A economia dos setores populares: Engenho Velho da Federação, Salvador - Bahia

Abstract

This study is the result of researches on the emergence of the Engenho Velho da Federação, in Salvador city, identifying its socio-spatial transformations, as well as pointing out the residents profiles, who carry out some type of economic activity, - individual or collective -, as a regular form of work. Using the methodology of analysis and synthesis, it is sought to show where these activities are located, their organization, type of products and services, size of business of the popular enterprises and their contribution in the local economy. The field research aimed to gather data on companies, formal businesses and popular enterprises, active in these business segments. Its activities and the origin of the products marketed, the motivations as to the choice of the type of commerce, - formal or informal - and the guiding routes of its consumption are pointed out. The data allowed the elaboration of graphs and maps, pointing out their location and pertinent data. Through the empirical and field research, the growth of the activities of this trade, on its own initiative in the neighborhood, is evidenced by the growing precariousness of the employment opportunities in the formal labor market, which is occurring in Bahia and Brazil. The relationship of subjects and businesses, analyzed as a socioeconomic phenomenon, - intrinsically linked to the survival of a fraction of the population that inhabits the place -, raised questions about the need to carry out this study, based on the composition of this miltoniano "inferior circuit" of the economy .