The Edge of the Law
Street Vendors and the Erosion of Citizenship in São Paulo
Seiten
2025
University of Chicago Press (Verlag)
978-0-226-84089-5 (ISBN)
University of Chicago Press (Verlag)
978-0-226-84089-5 (ISBN)
How street vendors tangle with the law in São Paulo, Brazil.
With a little initiative and very little startup money, an outgoing individual might sell you a number of delights and conveniences familiar to city dwellers—from cold water bottles while you’re sitting in traffic to a popsicle from a cart on a summer afternoon in the park. Such vendors form a significant share of the workforce in São Paulo, Brazil, but their ubiquity belies perpetual struggle. Some have the right to practice their trade; others do not. All of them strive to make it—or stay afloat.
In The Edge of the Law, sociologist Jacinto Cuvi introduces us to the world of street vendors and teases out the relationship between the construction of legality and the experience of citizenship. As São Paulo’s city government undertakes a large-scale plan to cancel street vending licenses and evict street vendors, Cuvi reveals how the rights of informal workers can be revoked or withheld and how the lines can be redrawn between work that is “legal” and work that takes place under constant fear of law enforcement. Alongside the mechanics of disenfranchisement, Cuvi captures the lived experience of criminalization, dissecting the distribution of (shallow) rights among vendors who continually reinvent strategies to eke out a living while dealing with the constraints and pressures of informal citizenship at the edge of the law.
With a little initiative and very little startup money, an outgoing individual might sell you a number of delights and conveniences familiar to city dwellers—from cold water bottles while you’re sitting in traffic to a popsicle from a cart on a summer afternoon in the park. Such vendors form a significant share of the workforce in São Paulo, Brazil, but their ubiquity belies perpetual struggle. Some have the right to practice their trade; others do not. All of them strive to make it—or stay afloat.
In The Edge of the Law, sociologist Jacinto Cuvi introduces us to the world of street vendors and teases out the relationship between the construction of legality and the experience of citizenship. As São Paulo’s city government undertakes a large-scale plan to cancel street vending licenses and evict street vendors, Cuvi reveals how the rights of informal workers can be revoked or withheld and how the lines can be redrawn between work that is “legal” and work that takes place under constant fear of law enforcement. Alongside the mechanics of disenfranchisement, Cuvi captures the lived experience of criminalization, dissecting the distribution of (shallow) rights among vendors who continually reinvent strategies to eke out a living while dealing with the constraints and pressures of informal citizenship at the edge of the law.
Jacinto Cuvi is associate professor of sociology and development studies at the Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium.
Abbreviations
1. Introduction
2. Unmaking Citizens
3. The Daily Struggle
4. The Rights of Time
5. The Right Narrative
6. The Politics of Hope
7. The Empty Promise
8. The Making of Lawlessness
Conclusion: The End of Citizenship?
Acknowledgments
Appendix: Fieldwork
Notes
References
Index
| Erscheinungsdatum | 13.05.2025 |
|---|---|
| Zusatzinfo | 4 halftones |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 152 x 229 mm |
| Gewicht | 340 g |
| Themenwelt | Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte |
| Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Kulturgeschichte | |
| Sozialwissenschaften ► Ethnologie | |
| Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Gender Studies | |
| ISBN-10 | 0-226-84089-1 / 0226840891 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0-226-84089-5 / 9780226840895 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
| Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR) | |
| Haben Sie eine Frage zum Produkt? |
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