series Number 2) - Hardcover

Breman, Jan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521560837 ISBN 13: 9780521560832

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1996

Synopsis

In a penetrating anthropological study of the working poor in India, Jan Breman examines the lives of those who, pushed out of the agrarian labor market, depend on casual work. By considering two villages in south Gujarat, the author discusses the mobilization of casual labor, demonstrating that this is characteristic of an employment pattern that dominates the rural and urban economy of large parts of South Asia. Elaborating on the social profile of the work migrants, the author shows that little has been done to improve their quality of life, which is defined by caste and class relations.

About this title

Book Description:

This penetrating anthropological study of India's working poor examines the lives of migrant workers from two villages in south Gujarat who depend on casual work. It reveals that little has been done to improve their quality of life, which is defined by caste and class relations.

Review:

'The author has been working in the economy of South Gujerat for half a lifetime, and his knowledge of it, and particularly of labourers within it, is profound.' Asian Affairs

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0521560837
• ISBN 13: 9780521560832
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 290