The awakening of ‘informal sector’ studies in Southern Africa

Research on the ‘informal sector’ in Southern Africa began only during the late 19705. The backdrop to this awakened concern and a review of the extant literature on Southern Africa are presented. The growing interest is related to a restructuring of Southern African studies as a whole, a recognition of the chronic problems of structural unemployment and to the accordance of the concept with reformist strategies of capitalist development. The existing literature divides first into macro-level studies debating the size of the ‘informal sector’ and its relevance to development planning in Southern Africa and, second, micro-level studies focussed on particular ‘informal sector’ activities past and present.