Prisoners of Globalization: Marginality, Community and the New Informal Economy in Morocco

Abstract

The so-called informal economy dominates everyday life in contemporary Morocco. An overwhelming majority of the urban population operates outside the ‘formalized national economy’ in which it is either unable to participate or can participate only under unequal and demeaning terms. The aim of the present article is two-fold. First, it seeks to interrogate the very notion of ’informality’. As a social phenomenon, the ’informal economy’ is real enough, but what does it refer to exactly? And what is the nature of the relationship between formal and informal economic activities? Second, the article seeks to discuss the implications of the globalization of capitalism for the complex ‘informal’ economic sectors in Morocco. More specifically, how has the launching of so-called structural adjustment policies in the early 1980s further marginalized those in the already marginal areas of the economy? At another level, how has globalization contributed to the growth and invigoration of marginal economic activities and structures? And, finally, what are some of the cultural and political implications of the so-called informal economy?

Notes

¹ By casual labour, I mean various different ways of making a living, but which all lack a certain degree of security of income and employment. This could take the form of self-employment or wage employment, and includes both legal and illegal activities. For more on casual labour, see Bromley and Gerry (1979).

² In 1999, The Economist (Vol.352, 28 August: 59) estimated the world's shadow economy, where business activity takes place off the books, away from the gaze of taxmen and government statisticians, at about $9 trillion.

³ While I do recognize the limitations and ambiguities posed by the terms ‘informal sector’ and ‘informal economy’, I will continue to use them throughout this paper to refer to marginal economic activities in general.

⁴ Although drug trafficking reveals many of these characteristics, the income generated from it is far from minimal.

⁵ For further information on this study, see Alami (2006).

⁶ Women are almost absent from certain sectors; in the construction sector, they constitute less than 1 per cent.

⁷ In this context, Alami (2006: 438) notes that ‘the Structural Adjustment Program [SAP] was accompanied in the 1980s with a decrease in the growth rate (with an average of 4.4 per cent between 1980 and 1989), which then increased in the 1990s (with an average of 2.7 per cent between 1990 and 1999)’.

⁸ Regie des Tabacs is the only tobacco distribution company in Morocco and Maroc Telecom, previously Ittissalat Al Maghrib, is the major telecommunications company.

⁹ These campaigns have become more popular since the new king of Morocco, Mohamed IV, assumed power; they have even earned him the sobriquet ‘the king of the poor’!

¹⁰ Of course, being returned to the ‘street’ or the ‘home’ should be understood metaphorically, because, after all, a large number of those who operate in this sector work in the street and from home.