Advertisement

Corruption as Social Exchange: The View from Anthropology

  • Davide Torsello
Chapter
Part of the Political Corruption and Governance book series (PCG)

Abstract

Scholars and policymakers today are confronted with the fact that corruption has become one of the most pervasive notions in public debates about quality and efficacy of governance. Due to its social importance and complex nature, corruption has been studied by diverse social sciences. Thus, over the last three decades, various social sciences have covered numerous topics related to corruption, such as the movement from an evolutionary concern for the historical forms of corruption in the Western world (Scott, 1972; Heidenheimer, 1989), its influence on political factions and parties (Della Porta and Vannucci, 1999; Kawata, 2006), its functional role in political systems (Leff, 1964; Huntington, 1968; Montinola and Jackman, 2002), its nexus with democracy, civil society, and development (Bardhan, 1997; Rose-Ackerman, 1999; Doig and Theobald, 2000; Johnston, 2005). Obviously, each field has its own priorities in investigating corruption. For example, economists have been interested in, among other topics, the causes of corruption and its influence on economic development (Mauro, 1995; Svenson, 1995). Political scientists have addressed political themes such as the importance of political institutions, and the regulation or freedom of the press in relation to corruption (Rose-Ackerman, 1999). For example, Anderson and Tverdova (2003) showed that citizens in countries with higher levels of corruption express more negative evaluations of the performance of the political system and exhibit lower levels of trust in civil servants.

