Street Vendors, Modernity and Postmodernity: Conflict and Compromise in the Global Economy
Author(s)
Cross, John C.
Abstract
This essay, based on a decade of research among street vendors and the informal economy, explores street vending and the informal sector within the context of the shift from modernism to postmodernism. Specifically, modernism often implied crackdowns on street vendors because of the ideals of public order and state control. Postmodernism is more open to the informal sector as the economy disaggregates, but this also creates new dilemmas for the informal sector, as it is expected to solve the problems of the formal sector by becoming formal. The essay ends with a suggestion that policy makers allow deregulated sectors of informality in the economy to function as incubators for new businesses.
