E-book
Economies of Favour after Socialism.
A volume on the economics of favours and how they function as socially efficacious actions in post-socialist regions including central, eastern, and south eastern Europe; the former Soviet Union; Mongolia; and post-Maoist China.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780191511097
- ISBN: 0191511099
- ISBN: 9780192515124
- ISBN: 0192515128
- Physical Description: 1 online resource (254 pages)
- Publisher: Oxford : OUP Oxford, 2016.
Content descriptions
| General Note: | Gifts and Favours in a `House Societý |
| Formatted Contents Note: | Cover; Economies of Favour after Socialism; Copyright; Acknowledgements; Table of Contents; List of Figuresand Boxes; Notes on Contributors; 1: Introduction-Re-imagining Economies (after Socialism): Ethics, Favours, and Moral Sentiments; Ethics, Favours, and Moral Sentiments; Beyond Political Economies; Towards a Semiotics of Favours; References; 2: The Ambivalence of Favour: Paradoxes of Russiaś Economy of Favours; A Typology of Favours; The Substantive Ambivalence of Favours: `No Synthesis;́ Functional Ambivalence: Clashing Demands and the Role of Networks. Normative Ambivalence: The Double Standards and the Phenomenological LensThe Implications of Ambivalence for Research Methodologies; Acknowledgements; References; 3: A New Look at Favours: The Case of Post-Socialist Higher Education; The Political-Economic Context of Favour in Post-Socialist Russia; Favours; A Favour and Its Ramifications; Favours in the Market Economy; Favours and Power; Conclusion; Acknowledgements; References; 4: Giving, Taking, and Getting By: Help and Indifference in Moscowś Temporary Housing Market; The `Apartment Problem;́ Specifying Jardam; Making Home in Moscow. Cutting the Network? Balancing Help and IndifferenceConclusion; References; 5: The Anti-Favour: Ideasthesia, Aesthetics, and Obligation in Southwest China; Favours, Obligations, and the Art of Social Relations; Ideasthesia and the Nuosu Warriorś Aesthetic; Keeping Secrets for Life; Braving Ideasthesia: The Case of an Imprisoned Warrior; Beyond Favours: The Force of Duty, Obligation, and Sacrifice; References; 6: The Human Economy of Pálinka in Hungary: A Case Study in Longue Durée Lubrication; The Human Economies of Socialism and Post-Socialism; Alcohol in Pre-socialist Society. Lubricating SocialismFast Forward to the Present; Conclusion; Acknowledgements; References; 7: Making History, Making Politics: Socialist and Post-Socialist Elite Economies of Favour in Bulgaria and Ukraine; Distinguishing Elite Networks from other Economies of Favour; Elite Connections in Bulgaria; Understanding Elite Economies of Favour in History; Conclusion; Acknowledgements; References; 8: Interior Spectacles: The Art of the Informal among Bootleg Miners in Wałbrzych, Poland; Bootleg Mines and Salvage Fever; Law, Lawlessness, and the Area in Between; The Art of the Informal. Interior Spectacles: Economies of Favour as PerformanceConclusion; References; 9: A Good Deed is Not a Crime: Moral Cosmologies of Favours in Muslim Bosnia; From Economies of Favour Towards an Economy of Good Deeds; Away from (Bosnian) Informal Economies; Economies of Good Deeds in Muslim Bosnia; Mujoś story; Friends of God are just merciful; `Sevap cant́ be illegal;́ Conclusion: Good Deeds as Favours; References; 10: The `Shadows óf Informality in Rural Poland; The `Shadows óf Informality: A Strathernian Detour; Scheming and Making Connections: Craft after Socialism. |
| Source of Description Note: | Print version record. |
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| Genre: | Conference papers and proceedings |
Electronic resources
- Oxford University Press
Since the onset of the global economic crisis, activists, policy makers, and social scientists have been searching for alternative paradigms through which to re-imagine contemporary modes of thinking and writing about economic orders. These attempts have led to their re-engagement with fundamental anthropological categories of economic analysis, such as barter, debt, and the gift. Focusing on favours, and the paradoxes of action, meaning, and significance they engender, this volume advocates for their addition to this list of economic universals. It presents a critical re-interrogation of the conceptual relationships between gratuitous and instrumental behaviour, and raises novel questions about the intersection of economic actions with the ethical and expressive aspects of human life.
Scholars of post-socialist politics and society have often used 'favour' as a by-word for corruption and clientelism. The contributors to this volume treat favours, and the doing of favours, as a distinct mode of acting, rather than as a form of 'masked' economic exchange or simply an expression of goodwill. Casting their comparative net from post-socialist Central, Eastern, and South Eastern Europe; to the former Soviet Union, Mongolia, and post-Maoist China, the contributors to this volume show how gratuitous behaviour shapes a plethora of different actions, practices, and judgements across religious and political life, imaginative practices, and local moral economies. They show that favours do not operate 'outside' or 'beyond' the economic sphere. Rather, they constitute a distinct mode of action which has economic consequences, without being fully explicable in terms of transactional cost-benefit analyses.
