Doctoral Dissertation Research: Class Formation and the Decline of Work

Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD

Investigators

Abstract

SES-1032206 PI: Beverly J. Silver Co-PI: Benjamin Scully Institution: Johns Hopkins University This study examines how the decline of formal wage labor affected the livelihood strategies of South African workers. The researchers evaluate the hypothesis that formal wage labor's decline has led South Africans to increasingly rely on historically important livelihood strategies that involve sharing and cooperation across the divides of employed-unemployed, formal-informal, and rural-urban. Data will be gathered through existing household surveys as well as original ethnographic research on the livelihood strategies of selected South African households. Broader Impacts: The findings will contribute to debates about labor market and welfare policy in South Africa and other middle-income countries by highlighting livelihood strategies that are shared across the employed-unemployed divide. These strategies may be the basis for social welfare policy that could benefit and enjoy political support from a broad cross-section of workers.