Keywords

European Union Social Exchange Sociocultural Context Social Exchange Theory Political Corruption 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Acemoglu, D. and Verdier, T. (2000), ‘The Choice between Market Failures and Corruption,’ American Economic Review, 90: 194–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  2. Anderson, C. and Tverdova, Y. (2003), ‘Corruption, Political Allegiances, and Attitudes Toward Government in Contemporary Democracies,’ American Journal of Political Science, 47(1): 91–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. Andvig, J. (2001), Corruption: Critical Assessments of Contemporary Research (Bergen, Norway: Christian Michelsen Institute).Google Scholar
  4. Appadurai, Arjun (1986), ‘Introduction: Commodities and the Politics of Value,’ in The Social Life of Things, ed. Arjun Appadurai (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  5. Bähre, E. (2005), ‘How to Ignore Corruption. Reporting the Shortcomings of Development in Africa,’ Current Anthropology, 46(1): 107–113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  6. Bailey, F. (1969), Stratagems and Spoils (New York: Shocken Books).Google Scholar
  7. Bardhan, P. (1997), ‘Corruption and Development: A Review of Issues,’ Journal of Economic Literature, 35: 13–29.Google Scholar
  8. Befu, H. (1977), ‘Social Exchange,’ Annual Review of Anthropology, 6: 255–281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  9. Bellier, I. and Wilson, T. (eds) (2000), An Anthropology of the European Union: Building, Imagining and Experiencing the New Europe (Oxford: Berg).Google Scholar
  10. Blundo, G. (2006), ‘Dealing with the Local State: The Informal Privatization of Street-Level Bureaucracies in Senegal,’ Development and Change, 37(4): 799–819.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  11. Blundo, G. (2007). ‘Hidden Acts. Open Talks. How Anthropology Can “Observe” and Describe Corruption,’ in M. Nuijtel and G. Anders (eds), Corruption and the Secret of Law: A Legal Anthropological Perspective (Aldershot: Ashgate): 1–17.Google Scholar
  12. Blundo G., De Sardan O., Bako Arifari N. and Tidjani Alou M. (2006), Everyday Corruption and the State: Citizens and Public Officials in Africa (London: Zed Books).Google Scholar
  13. Boissevain, J. (1974), Friends of Friends: Networks, Manipulators and Coalitions (Oxford: Blackwell).Google Scholar
  14. Bubandt, N. (2006), ‘Sorcery, Corruption and the Dangers of Democracy in Indonesia,’ Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 12: 413–431.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  15. Cellarius, B. (2002), ‘Environmental Non-Governmental Organizations, Civil Society and Democratization in Bulgaria,’ East European Politics and Societies, 16(1): 182–222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  16. Christian N. Vannier (2010), ‘Audit Culture and Grassroots Participation in Rural Haitian Development,’ PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review, 33(2): 282–305, November 2010.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  17. Clifford, J. and Marcus, G.E. (eds) (1986), Writing Culture. The Poetics and Politics ofEthnography (Berkeley: University of California Press).Google Scholar
  18. Corbin, J. (2004), ‘Interés, Morality and Legality in Southern Spain,’ in I. Pardo (ed.), Between Morality and the Law. Corruption, Anthropology and Comparative Society (London: Ashgate): 19–32.Google Scholar
  19. Dalakoglou, D. (2010), ‘Migrating-Remitting-‘Building’-Dwelling: House-Making as ‘Proxy’ Presence in Postsocialist Albania,’ Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 16: 761–777.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  20. Derrida, J. (1991), Donner le temps, le fausse monnaie (Galilée: Parigi).Google Scholar
  21. De Sardan, O. (1999), ‘A Moral Economy of Corruption in Africa?’ The Journal of Modern African Studies, 37(1): 25–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  22. De Soto, H. (1990), The Other Path: the Invisible Revolution in the Third World (New York: Harper).Google Scholar
  23. De Vries, P. (2007), ‘The Orchestration of Corruption and Excessive Enjoyment in Western Mexico,’ in M. Nuijtel and G. Anders (eds), Comiption and the Secret of Law: A Legal Anthropological Perspective (Aldershot: Ashgate): 143–166.Google Scholar
  24. Della Porta, D. and Vannucci, A. (1999), Corrupt Exchanges. Actors, Resources, and Mechanisms of Political Corruption (New York: de Gruyter).Google Scholar
  25. Doig, A. and Theobald, R. (ed.) (2000), Corruption and Democratisation (London, Portland OR: Frank Cass).Google Scholar
  26. Douglas, M. (1966), Purity and Danger. On the Analysis of the Concepts of Pollution and Taboo (London: Keegan and Paul).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  27. Douglas, M. (1970), Natural Symbols: Explorations in Cosmology (London: Penguin Books).Google Scholar
  28. Dracklé, D. (2005), ‘Where the Jeep Comes From: Narratives of Cormption in the Alentejo (Southern Portugal),’ in D. Haller and C. Shore (eds), Corruption: Anthropological Perspectives (London: Pluto): 194–211.Google Scholar
  29. Durkheim, E. (1950), The Rules of Sociological Method (Glencoe IL: The Free Press).Google Scholar
