Structure Of Village Research Articles

Village social structure and labor market performance: Evidence from the Philippines

This paper studies how social structure — the pattern of social links that connect individuals in a community — affects labor markets. Under competing views on the role of networks, social structures that discourage network hiring could improve or hinder labor market performance. We test these competing views using data on marriage networks in 15,000 villages, combined with labor force survey data. Using regressions analyses and an instrumental variable strategy, we find that individuals living in more socially fragmented villages are less likely to work in family firms, more likely to use formal job search strategies, invest more in education and earn higher wages. Social fragmentation thus discourages network hiring and improves labor market performance. These results survive 384 combinations of robustness checks. We further provide direct evidence against reverse causality.

On the structural equivalence of coresidents and the measurement of village social structure

Researchers in the social and biomedical sciences regularly measure networks spanning entire villages in low- and middle-income countries by documenting the social contacts of just one or two representatives from participating households. This “lean” approach to network measurement is cost-effective compared to a sociometric census of a village’s adult population. However, it implicitly assumes that interviewed and non-interviewed coresidents are structurally equivalent — i.e., directly connected to the same network members in the same fashion. Drawing from research on multilevel networks and intra-household heterogeneity, here I argue that this assumption is unlikely to hold for the personal social ties typically of interest to field researchers (i.e., friends and other preferred sources and targets of material, informational and emotional support). I substantiate my claim with an exploratory case study on the similarity of coresidents’ incoming and outgoing ties using data documenting unrestricted roster-based reports on the provision of tangible aid amongst all adult residents of a remote village of indigenous horticulturalists in Nicaragua (108 adults; 32 nuclear-family households). Results indicate that coresidents markedly deviate from structural equivalence and its generalisation in the form of stochastic equivalence (i.e., similar probabilities of being directly connected to the same network members in the same fashion). All in all, it is ill-advised to assume that the personal network of any one coresident, or, more generally, the manner in which a coresident tends to send and receive their personal ties, is representative of their household.

Democracy learning, election quality and voter turnout

Purpose – After two decades of village elections, the quality of village elections, rather than the utility of village elections, becomes the focus of current research. Based on nationally representative data at the village level, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of voting participation, focussing on the effect of election quality. The findings show that competitiveness, vote buying and manipulation are the key determinants significantly affecting village turnouts. The results are robust to alternative specifications. Design/methodology/approach – As discussed, the authors take three measures for villagers’ willingness to vote, e.g. raw turnout (RT), voluntary turnout (VT) and direct turnout (DT). The authors include four types of elements which affect the willingness to participate, the electoral quality, procedure and implementation, individual rationality, village social structure and villages’ level of modernization. The causal mechanism of elements and turnout can be written as: Turnout=f (election quality and procedure, individual rationality, mobilization structure, modernization). Findings – Competitiveness, vote buying and manipulation affect village turnout at significance level. More competitive elections tend to attract high participation of voting, and the effects on VT are the largest ones in magnitude, comparing with RT and DT, as well as manipulation. Village voters do not like to be fooled by nominal voting. If they recognize that elections are likely to be manipulated by township government, the turnout rates drop drastically. The effect associated with manipulation is larger than those associated with competitiveness and vote buying, indicating intervention from up-level government might block the improving process of election massively. Originality/value – It is the first paper that address the effect of election quality on vote participation.

Principal, Agent or Bystander? Governance and Leadership in Chinese and Russian Villages

What does ‘local self-governance’ mean in post-communist Russia and China? In order to answer this question, the article focuses on village-level governance in both countries by employing a four-fold typology of village leadership in public affairs. In both countries, the withdrawal of state power from local communities and the introduction of legislative ‘self-government’ has not brought autonomy to the local and community levels. The findings here suggest that the single ‘state agent’ category of village leadership that emerged under the communist regime is shifting to become one of the remaining three types, ‘principal’, ‘local agent’ and ‘bystander’. There was a growing tendency towards a non-autonomous type of ‘bystander’-style leadership in China and the ‘local agent’ type in Russia. This article suggests that the development of these local governance styles should not be attributed to a common transitional process departing from the communist past, but is the outcome of four factors that influence village leaders in two countries: administrative distance between local and village level, village social structure, fiscal arrangements and electoral relationships.

