Séminaire d'économies informelle, populaire et solidaire

Teacher(s)

Lemaître Andreia; Ruiz Rivera Maria José (compensates Lemaître Andreia);

Language

French

Main themes

Informal economic activities are a persistent reality in today's world and constitute a key component of Southern societies. More than 50% of the workforce and almost 90% of SMEs worldwide operate in the informal economy (ILO, 2018). If agricultural employment was included in these statistics, the share of informal employment in total world employment would reach 61%, with even higher percentages in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa (ILO, 2018).
The scientific literature apprehends these economic activities through the concepts of "informal sector", "popular economy" or "solidarity economy". The seminar aims to study, through these different conceptual grids, the socio-economic logics that are pursued by the actors operating in the informal economy. Anchored in this heterogeneous empirical reality, the seminar also puts in perspective mainstream development theories, like the theories of modernization.

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	At the end of the seminar, the student must have developed an in depth understanding of the different analytical grids developed by the scientific literature on informal socio-economic practices. He/she must be able to discuss these grids, compare them and mobilize them in order to critically assess various case studies and decode complex socio-economic realities. He/she must finally be able to situate these scientific concepts within broader development theories and contemporary debates on social protection and development.

Teaching methods

Ex-cathedra lectures present the theoretical background necessary for the appropriation of the topics related to the informal economy, the popular economy and the solidarity economy. The active pedagogy mobilized during following sessions consists, for the students, in providing a personal and detailed analysis of one aspect of the informal sector, relying on a body of key academic articles of this field of development studies.

Evaluation methods

The assessment focuses on:

1. The individual presentation of a key article from the scientific literature on the informal sector, popular economy or solidarity economy (80%). The student will present the article, situating it within the subject and debates covered in the course, critiquing it, supplementing it with other scientific articles, and illustrating it with case studies where appropriate.
2. The student's participation in collaborative reading (Perusall platform on Moodle) of key texts from scientific literature related to the course themes (20%).

Other information

Prerequisite: LSPED1212 Development Analysis

Online resources

See the MoodleUCLouvain site of the course

Faculty or entity

> PSAD