  30. Foucault, M. (1991), ‘Governmentality,’ in G. Burchell, C. Gordon and P. Miller (eds), The Foucault Effect: Studies in Govemmentality (Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf): 87–104.Google Scholar
  31. Foucault, M. (2007), Security, Territory, Population: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1977–1978, trans. G. Burchell (Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  32. Geertz, C. (1973), The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays (NY: Basis Books).Google Scholar
  33. Gledhill, J. (2004), ‘Corruption as the Mirror of the State in Latin America,’ in I. Pardo (ed.), Between Morality and the Law. Corruption, Anthropology and Comparative Society (London: Ashgate): 155–180.Google Scholar
  34. Godbout, J. and Caillé, A. (2002), Lo spirito del dono (Milano: Bollati Boringhieri).Google Scholar
  35. Gouldner, A.W. (1960), ‘The Norm of Reciprocity: A Preliminary Statement,’ American Sociological Review, 25: 161–178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  36. Halperin, R. (1982), ‘New and Old in Economic Anthropology,’ American Anthropologist, 84(2): 339–349.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  37. Goldstein, L. (2003), “In Our Hands”: Lynching, Justice and the Law in Bolivia,’ American Ethnologist, 30(1): 22–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  38. Gupta, A. (1995), ‘Blurred Boundaries: The Discourses of Corruption, the Culture of Politics and the Imagined State,’ American Ethnologist, 22(2): 375–402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  39. Gupta, A. (2005), ‘The Discourse of Corruption, the Culture of Politics and the Imagined State,’ American Ethnologist, 22(2): 375–402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  40. Hammersley, Martyn and Atkinson, Paul (1983), Ethnography: Principles in Practice (London: Tavistock).Google Scholar
  41. Harrison, E. (2010), ‘Unpacking The Anti-Corruption Agenda: Dilemmas for Anthropologists,’ Oxford Development Studies, 34(1): 15–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  42. Hidenheimer, A. J. (1989), ‘Perspectives on the Perception of Corruption,’ in Heidenheimer, A. J., Johnston, M., and Le Vine, V. T. (eds), Political Corruption. A Handbook (New Brunswick), pp. 855–869.Google Scholar
  43. Hendry, J. (2005), Wrapping Culture. Politeness, Presentation and Power in Japan (London: Routledge).Google Scholar
  44. Hoag, C. (2010), ‘The Magic of the Populace: An Ethnography of Illegibility in the South Africa Immigration Bureaucracy,’ Political and Legal Anthropology Review, 33(1): 6–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  45. Holmes, D. (2000), Integral Europe: Fast-Capitalism, Multiculturalism, Neofascism (Princeton: Princeton University Press).Google Scholar
  46. Hsu, C. and Smart, A. (2007), ‘Cormption or Social Capital? Tact and Performance of Guanxi in Market Socialist China,’ in M. Nuijtel and G. Anders (eds), Corruption and the Secret of Law: A Legal Anthropological Perspective (Aldershot: Ashgate): 167–190.Google Scholar
  47. Huntington, S. (1968), Political Order in Changing Societies (New Haven: Yale University Press).Google Scholar
  48. Ingold, T. (1986), The Appropriation of Nature: Essays on Human Ecology and Social Relations (Manchester: Manchester University Press).Google Scholar
  49. Jain, A. (ed.) (1998), Economics of Corruption (Dordrecht: Kluwer).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  50. Johnston, M. (2005), Syndromes of Corruption: Wealth, Power, and Democracy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  51. Kawata, J. (ed.) (2006), Comparing Political Corruption and Clientelism (London: Ashgate).Google Scholar
  52. Kerby, A. (1991), Narrative and the Self (Bloomington, Indiana University Press).Google Scholar
  53. Khan, M. (2006), ‘Determinants of Corruption in Developing Countries: The Limits of Conventionaleconomic Analysis,’ in S. Rose-Ackerman (ed.), International Handbook on the Economics of Corruption (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar).Google Scholar
  54. Kondos, A. (1987), ‘The Question of “Corruption” in Nepal,’ Mankind, 17(1): 15–29.Google Scholar
  55. Kurer, O. (1993), ‘Clientelism, Corruption and the Allocation of Resources,’ Public Choice, 77: 259–273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  56. Lambsdorff, J. (2007), The Institutional Economics of Corruption and Reform (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  57. Leacock, S. (1954), ‘The Ethnological Theory of Marcel Mauss,’ American Anthropologist, 56(1): 58–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  58. Ledeneva, A. (2008), ‘Blat and Guanxi: Informal Practices in Russia and China,’ Comparative Studies in Society and History, 50(1): 118–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  59. Leff, N. (1964), ‘Economic Development through Bureaucratic Corruption.’ American Behavioral Scientist, 8(3): 8–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  60. Lévi-Strauss, C. (1950 [1987]), Introduction to the Work of Marcel Mauss (London: Routledge).Google Scholar
  61. Levi-Strauss, C. (1953), ‘Social Structure,’ in A. Kroeber (ed.), Anthropology Today (Chicago: University of Chicago Press): 524–553.Google Scholar
  62. Lévi-Strauss, C. (1955 [1973]), Tristes Tropiques, English translation by John and Doreen Weightman (New York: Atheneum).Google Scholar
