Economy of affection

The Economy of Affection is term introduced by Göran Hydén‎ to describe a network of interactions, communications and support among certain peasant groups in parts of East Africa. These groups, identified in terms of their relationship to structure,are united by kinship, community, religion or other affinities. The functional purposes of this economy of affection invovles; survival, social maintenance and development. The kind of relationships and values which form the basis for subsistence in East Africa have been destroyed in most of the world by the emergence of capitalism. But in such subsaharan African village, as studied by Hyden, their economies have not yet been 'captured' by the capitalism and their peasantry remains unproletarianised. The key issue here for Hyden is that the "social values" of the market are still underdeveloped. The East African peasantry still is able to 'choose' to operate at least parially in the traditional morality-based economy and the true market system. This then explains why a rational response to market incentives might be strnethen his position in the economy of affection[1][2][3]

References

  1. ^ Hyden, G. (1980) Beyond Ujamaa in Tanzania: underdevelopment and an uncaptured peasantry, London
  2. ^ Hyden, G. (1983) No Shortcut to Progress:African development in perspective, London
  3. ^ Waters, Tony (1992) A Cultural Analysis of the Economy of Affection and the Uncaptured Peasantry in Tanzania, The Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 30, No. 1 Mar., pp. 163-175 (http://www.jstor.org/stable/161051)