Production on the margin : how everyday people earn a living in a transforming Ecuadorian barrio /
The persistence of populist politics in Ecuador suggests that the majority of Ecuadorians are dissatisfied with their degree of participation in society. Academic approaches to understanding the "marginal majority'' include the peasant studies approach and the urban informal sector pa...
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| Format: | Thesis Book |
| Language: | English |
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[Place of publication not identified] :
[publisher not identified] ;
1999.
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| Online Access: | http://proxy.library.tamu.edu/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=730298411&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=2945&RQT=309&VName=PQD |
| Summary: | The persistence of populist politics in Ecuador suggests that the majority of Ecuadorians are dissatisfied with their degree of participation in society. Academic approaches to understanding the "marginal majority'' include the peasant studies approach and the urban informal sector paradigm. Recent empirical works show, however, that the urban-rural dichotomy distinguishing the two approaches is dissolving. In this dissertation, therefore, an alternative approach, marginality, is developed. Marginality is a condition, experienced by individuals whereby they do not participate, to a degree that they expect they should, in certain areas of the broader society. Drawing from the ecological tradition in geography, marginality is investigated primarily from the perspective of work and individuals' work-related decisions. Findings are based on stenographic fieldwork (interviews and participant observation) conducted over nearly a year in a barrio of Ibarra, Ecuador. Over the last half-century the study site has transformed from being a rural hacienda-based community of agricultural laborers under semi-feudal arrangements to being economically integrated into the market-led urban economy of Ibarra. Most households now engage in urban wage-labor as their primary source of support. As the barrio underwent the "urban shift,'' and the option to engage agriculture dissolved, barrio residents encountered a variety of work possibilities in the urban environment and individuals became more diverse production-wise. Individuals' work- related decisions are informed by perceived environmental factors, especially the economy, and by individually-held factors including education, available capital, social networks, gender, age and role in the household. Individuals' degree of marginality is found to be closely linked to their productive role in the economy. For most but not all households and individuals, assuring short-term, then long-term, material security is found to be the most important underlying value driving work-related decisions. Younger men are found to be most apt to engage in labor arrangements which provide material security while women and older men are least apt to. For women, it is found that their role in the household is more important in informing work-related decisions than for men. While the way marginality occurs has changed over the last half-century, the condition persists. |
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| Item Description: | Vita. "Major Subject: Geography". |
| Physical Description: | xii, 313 leaves : illustrations, maps ; 28 cm. Issued also on microfiche from University Microfilm Inc. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (leaves 273-284). |