  63. Levi-Strauss, C. (1969), The Elementary Structures of Kinship (Beacon: Boston, US).Google Scholar
  64. Levine, A. (2004), ‘The Transparent Case of Virtuality,’ PoLar, 27(1): 9–113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  65. Leys, C. (1965), ‘What is the Problem about Corruption?’ Journal of Modern African Studies, 3(2): 215–230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  66. Lomnitz, L. (1995), ‘Ritual, Rumor and Corruption in the Constitution of Polity in Modern Mexico,’ Journal of Latin American Anthropology, 1(1): 20–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  67. Lovett, S., Simmons, L. and Kali, R. (1999), ‘Guanxi versus the Market: Ethics and Efficiency,’ Journal of lnternational Business Studies, 30(2): 231–247.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  68. Lui, F.T. (1985), ‘An Equilibrium Queuing Model of Bribery,’ Journal of Political Economy, 93(4): 760–781.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  69. MacNaughton, E. and Wong, K. (2007), ‘Corruption Judgements in Pre-War Japan: Locating the Influence of Tradition, Morality and Tmst on Criminal Justice,’ in M. Nuijtel and G. Anders (eds), Corruption and the Secret of Law: A Legal Anthropological Perspective (Aldershot: Ashgate): 77–98.Google Scholar
  70. Malinowski, B. (1944), A Scientific Theory of Culture and Other Essays by Bronislaw Malinowski; with a Preface by Huntington Cairns (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press).Google Scholar
  71. Mauro, P. (1995), ‘Corruption and Growth,’ Quarterly Journal of Economics, 110(3): 681–712.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  72. Mauss, M. (1923 [2005]), The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies (Milton Park: Routledge).Google Scholar
  73. Mauss, M. (1925), ‘Essai sur le don: forme et raisond e l’echanged ans les societes archaiques,’ Annee Sociol.n.s., 1: 30–186.Google Scholar
  74. Montinola, G. and Jackman, R. (2002), ‘Sources of Cormption: A Cross-National Study,’ British Journal of Political Science, 32: 147–170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  75. Moore, S. (2000), Law As Social Process (Hamburg: LIT).Google Scholar
  76. Morris, S. (1991), Corruption and Politics in Contemporary Mexico (Tuscaloosa AL: University of Alabama Press).Google Scholar
  77. Myrdal, G. (1968), Asian Drama: An Enquiry into Poverty of Nations, vol. 2, New York: The Twentieth Century Fund. Reprint in A. Heidenheimer, M. Johnston, and V. LeVine (eds) (1989), Political Corruption (Oxford: Transaction Books): 953–961.Google Scholar
  78. North, D. (1990), Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  79. North, D. (1991), ‘Institutions,’ Journal of Economic Perspectives, 5(1): 97–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  80. Nuijten, M. and Anders, G. (2007) (eds), Corruption and the Secret of Law: A Legal Anthropological Perspective (Aldershot: Ashgate).Google Scholar
  81. Nye (1967), ‘Corruption and Political Development: A Cost-Benefit Analysis,’ The American Political Science Review, 61(2): 417–427.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  82. OECD (1995), Corruption: Le cancer mondial (Croissance, le monde en développe-ment) (Paris, France: OECD).Google Scholar
  83. Olson, M. (1971), The Logic of Collective Actions. Public Goods and the Theory of the Groups (New York: Schocken Books).Google Scholar
  84. Pardo, I. (ed.) (2004), Between Morality and the Law: Corruption, Anthropology and Comparative Society (London: Ashgate).Google Scholar
  85. Parry, J. (1986), ‘The Gift, the Indian Gift and the “Indian Gift”,’ Man, 2(3): 453–473.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  86. Parsons, T. (1968 [1937]), The Structure of Social Action. A Study in Social Theory with Special Reference to a Group of Recent European Writers (New York, London: Free Press).Google Scholar
  87. Prato, G. (2004), ‘The Devil is not as Wicked as People Believe, Neither is the Albanian. Corruption between Moral Discourses and National Identity,’ in I. Pardo (ed.), Between Morality and the Law. Corruption, Anthropology and Comparative Society (London: Ashgate): 69–84.Google Scholar
  88. Price, P. (1999), ‘Cosmologies and Corruption in (South) India,’ Forum for Development Studies, 2: 315–327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  89. Putnam, R. (1993), Making Democracy Work. Civic Traditions in Modern Italy (Princeton: Princeton University Press).Google Scholar
  90. Putnam, R. (2000), Bowling Alone. The Collapse and Revival ofAmerican Community (New York: Simon and Schuster).Google Scholar
  91. Rodrik, D. and Subramanian, A. (2003), ‘The Primacy of Institutions,’ Finance and Development. 31–34.Google Scholar
  92. Rose-Ackerman, S. (1999), Corruption and Government. Causes, Consequences, and Reform (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  93. Rudnyckyj, D. (2009), ‘Spiritual Economies: Islam and Neoliberalism in Contemporary Indonesia,’ Cultural Anthropology, 24(1): 104–141.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  94. Ruud, A. (2000), ‘Cormption as Everyday Practice. The Public-Private Divide in Local Indian Society,’ Forum for Development Studies, 2: 271–294.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  95. Ruud, A. (2001), ‘Talking Dirty About Politics. A View from a Bengali Village,’ in C.J. Fuller and V. Benei (eds), The Everyday State and Society in Modern India (London: C.Hurst and Co.): 115–136.Google Scholar
