Mapping the Decline and Loss of Organizational Influence in the Marginal Economy: A Case Study

Mainstream economies don’t exist in isolation; they are part of a larger social system defined by a variety of organizations ranging from the religious and political to business, the arts, cultural and even criminal. It’s systemic diversity at its best. Apart from approaching organizations in a social system as a mixture of diverse entities, they can also be described in terms of two segments. Our focus has been on one of these segments, the marginal economy. This dynamic subsystem often comprises facsimiles of the mainstream economy, however metamorphosed as street vendors, backroom shops, legal or illegal labor, corruption or any number of other organizations. Taken at face value, these organizations might be described in ways that make them seem like vanguards of a liberated mentality. Indeed, one researcher described the marginal economy as a “low cost, grassroots and potentially revolutionary way to create jobs in the context of overregulated states” (Henken, 2008). In the absence of such grand sentiments, however, pursuits that are more mundane motivate organizations in the marginal economy—collectively earning money, avoiding taxes, dodging social security payments and generally skirting, where possible, labor laws—are recognized drivers of these organizations (Hart, 1973, 1990; Williams and Round, 2009; Andrews et al., 2011).