<p style="text-align: justify;">En este artículo se interpretan los significados otorgados a los cambios laborales y organizacionales actuales y sus implicaciones en la construcción de la subjetividad, en un doble proceso: psicológico y social. Se realizaron entrevistas semiestructuradas a 28 personas de Bogotá, a quienes se preguntó acerca de los cambios y las condiciones actuales del espacio laboral. Las entrevistas se transcribieron y se interpretaron a la luz de la teoría fundamentada. Entre los principales significados encontrados, resaltan los cambios en la tecnología, la protección/desprotección laboral, la competición y los valores éticos, propios de la visión socio laboral actual y su correlato en la subjetividad de los trabajadores que son configurados como disponibles, individualistas, competitivos, y autoexigentes, a la hora de desempeñar su trabajo.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Palabras clave:</strong> significado del trabajo, cambio, subjetividad.</p>

This study analyses the meanings street vendors confer upon informal work. Episodic and semi-structured interviews were used to generate and analyze the meanings and vision constructed by 50 street vendors in Bogotá, Colombia. We organized the data through the analysis of thematic networks, starting with initial categories complemented with categories that emerged during the process. Findings show that street vendors confer meaning upon their work as a service, as the only chance to earn a living, and of their autonomy. They construct meanings of work as individualistic, responsible, and helpful workers. Thus, at the same time that they express satisfaction with what they do, they also express nonconformity and dissatisfaction with not having the opportunity to access other types of work. Despite the existence of stigmas and the negative effects thereof that Colombian society maintains about the work and the presence of street vending activities, street vendors carry out their work out as a dignified lifestyle and they see their activities as honorable and as contributing to the well-being of society. This study seeks to contribute to the debate about the meaning that society and academia form about street vendors, their activities and the workspaces they occupy. ABOUT THE AUTHOR César A. Bernal-Torres (DBA), María C. Peralta-Gómez (PhD in Psychology) and Ulf Thoene (PhD in Law) have worked on advancing interdisciplinary research on labour market and workplace relations related themes against the background of the Colombian peace process since 2015.

This article analyzes the profile of people working informally in the streets according to the following categories: sociodemographic traits, precursors to dedication to informal work, benefits and difficulties in conditions of informal labor, practices of income and expenses, and self-concept. This study consists of 284 interviews of people dedicated to labor activities in different public zones in the city of Bogotá, Colombia. The results indicate that informal workers include individuals of different ages, with the majority being adults; and there is an increasing trend in participation from individuals with high levels of education, showing that low educational levels are not sufficient to explain informal street work, especially in situations of displacement such as that caused by violence in Colombia in recent years. Instead, the main reasons for engagement in informal work are limited opportunities and low wages in the formal labor market, as well as the desire for work autonomy. While informal workers recognize the arduosity of informal street labor, they maintain positive concepts of themselves and their work, as these activities allow them to support their family while serving others in their communities. This article provides reflection on the conditions of informal street workers and provides understanding of the problem in order to better design strategies to overcome discrimination and exclusion.