Economic inequality of the badli workers of Bangladesh: Contested entitlements and a ‘perpetually temporary’ life-world
研究孟加拉国国有黄麻厂临时工的经济不平等体验，分析他们如何感知权利被剥夺并构建生存策略，结合阿马蒂亚·森的理论探讨不平等。
This article discusses the experience of economic inequality of badli workers in the state-owned jute mills of the postcolonial state of Bangladesh, and how this inequality is constituted and perpetuated. Nominally appointed to fill posts during the temporary absence of permanent workers, the reality of badli workers’ employment is very different. They define themselves as ‘a different category of workers’, with limited economic entitlements. We undertake content analysis of the badli workers’ narratives to identify elements that they themselves consider constitute these economic entitlements. We consider their perceptions of discrimination and exclusion and explain how, in response to these feelings, they construct their survival strategy. From this, through the writings of Armatya Sen, we discuss the badli workers’ contextual experience and understanding of economic inequality in relation to extant theoretical understandings, seeking to contribute to the field and to empirical studies in the subaltern context.