Patrons, clients, and friends : interpersonal relations and the structure of trust in society / S.N. Eisenstadt and L. Roniger.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Eisenstadt, S. N. (Shmuel Noah), 1923-2010.

Contributor:

Roniger, Luis, 1949-

Series:

Themes in the social sciences

Themes in the social sciences.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Interpersonal relations.

Trust.

Patron and client.

Friendship.

Physical Description:

x, 343 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge [Cambridgeshire] ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1984.

Summary:

The form of social relations described by the terms 'patronage' and 'patron-client relations' is of central concern to sociologists, anthropologists and political scientists today. Characterised by its voluntary and highly personal but often fully institutionalised nature, it is a type of behaviour found in almost every human society. It touches upon basic aspects of the construction and regulation of social order and is therefore closely connected to major theoretical problems and controversies in the social sciences.

This book analyses some special types of these interpersonal relations -- ritual kinship, patron-client relations and friendship -- and the social conditions in which they develop. The authors draw upon a wide range of examples, from societies as diverse as those of the Mediterranean. Latin America, the Middle and Far East and the U.S.S.R., in their study of the core characteristics of such relationships. They look at them as mechanisms of social exchange, examine their impact on the institutional structures in which they exist, and assess the significance of the variations in their occurrence. Their analysis highlights the importance of these relationships in social life and concludes with a stimulating discussion of the ensuing tensions and ambivalences and the ways in which these are dealt with -- though perhaps never fully overcome.

Patrons, clients and friends is the first systematic comparative study of these interpersonal relations and makes the first attempt to relate them to central aspects of social structure. It will therefore be an important contribution to both comparative analysis and social theory and will be of interest to a wide range of socialscientists.

Contents:

1 Personal Relations, Trust and Ambivalence in Relation to the Institutional Order 1

2 The Construction of Trust in the Social Order and its Ambivalences: Viewed From the Development of Sociological Theory 19

3 The Structuring of Trust in Society: Unconditionalities, Generalised Exchange and the Development of Interpersonal Relations 29

4 The Basic Characteristics and Variety of Patron-Client Relations 43

The core characteristics of patron-client relations 43

Patron-client relations in southern Europe 50

Ancient Republican Rome 52

Southern Italy 64

Western Sicily 68

Central Italy 70

Spain 71

Greece 77

Patron-client relations in the Muslim Middle East 81

Turkey 84

Jordan 87

Northern Iraq 88

Egypt 89

Lebanon 91

Morocco 95

Patron-client relations in Latin America 99

Colombia 102

Brazil 104

Peru 107

Bolivia 111

Argentina 113

Mexico 114

Patron-client relations in southeast Asia 117

Indonesia 122

The Philippines 127

Thailand 130

Burma 137

Patron-client relations in China, Japan, India, Rwanda and southwestern Cyrenaica 138

China 139

Japan 145

India 150

Rwanda 153

Southwestern Cyrenaica 154

Patron-client relations in the U.S.A., the U.S.S.R. and modern Japan 155

The U.S.A. 155

The U.S.S.R. 157

Modern Japan 159

Approaching the systematic study of variations in patron-client relations 162

5 The Clientelistic Mode of Generalised Exchange and Patron

Client Relations as Addenda to the Central Institutional Nexus 166

The clientelistic mode of generalised exchange in comparative perspective 166

Patron-client relations as addenda to ascriptive hierarchical models of generalised exchange 173

Patron-client relations in Japan 174

Patron-client relations in ascriptive hierarchical systems 178

Patron-client relations as addenda to universalistic modes of generalised exchange 184

Countervailing forces to the development of patron-client relations in universalistic societies: the U.S.S.R., the U.S.A. and Israel 185

The U.S.S.R. 186

The U.S.A. 191

Israel 195

The failure of countervailing forces in clientelistic societies 200

6 The Social Conditions Generating Patron-Client Relations 203

7 Variations in Patron-Client Relations 220

Organisational aspects of clientelism: institutional placement and structure of networks 228

Modes of patron-client role taking 245

Styles of installation: the forms of construction of patron-client relations 248

Variations in clientelistic exchanges 250

Institutional markets, resources and the time perspective of reciprocity in patron-client relations 252

The relative importance of instrumental considerations, solidarity and power differentials in exchange 256

Discretion, subversive attitudes, and socio-moral restraints 259

Continuities, discontinuities and instability of patron-client relations 263

8 Ritualised Interpersonal Relations; Privacy and Friendship 269

Ritualised interpersonal relations in 'tribal' societies 272

Interpersonal relations in traditional or historical societies 276

Interpersonal relations and privacy in modern societies 282

9 Concluding Remarks: The Dialectics of Trust and the Social Order 294.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0521246873

OCLC:

10299353