Introduction

In the previous two chapters, I have discussed how the mainstream economic approach of institutions tends to restructure individuals’ incentives (i.e., agency, in chapter 4) and to redefine rules and roles (i.e., institutional arrangements, chapter 5) in order to enforce collective action. This chapter will focus on the issues of authority, examining how structural properties and arrangements help some poor people to obtain access to social capital while denying it to others. It also aims to enrich the current debate regarding power in the social capital literature. There is an increasing use of discourse of ‘power blindness’ to challenge the current social capital theory (e.g., Edwards, et al. 2003; Fine 2001; Field 2003; in general, and Molyneux 2002 with regard to gender inequalities). While these critiques have pinpointed the potential problems of the theory, my concern is that the discourse is rather general and lacks a deep analysis. Using the framework of authority, I argue, will substantiate the discussion since it highlights which dimensions of power are stressed and which sidestepped. In doing so, I will touch upon Pierre Bourdieu's notion of ‘symbolic power’ (1977), which suggests that community elites may draw upon traditions and cultural symbols to legitimise their authority. Iris Young's idea of ‘asymmetrical reciprocity’ (1997) will also be explored to challenge the assumption of equality of contract.

The structure of this chapter is as follows: I will first examine the concept of authority in the neo-institutional approach. Then, I will question the assumption of the ‘equal relational contract’ within the framework of authority by exploring the social divisions within migrant communities. The third section will highlight the political dimensions of bureaucratic institutional arrangements, and examine how new rules and roles are not politically neutral, but can be manipulated by the powerful to limit the access of the poor to social capital. In this section, the complexity of authority will also be examined. Since more and more institutionalists are advocating the building of institutions upon existing social organisations, the fifth section will focus on the complexity of socially embedded institutions, and examine how traditions, rituals, symbols, and collective identities are manipulated by local elites to consolidate their rules.