Labor in a Globalizing City Economic Restructuring in So Paulo, Brazil [Hardcover]

The extraordinary stories of low-income women living in S?o Paulo, industrial case studies and the details of three squatter settlements, and communities in the periphery researched in Simone Buechlers book, Labor in a Globalizing City, allow us to better understand the period of economic transformation in S?o Paulo from 1996 to 2003. ?Buechlers in-depth ethnographic research over a period of 17 years include interviews with a variety of social actors ranging from favela inhabitants to Wall Street bankers. Buechler examines the paradox of a globalizing city with highly developed financial, service, and industrial sectors, but at the same time a growing sector of microenterprises, degraded labor, considerable unemployment, unprecedented inequality, and precarious infrastructure in its low-income communities. The author argues that informalization and low-income womens labor are an integral part of the global economy.? Other countries are continuing to use the same kind of neo-liberal economic model even though once again with the latest global financial crisis, it has proven to be detrimental to many workers.

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This book examines the paradox of a globalizing city, which has both a highly developed financial, service, and industrial sector as well as degraded labor, considerable unemployment, unprecedented inequality, and precarious infrastructure.

Introduction.- The Spectrum of Voices in the S?o Paulo Economy.- Six Industrial Case Studies: Internal and External Flexibilization and Technological Change.- The History, Politics, and Economies of Three Communities and their Inhabitants.- Outsourcing Production and Commerce: A Close Examination of Unregistered Salaried Workers, Sweatshop Workers, Homeworkers and Ambulant Vendors for Firms.- The Increasingly Precarious Nature of Self-Employment.- Destiny is not set in stone: Social Actors, Cooperatives, and Local Coalition-Building.- Conclusion.&llS