Structuration, Development and Context

This book is based on two case studies of micro-finance systems recorded in the Philippines in 2003. The first case describes conflicts between traditional economic modes and market based agricultural production of an indigenous community (Kankana-ey Bago people) in the Northern Philippines. The second case looks at the dynamics of an informal market economy by analysing a vegetable dealers' savings and loans cooperative in Manila. In both cases a fundamental theoretical question is asked: What happens if several contradictory social systems influence one group of actors? The theoretical frame is based on Giddens' Theory of structuration and concepts of exchange and compliance borrowed from the Governance debate. Giddens' notion of recursivity describes the enabling and constraining relationship between social structures and individual action. Both cases illustrate how individuals are embedded in social structures - markets and communities - and in turn reproduce these structures through individual action. The key finding of the study is that conflicts between social systems recursively create conflicts within the agency of individuals.