Street vendors, and postmodernity: conflict and compromise in the global economy

Abstract

In this essay based on a decade of research among sreet vendors and the informal economy, I explore street vending and the informal sector within the context of the shift from modernism to postmodernism. Specifically, Modernism often implied crackdowns on street vendors because of the ideals of public order and state control. Postmodernism is more open to the informal sector as the economy disaggregates, but this also creates new dilemmas for the informal sector, as it is expected to solve the problems of the formal sector by becoming formal. I end with a suggestion that policy makers allow deregulated sectors of informality in the economy to function as incubators for new businesses.We typically think of street vending as a part of the premodern, traditional economic order that survives only on the fringes of modern society. How could something that we think of as premodern be associated with the (current) postmodern age? Our reasons for presenting the reader with this conundrum is rooted in our research on street vending in various countries-research that we began with the common assumption in mind that street vending should, by all logical criteria, eventually disappear. What we found, however, is that street vending, despite some problems and frequent attacks, is a thriving and growing phenomenon for reasons tied, we believe, to the current changes in the global economy that have been associated by many authors with postmodernity. 2If someone were asked 30 to 40 years ago what the future of commercial activity would be, they would probably enthusiastically talk about shopping centers, supermarkets and department stores: places where consumers could enjoy a variety of choices within a

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