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MARKETS AGAINST SOCIETY 275

in South Africa, Von Holdt demonstrates the inclusion and social exclusion. Indeed,
complexity of this interface – how move- expansion and diversification of the formal
ments interpenetrate through complex and economy is necessary for overcoming the
dynamic networks. socio-economic exclusion of masses of citi-
Beverly Silver distinguishes between two zens, and the role of the state will be critical.
types of worker resistance; what she calls the Unless budget cutbacks are reversed and
‘Polanyi-type’ and the ‘Marx-type’ unrest there is significant investment in manage-
(Silver, 2003: 20–4). However as Burawoy ment and human resources in public institu-
notes, although Silver makes this distinction, tions, as well as adequate staffing, the decline
her book is largely about ‘Marx-type’ strug- of the public sector will continue.
gles. Today, he suggests, ‘one might argue A plethora of new social movements – the
that the neo-liberal dispensation struggles Anti-Privatization Forum (APF), the Soweto
against capitalism are taking a sea change Electricity Forum (SEF), the Landless
from Marxian-type struggles based on power People’s Movement (LPM), Gun Free South
in production to Polanyian-type struggles Africa (GFSA), the Treatment Action
based on resistance to the commodification of Committee (TAC) – have emerged in response
land, labor and money’ (2003b: 4). to the social crisis in communities, mobilizing
To what extent is such a ‘sea-change’ around a wide variety of issues, including the
taking place in South Africa? There are sig- commoditization of essential services, such as
nificant signs that the South African govern- electricity, access to land, gun violence and
ment is shifting from its narrow focus on treatment for those with AIDS.
global integration and competitiveness to Some of the social movements are small
acknowledge that the state will have to redis- but others, such as TAC and GFSA, have
tribute resources actively in an effort to over- already made a significant impact on govern-
come the social crisis caused by poverty. ment policy. We have suggested that the
This new thinking is organized around the restructuring of work has displaced much of
concept of ‘two economies’. In his February the contestation and disorder of South
2003 State of the Nation address, President Africa’s ‘chaotic’ workplace transition into
Thabo Mbeki described the division between households and communities, deepening
these as a ‘structural fault’ (Mbeki, 2003). social crisis, conflict and disorder there. The
However, our case studies of working life significance of social movements located
in the periphery demonstrate that the dis- in the community is their potential to
course of two economies can be misleading re-socialize this crisis – which is experienced as
(Webster and von Holdt, 2005). Most of the a private crisis, distress and conflict in house-
economic activities in the periphery are holds and communities – by building social
dependent on markets created by formal solidarity around it, projecting it into the
economy activities. The three zones of work public arena, mobilizing support and action,
we identified earlier are, we suggest, asym- and influencing the state and public policy.
metrically interdependent. It is likely that For such a counter-movement to be truly
such activities in the periphery will only be effective, it should link struggles over work-
able to expand to the extent that the formal place restructuring to campaigns over the
economy itself expands. Generally speaking, social crisis in communities – in other words,
the ‘second economy’ has very little prospect uniting the trade union movement and social
of expanding independently and thereby movements in a broad coalition against the
stimulating the formal economy – indeed, it destructive impact of the market on society.
can hardly be described as an economy. This is already evident in the alliance
In place of conceptualizing South African between the Congress of South African Trade
society as divided into two economies, we Unions (COSATU) and the TAC, and in the
prefer an analysis that highlights dynamic, People’s Budget campaign, which is based
variable and complex processes of social on a coalition of COSATU, the South African