Abstract
Social capital, which encompasses solidarities in traditional societies and can be measured by the amount of transfers (received and given) from household to household, can be envisaged as an obstacle to individualism, private initiative and economic development. Still, during crises, it is a powerful shock absorber and can play the role of missing public social protection systems in economies where paid employment remains the exception. Social capital and household-to-household transfers have played a major role in maintaining the living standards and providing the livelihood to those members of extended families who are in need in sub-Saharan African societies. But the deepening of the globalisation process with the extension of individualisation as its correlate, the start of long delayed demographic transitions with the hope to benefit from the demographic dividend and also the entry into ageing societies have characterised the recent period; in addition, successive crises occurred during the past two decades: all are factors explaining why the embeddedness of traditional societies in sound social interrelations – in social capital – may be seen as vanishing. The challenges of poverty, gender equality and more generally most of those borne by the SDGs raise the question of the possibility and opportunity of a social protection floor for all in Africa.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
ANSD. (2015). Enquête Pauvreté et Structure Familiale 2010–11, Rapport de synthèse des résultats, Dakar, 422p.
Ballet, J. & Mahieu, F. R. (2003). Le capital social, mesure et incertitude du rendement. In: Ballet, J., & Guillon, R. (eds.), Regards croisés sur le capital social. Paris: L’Harmattan.
Bourdieu Pierre (1980, janvier), Le capital social, notes provisoires, Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales Vol. 31, pp. 1–3.
Bourdieu, P., & Wacquant, L. (1992). Réponses. Pour une anthropologie réflexive. Paris: Le Seuil.
Central Statistical Agency. (2018). Ethiopian Household Consumption Expenditure (HCE) survey 2015–16. Statitical Bulletin. CSA. Addis Ababa.
Charmes, J. (1977). De l’ostentation à l’accumulation. Production et reproduction des rapports marchands dans les sociétés traditionnelles à partir de l’analyse du surplus, in Ouvrage collectif: “Essais sur la reproduction des formations sociales dominées” (pp. 105–137). Travaux et Documents de l’ORSTOM, n° 64, 192p.
Charmes, J. (1978). Les blocages socio-culturels au développement en tant que manifestations de rapports de domination. Mondes en développement, n°24, pp. 877–908.
Charmes, J. (1993). Les conséquences de l’afflux des réfugiés du Togo sur l’économie et la société béninoise: Méthodes et mesures. PNUD-HCR.
Charmes, J. (2003). ‘Le capital social: quelques conceptions et données empiriques tirées du contexte africain’. In J. Ballet & R. Guillon (Eds.), Regards croisés sur le capital social. Paris: L’Harmattan.
Coleman, J. S. (1988). Social capital in the creation of human capital. American Journal of Sociology, 94(Supplement), 95–120.
Courade, G. (Ed.). (2006). L’Afrique des idées reçues. Paris: Belin.
Davies, S. (1996). Adaptable livelihoods: Coping with food insecurity in the Malian Sahel. London: Macmillan.
Direction de la Prévision et de la Statistique (DPS). (2004). Rapport de synthèse de la deuxième enquête sénégalaise auprès des ménages (ESAM II), 260p.
European Report on Development (ERD). (2010). Social protection for inclusive development. A new perspective on EU Cooperation with Africa. San Domenico di Fiesole: Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute.
Eurostat. (2014). Living conditions in Europe, 2014 edition. Luxemburg.
Gambia Bureau of Statistics. (2011). Integrated household survey income and expenditure, poverty assessment 2010 (80p). Kanifing: Gambia Bureau of Statistics.
ILO. (2012). Social protection floors for social justice and a fair globalization. Report IV(1) International Labour Conference, 101st session 2012, Geneva.
INSD. (2006). Analyse des résultats de l’enquête Burkinabe sur les conditions de vie des ménages 2003, Rapport final, 223p.+46p.
INSEE. (2017). France, Portrait social, Paris, 271p.
INSTAT. (1997). Transferts entre les ménages et réseaux de solidarité dans l’agglomération d’Antananarivo en 1997. Premiers résultats de l’Enquête SET 1997, Projet Madio.
Marie, A. (2000). Individualization strategies among city Dwellers in Contemporary Africa: Balancing the shortcoming of community solidarity and the individualism of the struggle for survival. International Review of Social History, 45, 137–157.
Marie, A. (Ed.). (2008a). L’Afrique des individus, Itinéraires citadins dans l’Afrique contemporaine (Abidjan, Bamako, Dakar, Niamey). Paris: Karthala.
Marie, A. (2008b). Du sujet communautaire au sujet individuel, Une lecture anthropologique de la réalité africaine contemporaine. In Marie, A. (Ed.), 2008, L’Afrique des individus. Paris: Karthala.
Observatoire du Développment Humain Durable ed la Lutte contre la Pauvreté (ODHD). (2008). Transferts de revenus et réduction de la pauvreté au Mali. Bamako: ODHD-UNICEF.
Ouma, S. O. A. (1995). The role of social protection in the socioeconomic development of Uganda. Journal of Social Development in Africa, 10(2), 5–12.
Vuarin, R. (2000). Un système africain de protection sociale au temps de la mondialisation (252p). Paris: L’Harmattan.
World Bank and KNOMAD. (2017). Migration and remittances: Recent development and outlook. Migration and Development Brief, 28, 40p.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Charmes, J. (2019). Community, Individualism and Social Capital, the Political Economy of Transfers. In: Dimensions of Resilience in Developing Countries. Demographic Transformation and Socio-Economic Development, vol 10. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04076-5_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04076-5_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-04075-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-04076-5
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)