Abstract

NAROTZKY, Susana. Binding labour and capital: moral obligation and forms of regulation in a regional economy. Etnográfica [online]. 2006, vol.10, n.2, pp.337-354. ISSN 0873-6561.

The article is a critique of models of successful economic development in Europe based on the "economic region" idea. These models stress the usefulness of embedding economic relations in the social fabric ("social capital"). The ethnography reveals, however, a conflict-laden space where increased embeddedness produces increased tension within the family and the community. In this "modelic" regional economy in Southern Alicante (Spain), recent violent events have involved local actors in the shoe-wear industry, with resident Chinese entrepreneurs. I will show how this confrontation underlines the rise of local modalities of conflict that build upon the organic and culturally bounded elements of economic production that the model stresses: local homogeneity and common interest. The ethnographic evidence shows the complexity of a "regional economy" in a globalized context where appeals to the State to strengthen and enforce some regulations coexist with appeals to de-regulate other areas of the economy.

Keywords : regional economy; social capital; globalization; regulation; moral obligation; informal economy.

        · abstract in Portuguese     · text in English     · English ( pdf )