070: Соціологічні науки

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Work "In the Shadow": Experiances of Homelessness among Casual Workers in Construction Industry
(2007) Ryabchuk, Anastasiya
Proposed paper deals with experiences of poverty and homelessness among unofficial day-labourers in construction industry in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. I look at the structural causes that force people to leave their homes in search of work in large cities and describe these workers’ experiences of shadow employment in construction industry, based on the biographical interviews that I carried out with the homeless in Kyiv. I show how these workers distinguish themselves from the homeless who “gave up” (the «bomji») while pointing out that many of the latter had work in the shadow economy as a part of their biographies. I conclude that instead of making arbitrary distinctions between groups with “particular” social problems, one has to consider work in the shadow economy as one aspect of a greater picture. Deproletarization, unemployment and lack of social security during transition to capitalism are the main causes of poverty, homelessness, alcohol abuse, crime and deviance among casual workers in construction industry, but also elsewhere.