ABSTRACT
The fuzziness ascribed to informality means that the concept has to be understood by mapping the varied dimensions in an interdisciplinary frame. Historicising is an important part of this exercise and required to highlight the changing context over time. With the onset of neoliberal capitalism informal employment – as casual, self-reliant, intermittent and/or multi-sided engagement – has rapidly become the organising principle of the globalised economy, doing away with the preponderance of formalised, regular and regulated employment in the advanced economies as well. The chapter argues that the economy at large, both labour and capital, are subjected to an all-embracing informality regime and to which politics and governance also tend to fall prey. Within the working household, bonds of affinity and sharing seem to be replaced by contractualisation apparent in the multi-locationality of its members and individuation of income and consumption. The gendered impact of this trend calls for urgent research. The same priority should be given to the crying need for public security and protection for both the working and non-working poor. Pause for thought should be the growing awareness that the current political economy does not generate a sufficient volume of decently paid employment to provide livelihood for the global workforce. It is a vulnerabilisation which again differentiates between males and females at all ages.
