Social networks and social capital in the formation of socio-productive networks: Study in a downtown garment street market of Fortaleza

Abstract

This essay discusses the concepts of informal work, social networks and social capital, intending to propose a reflection to what is called socio-productive networks, having the downtown street markets of Fortaleza as empirical field. To check the informality aspects and the characteristics of the networks that sustain this type of activity, an in-depth interview with a manufacturer/seller was held. Field observations and a bibliographic-documentary research were also included, which allowed a historic contextualization of this kind of market and a description of informality in Fortaleza, having newspaper materials and data from official Government institutions as sources. In the final considerations, we show that the study of the street markets, based on this point of view, can better clarify the experience of the workers, producers/salespeople, who live and survive from informality. We discuss the potential of this approach to the understanding of the activities that occur in the market and the social and productive relations that are established, proposing the expression "socio-productive network" to instigate a debate that should be considered in other studies.