Binding: Hardcover
Description: W. Arthur Lewis the founding father of development economics proposed a dualist model of economic development in which 'surplus (predominantly under - employed) labour shifted from lower to higher productivity work. In practice historically this meant that labour was initially drawn out of subsistence agriculture into low - wage labour - intensive manufacturing including in clothing production before shifting into higher - wage work. This development strategy has become unfashionable. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) worries that low - wage labour - intensive industry promises little more than an impoverishing 'race to the bottom'. Inclusive Dualism: Labour - intensive Development Decent Work and Surplus Labour in Southern Africa argues that decent work fundamentalism that is the promotion of higher wages and labour productivity at the cost of lower - wage job destruction is a utopian vision with potentially dystopic consequences for countries with high open unemployment many of which are in Southern Africa. Using the South African clothing industry as a case study Inclusive Dualism argues that decent work fundamentalism ignores the inherently differentiated character of industry resulting in the unnecessary destruction of labour - intensive jobs and the bifurcation of society into highly - paid high - productivity insiders and low - paid or unemployed outsiders. It demonstrates the broader relevance of the South Africa case examining the growth in surplus labour across Africa. It shows that low - and high - productivity firms can co - exist and challenges the notion that a race to the bottom is inevitable. Inclusive Dualism instead favours multi - pronged development strategies that prioritise labour - intensive job creation as well as facilitating productivity growth elsewhere without destroying jobs.
Title: Inclusive Dualism Labour - Intensive Development Decent Work And Surplus Labour In Southern Africa
Author(s): Seekings Jeremy (Professor Of Political Studies And Sociology Professor Of Political Studies And Sociology Centre For Social Science Research University Of Cape Town South Africa)
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Barcode: 9780198841463
Pages: 230 Pages
Publication Date: 7/24/2019
Series: Critical Frontiers of Theory, Research, and Policy in International Development Studies
Category: Political Economy