ABSTRACT
This chapter maps the nature of cooperation and competitions among mritshilpis, the forms of formal and informal negotiations that happen in and around livelihood. These negotiations happen at the level of individual mritshilpis through informal ties of kinship and friendship which act as social network and create social capital for enabling migration and mobility within the occupation. There have been extensive spatial movements of individuals between districts of Bengal and interstate migration, both seasonal and permanent as an outcome of network ties. The chapter also discusses the nature of interdependence between different sets of people who constitute the producers’ market. This requires solidarity at the level of group identity in order to negotiate with the other groups, of karigars, with financial institutions, with political institutions by forming formal associations and a discussion about the dynamics between several worker’s associations has been discussed to elaborate on the political economy of mritshilpo. The factors that promote or inhibit migration and mobility, both towards and away from idol-making are fierce competition, ability to negotiate as an interest group within formal politics, social networks and fictive ties of kinship thereby significantly shaping the identity of mritshilpi and mritshilpo.
