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Of loans and livelihoods: Gendered “social work†in urban India

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  • Smitha Radhakrishnan

Abstract

Through an ethnographic study of commercial microlending in urban India, this article examines how “everyday†financialization reinscribes class and gender hierarchies in working†class communities at global finance's outer edges. Relatively privileged women deploy their knowledge of their communities to organize women, sometimes coercively, into precise formations that meet the exacting requirements of corporate microfinance institutions (MFIs). Through “social work,†powerful volunteers can convert intimate financial knowledge of households in their neighborhoods into social and cultural power. Concomitantly, MFIs aiming to funnel global capital into marginal neighborhoods achieve financial sustainability.

Suggested Citation

  • Smitha Radhakrishnan, 2018. "Of loans and livelihoods: Gendered “social work†in urban India," Economic Anthropology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(2), pages 235-246, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecanth:v:5:y:2018:i:2:p:235-246
    DOI: 10.1002/sea2.12120
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Rodrigo Canales, 2014. "Weaving Straw into Gold: Managing Organizational Tensions Between Standardization and Flexibility in Microfinance," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(1), pages 1-28, February.
    2. Sibel Kusimba, 2018. "“It is easy for women to ask!†: Gender and digital finance in Kenya," Economic Anthropology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(2), pages 247-260, June.
    3. Lauren A. Hayes, 2017. "The hidden labor of repayment: Women, credit, and strategies of microenterprise in northern Honduras," Economic Anthropology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 4(1), pages 22-36, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Alami, Ilias & Alves, Carolina & Bonizzi, Bruno & Kaltenbrunner, Annina & Kodddenbrock, Kai & Kvangraven, Ingrid & Powell, Jeff, 2021. "International financial subordination: a critical research agenda [working paper]," Greenwich Papers in Political Economy 33233, University of Greenwich, Greenwich Political Economy Research Centre.
    2. Aaron Z. Pitluck & Fabio Mattioli & Daniel Souleles, 2018. "Finance beyond function: Three causal explanations for financialization," Economic Anthropology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(2), pages 157-171, June.

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