Abstract

CUNHA, Manuela Ivone P. da. Formality and Informality: Questions and Perspectives. Etnográfica [online]. 2006, vol.10, n.2, pp.219-231. ISSN 0873-6561.

Starting from a critical reflection on the trajectory of the notion of informality, on the coordinates of its semantic scope, and on its theoretical and political connotations, this paper explores both the potential and the limitations of such a concept for an approach of contemporary societies and of aspects of their evolution. It is also in this sense that it tries to articulate and to put in perspective the set of papers of this issue of Etnográfica. These contributions express, to a reasonable extent, the contemporary range of informality and the dynamics of the pair formality / informality. They also show how the use of such notions from an anthropological point of view can contribute to a relatively unified study of several contemporary forms of access to economic and political resources. These are forms that put forward in manifold ways the tension between the agency of concrete subjects and, on the other hand, the regulation of social relations by the State.

Keywords : formality and informality; informal processes; informal economy; regulation; market; informality and illegality; Great Divide.

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