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Labour, laziness and distribution: work imaginaries among the South African unemployed

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 March 2020

H. J. Dawson  and
E. Fouksman
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Abstract

A wealth of new writing has emerged around the future of labour, focusing on thinking beyond employment in imagining the futures of ‘surplus populations’ no longer needed by labour markets. These new imaginaries include radically expanded forms of redistribution, such as unconditional cash transfers or universal basic income. But what are the views of the ‘surplus populations’ themselves? This article uses ethnographic research in an informal settlement in South Africa to understand why the unemployed or precariously employed poor are themselves often reluctant to delink labour and income. In particular, we focus on the discursive use of ‘laziness’ by urban unemployed young men. The varied (and often contradictory) ways in which these men employ the laziness discourse sheds light on the logics linking waged work and money in our informants’ social imaginaries. It illuminates the underlying contradictions and complexities of such logics, including those of gender, relational obligations, expectations of citizenship, and the inevitable tensions between aspirational hopes and economic realities. To begin thinking ‘beyond the proper job’, to use Ferguson and Li's phrase, we must unravel and understand such nuanced logics that continue to bind together hard work, deservingness and cash – even for those left out of labour markets.

Résumé

Résumé

L'avenir du travail fait l'objet de nombreux nouveaux écrits portant sur une réflexion qui sort du cadre de l'emploi pour imaginer les futurs de « populations excédentaires » dont les marchés du travail n'ont plus besoin. Ces nouveaux imaginaires incluent des formes de redistribution radicalement étendues comme le transfert monétaire inconditionnel ou le revenu universel de base. Mais qu'en pensent ces « populations excédentaires » ? Cet article s'appuie sur des études ethnographiques menées en Afrique du Sud dans un peuplement informel pour comprendre pourquoi les sans-travail ou les travailleurs précaires pauvres sont souvent eux-mêmes réticents à découpler le travail du revenu. Les auteurs s'intéressent en particulier à l'utilisation discursive de la « paresse » par des jeunes urbains sans emploi. Les manières diverses (et souvent contradictoires) dont ces jeunes utilisent le discours de la paresse apportent un éclairage sur la logique liant le travail salarié et l'argent dans les imaginaires sociaux des informateurs. L'article met en lumière les contradictions et les complexités sous-jacentes de cette logique, y compris celles de genre, d'obligations relationnelles et d'attentes de citoyenneté, et les tensions inévitables entre espoirs aspirationnels et réalités économiques. Pour commencer à réfléchir « au-delà du vrai travail », en utilisant la phrase de Ferguson et Li, il faut élucider et comprendre cette logique nuancée qui continue à associer le travail, le mérite et l'argent, même pour ceux que les marchés du travail ont mis à l’écart.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 90 , Issue 2 , February 2020 , pp. 229 - 251
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2020

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Footnotes

H. J. Dawson and E. Fouksman contributed equally to this article.

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