The Role of Informal Economies in the Post-Soviet World

4    Beyond the formal–informal economy dualism

Unpacking the diverse economies of post-Soviet societies

Drawing inspiration from the burgeoning corpus of post-structuralist scholars, as discussed in the previous chapter, who have begun to question the narrative of the impending hegemony of the formal market economy in post-Soviet societies and beyond, this chapter seeks to further advance this emergent ‘diverse economies’ literature by constructing an analytical lens for representing the multiple labour practices in economies. Transcending the simplistic formal/informal economy dichotomy, this chapter seeks to conceptualise the multiple kinds of labour that exist in post-Soviet societies by adopting a ‘total social organisation of labour’ approach. ...