Hierarchy and Trust in Modern Mexico and Brazil

In this book, Luis Roniger offers a comprehensive and systematic discussion of the influence of clientelism and clientelistic relationships in social and political life in Mexico and Brazil. The author describes, analyzes, and compares clientelistic arrangements not only in terms of economic development and social differentiation, but also as a strategy of interaction and control over economic and political markets shaped both by structural factors and cultural patterns. Contrary to some theorists who argue that clientelism disappears following industrialization and modernization, Roniger sees clientelistic networks as both a distinct institutional pattern and a major model of structuring social exchange. Thus, he argues that it may be more reasonable to expect changes in the forms of Mexican and Brazilian clientelism, rather than its demise following economic development and political transformation.

Roniger begins with a general discussion of clientelism and trust, exploring the variety of clientelistic bonds, the conditions which lead to the emergence of clientelism, and the dynamics of Latin American clientelism. Following a chapter on the institutional contexts of Mexico and Brazil, the author presents an extended analysis of clientelism in the two countries. In each case, Roniger presents a historical overview, discusses the dominant characteristics of clientelism in that country, and examines clientelism in the rural, urban, labor, and political sectors. Subsequent chapters compare and contrast Mexican and Brazilian variants of clientelism. In the final chapter, Roniger places the Latin American data within its broader cultural context, comparing Mexican and Brazilian clientelism with hierarchical arrangements in Japan, Thailand, and India. He concludes that although political and social change in Mexico and Brazil has led to major transformations in clientelistic patterns, clientelism has been retained as an important element of social exchange in these societies. Sociologists, anthropologists, political scientists, Latin American specialists, and students of development will find Roniger's work and incisive portrait of Mexican and Brazilian institutional development and social realities.

List of contents

Preface
Clientelism and Trust
Hierarchy and Clientelism in Latin America
The Institutional Context of Mexico and Brazil
Clientelism in Mexico
Clientelism in Brazil
Cross-National Comparison of Mexican and Brazilian Clientelism
Multi-Dimensional Comparison of Network Variability
Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Mexican and Brazilian Clientelism
Bibliography
Index

About the author

Sociólogo político comparativo, ocupa el cargo de profesor Reynolds de Estudios
Latinoamericanos en Wake Forest University, Estados Unidos. Es autor de numerosos libros y unos doscientos artículos académicos. Es miembro de comités editoriales de revistas
académicas publicadas en Argentina, Colombia, España, Estados Unidos, Reino Unido, Israel
y México. Entre los libros se cuentan Patrons, Clients and Friends (Cambridge University
Press, 1984, con S. N. Eisenstadt); O legado das violações dos direitos humanos no Cone Sul
(São Paulo, Perspectiva, 2005, con M. Sznajder); Transnational Politics in Central America
(University Press of Florida, 2011); La política del destierro y el exilio en América Latina
(Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2013, con M. Sznajder); Destierro y exilio en América Latina.
Nuevos estudios y avances teóricos (Eudeba, 2014); Exile, Diaspora and Return (Oxford
University Press, 2018, junto con L. Senkman, S. Sosnowski y M. Sznajder); y la Historia
mínima de los derechos humanos en América Latina (Colegio de México, 2018).

Product details

• Authors: Luis Roniger
• Publisher: Praeger
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 24.10.1990
• EAN: 9780275936280
• ISBN: 978-0-275-93628-0
• No. of pages: 256
• Dimensions: 161 mm x 240 mm x 18 mm
• Weight: 552 g
• Subject: Social sciences, law, business > Social sciences (general)