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- Title
Intergenerational Relations and Professional Regulation in Madagascar.
- Authors
Papinot, Christian
- Abstract
This article examines the role of intergenerational relationships in the structure and regulation of the workplace of the "bush taxi" in Madagascar by showing how they are "imported" but also by analyzing the forms of dependence and the social obligations which characterize them. The professional milieu of the "bush taxi" is categorized hierarchically using age as the discriminating factor."Seniority", expressed through the terminology of family relationships, determines and guides asymmetrical work relations. For example, drivers use the term zandry (younger brother) in referring to their manevra (drivers' assistants) and, in so doing, place this relationship in a double subordination: that of work status and that of age. Being younger in Madagascar is not simply a question of age but refers also to social age in the context of relationships, and hence contains a notion of dependence and obligation to one's elders in the broadest sense of the term. Manevra is thus less a profession than a condition defined by an aptitude to be of service. These relations of dependence create solid social barriers and a closed labour market. Entry into this profession begins at a young age and from below. In a work milieu characterized by the absence of a legal framework, the full allegiance of the young to the old is rapidly expressed and indeed is one of the principal requirements for access to work and internal social mobility.
- Subjects
MADAGASCAR; SOCIOLOGY of work; INTERGENERATIONAL relations; WORK environment; FAMILY relations; TAXICABS
- Publication
Labour, Capital & Society / Travail, capital et société, 2003, Vol 36, Issue 1, p104
- ISSN
0706-1706
- Publication type
Article