Paper short abstract:

Many cities in the continent are growing rapidly through informal activities. The paper seeks to look at stigmatisation of people involved in informality historically and how a de-stigmatisation can open more prospects for affirmative development for people involved in informal activity.

Paper long abstract:

Many cities in the continent are growing rapidly through informal activities. The International Labour Organization estimates that more than 66% of total employment in Sub-Saharan African is in the informal sector. Women’s labour force participation rates in African countries are some of the highest. With a pervasive informal sector, peri-urbanisation and street congestion have become significant processes of urban development in the continent. Consequently, informality is a sore thorn in the urban realm of most cities. One of the major challenges for informality is the stigmatisation of its image. According to Erving Goffman, stigma is a special kind of relationship between attribute and stereotype and it is the process by which the reaction of others spoil normal identity. Stigma theories explain the exclusion of stigmatised persons from normal social interaction in terms of social reaction theory (also known as labelling theory). This paper will focus on Edwin Lemert and Howard Becker’s theoretical concept of labelling. By examining how the labelling theory is applied to chronic illness and deviance, the reader will understand how people involved in informal activities are stigmatised as socially and morally unacceptable and henceforth get displaced and marginalised. The paper seeks to look at stigmatisation of people involved in informality historically and how a de-stigmatisation can open more prospects for affirmative development for people involved in informal activity.