Knowledge and Practice in Mayotte: Local Discourses of Islam, Sorcery, and Spirit Possession

How might anthropologists understand cultural basis of knowledge? This is Michael Lambek's task in this detailed and often engrossing study from Mayotte, an island of Comoro archipelago in Indian Ocean, between East Africa and Madagascar. Based on careful field research spanning approximately 20 years, Lambek argues for an understanding of interrelatedness of three traditions, each with its own conception of knowledge: Islam, cosmology and spirit possession. These traditions may be viewed, at times, as interlocking or even indistinguishable; at others they compete with or contradict one another. Key issues concern question of knowledge as power and whether Islam is hegemonic in self-proclaimed Muslim communities. In turn, a unifying theme is: how does one obtain knowledge and who has access to it? Can we speak of a morality of knowledge? Sociologist Alfred Schutz provides a helpful framework: there are varying degrees of knowledge, represented by expert, well-informed citizen and the man on street (or what Lambek refers to as the person on path). Levels of knowing in Mayotte are best understood in times of crisis (most often sickness), where master, scholar, [or] expert (p. 3) for all three traditions is fundi, whose clients fall into Schutz's two other categories.In part 1, Introductions, Lambek explores historical roots of knowledge on Mayotte, showing how three traditions were brought by seafarers of many origins. French colonization further complicates picture; thus Lambek gives a brief-yet-in-formative recent history of Mayotte, as well as an overview of village social structure. remainder of book is divided into three sections, each focussing on one of traditions. A central theme is whether knowledge is embedded in texts or embodied, and this is reflected in three respective section headings: The Social Organization of Textual Knowledge, Counterpractices: Cosmology and Ins and Outs of Sorcery and Embodied Knowledge and Practice of Spirit Mediums.As Lambek explains early in this work, Islamic knowledge is open to all members of Mayotte society, but mastery is another question altogether. Children begin learning to recite Qur'an at a young age by sounding out Arabic letters (a task that was given to, and frustrated, Lambek early in his field work, when he expressed his desire to learn about local culture). Boys and girls who show promise are sent to other villages to study with fundis who specialize in 'Ilim fakihi, knowledge of Islam's sacred texts and rituals. Learning proves difficult, for inquisitive student is quickly frustrated by lack of instructional texts or teachers well-versed in Arabic. Here Lambek reveals an important dimension of Islam: words, when uttered, are sacred; but, when translated, they lose their power. Furthermore, being Muslim in Mayotte is a performative experience: it is through such actions as recitation, prayer and fasting that one asserts Muslim identity.In contrast, knowledge associated with 'Ilim dunia, cosmologer's art, hinges on ability to read (that is, translate) and interpret a host of astrological texts. I found this section to be most compelling, for cosmologer is simultaneously a valued healer and a potentially dangerous sorcerer. For example, through this knowledge one can predict auspicious times to hold important rituals, as well as to harm one's adversaries. Thus, cosmology defines a spectrum of healers and sorcerers, whose work may be viewed as good or evil. Much of this knowledge is secretive and is acquired only through apprenticeships with established masters that span decades. …

Models of Peasant Differentiation and Aspects of Agrarian Economy in Colonial India

Given their sheer numbers, it is hardly surprising that the fate of peasants during British Rule in India should have become a principal index for evaluating its successes and failures. Since the Raj was much more than another effete political superimposition on supposedly timeless villages, the question of agrarian growth or stagnation during its currency is intertwined with more general issues. In so far as colonialism meant a sizable expansion of trade to and from the rural areas, its impact on village social structure in India bears comparison with that of a modern market on peasantries in other parts of the world. Perhaps, the classic case of a peasantry coming face to face with a growing market happened in Russia between 1860 and 1930. The history of that period has generated conceptual discussion about the dynamics of peasant society. The possibility of some of those ideas shedding light on the situation in India has prompted Indo-Russian contrasts and comparisons in agrarian history on more than one occasion (Charlesworth: 1979; Stein: 1984). As a sequel to these writings the Russian debate is considered here briefly in order to suggest some ways in which it might be useful in the Indian context.

