International Journal of Urban and Regional ResearchVolume 13, Issue 4 p. 709-720 Is the emperor naked? Some questions on the adequacy of sociological theory in urban and regional research R. E. Pahl, R. E. Pahl University of Kent at Canterbury, UKSearch for more papers by this author R. E. Pahl, R. E. Pahl University of Kent at Canterbury, UKSearch for more papers by this author First published: December 1989 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2427.1989.tb00143.xCitations: 89AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume13, Issue4December 1989Pages 709-720 RelatedInformation

International Journal of Urban and Regional ResearchVolume 12, Issue 2 p. 247-267 Some remarks on informal work, social polarization and the social structure* R.E. Pahl, R.E. PahlSearch for more papers by this author R.E. Pahl, R.E. PahlSearch for more papers by this author First published: June 1988 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2427.1988.tb00452.xCitations: 88 * The first part of this paper was originally presented at the symposium 'Wohlfahrts Produktion Zwischen Markt, Staat und Haushalt" ZiF Bielefeld, 18–20 September 1986. The second half of the paper, which begins with the section 'New divisions within the working class', was written in August 1987 and presented to the Sixth Urban Change and Conflict Conference, University of Kent at Canterbury. This is part of a programme of work supported by the Joseph Rowntree Memorial Trust. I am grateful to my colleague Chris Pickvance and other members of the Editorial Board for comments on an earlier draft of this paper. AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onEmailFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat References Auletta, K. 1982: The underclass. New York: Random House. Cooke, K. 1987: The withdrawal from paid work of the wives of unemployed men: a review of research. Journal of Social Policy 16, 371–82. Courtney, G. Isle of Sheppey study. Technical Report. London: SCPR. Dahrendorf, R. 1987: The erosion of citizenship and its consequences for us all. New Statesman, 12 June. Department of Employment 1987: The 1984 Census of Employment and Revised Employment Estimates. Employment Gazette, January, 31–53. DHSS 1985: The reform of social security, Vol. 1–4. Cmnd 9517–20. London: HMSO. W. Gaertner and A. Wenig editors, 1985: The economics of the shadow economy. Heidelberg: Springer Verlag. Gershuny, J.I. 1983: Social innovation and the division of labour. Oxford: Oxford University Press. C. Glendinning and J. Millar editors, 1987: Women and poverty in Britain. Brighton: Wheatsheaf Books. Hakim, C. 1987a: Homeworking in Britain. Employment Gazette 95, 92–104. Reprinted in Pahl, Editor, 1988. Hakim, C. 1987b: Trends in the flexible workforce. Employment Gazette 95, 549–60. Hall, P. 1987: The anatomy of job creation: nations, regions and cities in the 1960s and 1970s. Regional Studies 21, 95–106. Halsey, A.H. 1987: Social trends since world war II. Social Trends 17, 11–19. London: HMSO. Hamnett, C. 1984: Housing the two nations: socio-tenurial polarization in England and Wales 1961–1981. Urban Studies 43, 389–405. Hamnett, C. 1987: A tale of two cities: socio-tenurial polarisation in London and the South East, 1966–1981. Environment and Planning A 19, 537–56. Heinze, R. and Olk, T. 1982: Development of the informal economy. Futures, June, 189–204. Inchiesta, 1986: Economia Informale, Strategie Familiari e Mezzogiorno No. 74, October-December. Lidbetter, E.J. 1933: Heredity and the social problem group, Vol. 1. London: Edward Arnold. Lockwood, D. 1981: The weakest link in the chain: some comments on the marxist theory of action. Research in the Sociology of Work 1, 435–81. Lowenthal, M. 1981: Non-market transactions in an urban community. – S. Henry, editor. Can I have it in cash? London: Astragal Books. Macintyre, S. 1986: The patterning of health by social position in contemporary Britain: directions for sociological research. Social Science in Medicine 23, 393–415. Macnicol, J. 1987: In pursuit of the underclass. Journal of Social Policy 16, 293–318. 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Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Pahl, R.E. 1985a: The restructuring of capital, the local political economy and household work strategies. In D. Gregory and J. Urry, editors, Social relations and spatial structures, London: Macmillan. Pahl, R.E. 1985b: The politics of work. The Political Quarterly 50, 331–45. Pahl, R.E. 1987a: A comparative approach to the study of the informal economy. Paper presented to the ASA Annual Convention, Chicago. Pahl, R.E. 1987b: Does jobless mean workless? Unemployment and informal work. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 493, 36–46. Pahl, R.E. 1988: On work: historical, comparative and theoretical approaches. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Pahl, R.E. and Wallace, C.D. 1985: Household work strategies in an economic recession. In N. Redclift and E. Mingione, editors, Beyond employment, Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Pahl, R.E. and Wallace, C.D. 1988: Neither angels in marble nor rebels in red: privatisation and working-class consciousness. In D. 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The spate of interest in informal work in recent years may be related to the hope that such work provides a safety net or survival strategy for those who would otherwise be seriously disadvantaged. Closer examination of this notion requires the disaggregation of informal work into its different forms and also the disaggregation of the unemployed into distinctive categories. The so-called new unemployed people, produced by the economic circumstances of the last decade, have no tradition of working informally to get by. Indeed, most evidence suggests that those in employment are best placed to do other forms of work as well. A detailed sociological study of the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, England, illustrates both divisions in participation in forms of work between men and women and also a process of polarization between work-rich households, with multiple earners engaging in all forms of work, and work-poor households, typically headed by elderly people, single parents, or unemployed people. The social polarization is likely to increase. The article concludes that jobless indeed means workless.