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Modalities of regulation In the informal economy: a study of waste collectors in Cape Town

Includes bibliographical references

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Timm, Suzall
Other Authors: Shearing, Clifford D
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Public Law 2016
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access_status_str Open Access
author Timm, Suzall
author2 Shearing, Clifford D
author_browse Shearing, Clifford D
Timm, Suzall
author_facet Shearing, Clifford D
Timm, Suzall
author_sort Timm, Suzall
collection Thesis
description Includes bibliographical references
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/16789
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:45:31.606Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2016
publishDateRange 2016
publishDateSort 2016
publisher Department of Public Law
publisherStr Department of Public Law
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/16789 Modalities of regulation In the informal economy: a study of waste collectors in Cape Town Timm, Suzall Shearing, Clifford D Public Law urban informal economy Includes bibliographical references A large amount of people in South Africa earn their living from recycling waste on landfills or the streets in cities across the country. Much is written about those operating on landfills, although a few studies focus on those operating on the streets. The latter studies largely focus on the socio-economic conditions and collective organising capacity of these informal sector workers, and their relationships with other actors. Although, these studies provide a useful resource for understanding the nature of their work and the contexts in which it emerges, very little is known about how their work is regulated. With this in mind, this thesis asks the following research question; how are informal activities regulated in the city? Drawing on the idea of non-humans as actors (in Actor Network Theory terms) this thesis argues that informal activities are regulated by hybrid modes of regulation that include human/non-human and formal and informal assemblages. The research was conducted between 2008 and 2014. It made use of qualitative methodologies and approaches, i.e. semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and documentary analysis, as methods of data collection. The findings of the research reveal that informal activities are regulated in the followings ways. Firstly, it shows that objects such as trolleys, carthorses, bakkies and storage facilities are regulators that actively enabled or constrained informal waste activities. Secondly, the findings suggest that these nonhumans play an active role in organising the spaces where informal waste activities are carried out. Finally, the findings show that these nonhumans also play an active role in how informal waste collectors build alliances through assembling hybrid collectives of humans and non-humans in order to mobilise resources. The main finding in this study is that regulation in the urban informal economy is constituted by human/non-human and formal/informal assemblages. Including the non-human in the analysis of regulation in the urban informal economy is important because it contributes to a better understanding of regulation in the urban informal economy. It does so by highlighting that regulation in the urban informal economy is not only based on human social relations consisting of rules, norms, and institutions but is constitutive of assemblages that involve all actors (both human and non-humans). 2016-02-05T07:25:49Z 2016-02-05T07:25:49Z 2015 Doctoral Thesis Doctoral PhD http://hdl.handle.net/11427/16789 eng application/pdf Department of Public Law Faculty of Law University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Public Law
urban informal economy
Timm, Suzall
Modalities of regulation In the informal economy: a study of waste collectors in Cape Town
thesis_degree_str Doctoral
title Modalities of regulation In the informal economy: a study of waste collectors in Cape Town
title_full Modalities of regulation In the informal economy: a study of waste collectors in Cape Town
title_fullStr Modalities of regulation In the informal economy: a study of waste collectors in Cape Town
title_full_unstemmed Modalities of regulation In the informal economy: a study of waste collectors in Cape Town
title_short Modalities of regulation In the informal economy: a study of waste collectors in Cape Town
title_sort modalities of regulation in the informal economy a study of waste collectors in cape town
topic Public Law
urban informal economy
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/16789
work_keys_str_mv AT timmsuzall modalitiesofregulationintheinformaleconomyastudyofwastecollectorsincapetown