The emergence of clientelistic Networks in Latin America: a theoretical perspective.

Abstract

Clientelistic networks have been a regular research topic in Latin American scholarship, particularly over the last three decades. This research has comprehensively addressed their functioning and consequences for democracy. However, less attention has been paid to draw the conditions of emergence of clientelistic networks in Latin America and the contribution contemporary sociological theory can make to widen the analytical scopeof the field. By elaborating on different general sociological theories (particularly systems theory and relational sociology) and empirical research on the topic, this article argues that clientelistic networks in Latin America emerge in an operative context of modernization crisis that strongly disturbs the personal modus vivendi. This crisis produces a symbolic framework of deflating value commitments clientelistic networks can deal with only with limited relational effects, that, additionally, negatively impact on the generalization of social trust.