ABSTRACT
The chemical and clothing industries in Brindisi have responded to the changing macro-economic context through a variety of restructuring paths; by the same token, they have displayed non-isomorphic employment adjustment strategies. The Brindisi European Vinyls Corporation (EVC) plant was the victim of an intra-corporate process of rationalization which has no regard for the site's efficiency. It could be argued that the emerging industrial society was based on the complementarity between formal regulation and traditional associative relations. Like other southern areas, Brindisi became a target of the new phase of State intervention in the south which shifted to an active policy of industrialization through growth poles. The economic features of Brindisi in the post-war period were similar to those in many southern Italian areas. Rules of reciprocity and traditional social codes therefore assumed an important function in the economic system. The formal segment of the economy presents cost-based and quality producers in a qualitatively different labour market situation.