The Ideal and the Real:

Kelantan Malay society exhibits several properties, such sa a bilateral social structure and unrestricted economic participation for both sexes, which tend to promote equality for women at the village level. At the same time Islam, introduced to the area 500 years ago, actively minimizes the status and rights of women. These contending influences promote the creation of a set of village level strategies for maintaining the letter of Islamic law while preserving the spirit of traditional village social structure and the rough equality of women. Further, these influences can be seen to affect the roles of young unmarried women, wives, divorcees, and even prostitutes.

Community Development In An Urban Setting

AbstractPrinciples of Turkish village social structure and organization have been identified through empirical research and implemented by peasants in shantytowns throughout Turkey. These can be applied as a matrix for community development among these urban laborers. Therefore, the goal of community development for Anatolian peasants in Turkey’s cities is to orchestrate the cultural constraints of these people so that their lives can be made more meaningful in the shack towns which confine them. This paper, based on field work, offers a plan on how to undertake this proposal. A grant from The Social Science Research Council made possible part of the field work on which this paper is based.

IS THE CHINESE "BAREFOOT DOCTOR" EXPORTABLE TO RURAL IRAN ?

The barefoot doctor in China has been regarded as successful due to his willingness to serve the community. The barefoot doctor is trained for short didactic periods followed by practical experience in the village under a physician or nurses supervision. The program emphasizes disease prevention and health education as well as screening to treat only minor problems. Barefoot doctors are trained according to the relative importance of different diseases in each region while they continue their normal occupation. Iran has similarly trained barefoot doctors but has encountered cultural and political dynamics problems. When VHW (village health workers) were chosen they were usually a relative of the village headman rather than a worker chosen by the villagers themselves. In addition women who could play an important role in maternal and child health and family planning were generally not allowed to leave the village for training. Iranian barefoot doctors favored curative medicine using injections rather than preventive medicine. However rival factions in the village distrusted the VHW believing the barefoot doctor would poison them. The Chinese barefoot doctor is not easily transportable to Iran due to village social structure rural medical assumptions and problems of organizing cooperative health delivery.

On the Structural Analysis of a Fishing Village

This artiole is to work out an effective method for the dynamic grasp of the fishing village's social structure through the research of a fishing village.The followings are to be considered in analysing the social structure of avillage ; 1) Socio-economic base of the village, 2) Structure of the village community, and 3) Interrelation of the commuuity structure with the personalities of its members.First, according to the examination of the socio-economic base of the village, Tsukahama Village is found to be an usually closed society in both the economic and social sense, activity. Fishing, generally coastal in nature, is on a small-scale, being based upon family labor and small scale farming help to maintain this closed society, which lacks communication facilities. Next, the analysis of the community structure shows that ; 1) Staus is usually ascribed on the bases of sex and age, with particular emphasis given the latter. Power and prestige are generally given to older men of experience, not to those whoh ave economic power, or marked ability or who hold the status at a family head as is common villages. 2) Behavior patterns of the villagers in their respective status are largely inherited from their predecessors and are regulated by their traditional customs. 3) All functions in the village are performed by a group called “jitsugyo-dan”. (work group)without differentiating functions. Particular attention is given to the analysis of the interrelationship between community structure and the personality of its members. Study of the integration between the villagers ascribed role and their growth pattern discloses many conficts, which are not manifest at a superficiail glance and which are disposed of according to their personality structures.From this perspective, the social characters of the villagers, for instance, predominance of traditional customs, villager's social passiveness, strong community sentiment and contrary egoism, are all viewed as inevitable products of this closed society, where the villagers are obliged to take such attitudes as the most “effective” adjustment possible in the milieu. Of course it is also needed to brand them as pre-modern, but here, among other things, the structural and functional nexus of these characters are discussed as the most problematical subject.