{"product_id":"trade-offs-rights-and-responsibilities-in-the-business-of-microcredit","title":"Trade-Offs, Rights and responsibilities in the Business of Microcredit","description":"Drawing on the theoretical ideas of Pierre Bourdieu, the thesis undertakes a critical analysis of the interpretations of social capital and the associated solidarity and reciprocity based on the conceptualisations of Robert Putnam, interpreting social capital as networks of everyday politics and replacing romanticised notions of co-operative social ties with an awareness of the realities of inequality and everyday struggle that characterise the microcredit clients' social networks. The study explores the everyday politics, contradictions and tensions at several levels, including the clients, organisation and the wider economy and society. In the spirit of the concept of governmentality by Michel Foucault, the thesis also illustrates processes and practices of governance, and the creation of a set of rules and procedures that can govern and discipline microcredit clients to achieve selected goals. \n\nThe results of this study illustrate how social relations between the members of the microcredit groups were based on ambiguous forms of co-operation and conflict around diverse interests and multifaceted power relations. While social networks were crucial for the establishment and maintenance of business operations, the structural conditions of poverty and marginalisation placed the women in competition with each other over limited resources and easily saturated markets. The group loan system caused various anxieties about solidarity lending and tensions between group members. The contrast between the idealistic speeches of solidarity, and suspicions circulating over who benefits from which businesses and on what grounds, was a striking characteristic of the everyday politics of microcredit.","brand":"Helsingin yliopisto","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":32446782636132,"sku":"9789521086885","price":45.95,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/suomalainen-test.myshopify.com\/products\/trade-offs-rights-and-responsibilities-in-the-business-of-microcredit","provider":"Suomalainen Test","version":"1.0","type":"link"}