  96. Sahlins, M. (1972), Stone Age Economics (New York: Transaction Publishers).Google Scholar
  97. Scott, J. (1972), Comparative Political Corruption (Englewood Cliffs NJ: Prentice Hall).Google Scholar
  98. Scott, S. (2010), ‘Negotiating Power: Elections and the Constitution of Indigenous Taiwan,’ American Ethnologist, 37(4): 726–740.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  99. Sewanta, K. (2009). ‘Local Level Perception of Corruption: An Anthropological Inquiry,’ Dhaulagiri Journal of Sociology and Anthropology, 3: 163–174.Google Scholar
  100. Sharma, A. and Gupta, A. (eds) (2006), The Anthropology of the State: A Reader (Malden MA: Blackwell).Google Scholar
  101. Shleifer, A. and Vishny, R. (1993), ‘Corruption,’ Quarterly Journal of Economics, 108(3): 599–617.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  102. Shore, C. (2005), ‘Culture and Corruption in the EU: Reflections on Fraud, Nepotism and Cronyism in the European Commission,’ in D. Haller and C. Shore (eds), Corruption. Anthropological Perspectives (London: Pluto Press): 131–155.Google Scholar
  103. Shore, C. and Wright, S. (eds) (1997), Anthropology of Policy. Critical Perspectives on Governance and Power (London: Routledge).Google Scholar
  104. Smart, A. and Hsu, C. (2007), ‘Corruption or Social Capital? Tact and the Performance of Guanxi in Market Socialist China,’ in M. Nuijtel and G. Anders (eds), Corruption and the Secret of Law: A Legal Anthropological Perspective (Aldershot: Ashgate): 167–190.Google Scholar
  105. Sumner, W. (1906), Folkways: A Study of the Sociological Importance of Usages, Manners, Customs, Mores, and Morals (Boston: Ginn).Google Scholar
  106. Sun, Y. (2004), Corruption and Market in Contemporary China (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press).Google Scholar
  107. Svenson, J. (1995), ‘Eight Questions about Corruption,’ Journal of Economic Perspectives, 19(3): 19–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  108. Tanzi, V. (1998), ‘Corruption around the World. Causes, Consequences, Scope and Cures,’ International Monetary Fund Staff Papers, 45(4): 559–594.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  109. Torsello, D. (2010), ‘Corruption and the Economic Crisis: Empirical Indications from Eastern Europe,’ Slovak Foreign Policy Affairs, 19(2): 65–75.Google Scholar
  110. Torsello, D. (2012), The New Environmentalism? Civil Society and Corruption in the Enlarged EU (Farnham, UK: Ashgate).Google Scholar
  111. Turner, S. (2007), ‘Corruption Narratives and the Power of Concealment: The Case of Burundi’s Civil War,’ in M. Nuijtel and G. Anders (eds), Corruption and the Secret of Law: A Legal Anthropological Perspective (Aldershot: Ashgate): 125–142.Google Scholar
  112. Varese, F. (2005), The Russian Mafia Private Protection in a New Market Economy (New York: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
  113. Venard, B. (2009), ‘Organizational Isomorphism and Corruption: An Empirical Research in Russia,’ Journal of Business Ethics, 89: 59–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  114. Wade, R. (1982), ‘The System of Administrative and Political Corruption: Canal Irrigation in South India,’ The Journal of Development Studies, 18(3): 287–327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  115. Weber, M. (1922 [1978]), Economy and Society; an Outline of lnterpretive Sociology (Berkeley: University of California Press).Google Scholar
  116. Weiner, A. (1992), Inalienable Possessions: The Paradox of Keeping-While-Giving (Berkeley: University of California Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  117. World Bank (1997), Helping Countries Combat Corruption (Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Unit).Google Scholar
  118. World Bank (2006), World Bank Literature Survey on Corruption; 2000–2005, 28 March 2006. Available at wwwl.worldbank.org/publicsector/anticorrupt/ ACLitSurvey.pdf.Google Scholar
  119. Xin, K. and Pearce, J. (1996), ‘Guanxi, Connections as Substitute for Formal Institutional Support,’ Academy of Management Journal, 39(6): 1641–1658.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  120. Yang, M. (1994), Gifts, Favors and Banquets: The Art of Social Relationships in China (Ithaca: Cornell University Press).Google Scholar
  121. Yang, M. (2002), ‘The Resilience of Guanxi and its New Deployments: A Critique of Some New Guanxi Scholarship,’ China Quarterly, 170: 459–476.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  122. Zerilli, F. (2005), ‘Corruption, Property Restitution and Romanianness,’ in D. Haller and C. Shore (eds), Corruption: Anthropological Perspectives (London: Pluto): 83–102.Google Scholar
  123. Zinn, D. (2001), La raccomandazione: clientelismo vecchio e nuovo (Roma: Donzelli).Google Scholar
  124. Znoj, H. (2007), ‘Deep Corruption in Indonesia: Discourses, Practices, Histories,’ in M. Nuijtel and G. Anders(eds), Corruption and the Secret of Law: A Legal Anthropological Perspective (Aldershot: Ashgate): 53–76.Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Davide Torsello 2015

Authors and Affiliations

  • Davide Torsello

There are no affiliations available

Personalised recommendations

Cite chapter

Buy options