West Africa

Industry in Ghana : production form and spatial structure

Upphovsperson:	Andræ, Gunilla
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet; Dep. of human geography, Stockholm univ.
År:	1981
Ämnesord:	Ghana, West Africa, Industry, Anthropology, Working life, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

In the West African economies the incorporation into the world market has resulted in a variety of social production forms. Apart from the marginally remaining pre-capitalist forms, formal production on the pattern of the advanced industrialised economies is found side-by-side with a substantial of informally organised activities. The latter are specialised activities which retain pre-capitalist forms of social organisation and modes of interaction while they are in various ways integrated in the market for rawmaterials, output, labour and skills. This study of the structure of production forms found in the manufacturing industry in Ghana in the 1960's and of the resulting implications for the structure of the Ghanaian national economy as a whole. Focus is on 'development' implications connected with the spatial organisation of the sector and the spatial element that is found in the division of labour between formal and informal industry. It is thus a contribution to the probe into the forms for 'articulation of modes of production' connected with capitalist penetration in Africa after Independence. It adds to the understanding of the conditions for counteracting structural imbalance and inequality particularly.