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Sociology of Development
Tracing Microfinancial Value Chains
Beyond the Impasse of Debt and Development
Erin Beck, Smitha Radhakrishnan
Sociology of Development, Vol. 3 No. 2, Summer 2017; (pp. 116-142) DOI: 10.1525/sod.2017.3.2.116
Erin Beck
Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Oregon; Email: Beck@UOregon.edu
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Smitha Radhakrishnan
Associate Professor of Sociology, Wellesley College Email: SRadhakr@Wellesley.edu
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Abstract

The global expansion of the microfinance sector demands new conceptual work that recognizes microfinance's simultaneous imbrication in profit-oriented global finance and socially oriented development programs. Drawing from our respective areas of specialization in Latin America and South Asia, and an extensive review of the literature, we posit here that microfinance is best understood as a global industry, with traceable value chains. Microfinancial value chains are vertically organized by hierarchical relations of power, and populated by diverse actors performing various forms of gendered and class-stratified labor. Our conception of microfinance draws attention to the industry's reliance on the devalued labor of women, and the influence of class and geographic divisions on the functioning of microfinancial chains at all levels. Our chain-oriented conceptualization disrupts prevailing paradigms for studying microfinance by allowing us to analyze exactly where, and under what conditions, value is extracted across multiple global sites.

  • microfinance
  • debt
  • labor
  • gender
  • class
  • institutions
  • Guatemala
  • India
  • commodity chains
  • © 2017 by the Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press's Reprints and Permissions web page, www.ucpress.edu/journals.php?p=reprints.
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Vol. 3 No. 2, Summer 2017

Sociology of Development: 3 (2)
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Tracing Microfinancial Value Chains
Beyond the Impasse of Debt and Development
Erin Beck, Smitha Radhakrishnan
Sociology of Development, Vol. 3 No. 2, Summer 2017; (pp. 116-142) DOI: 10.1525/sod.2017.3.2.116
Erin Beck
Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Oregon; Email: Beck@UOregon.edu
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Search for this author on this site
  • View author's works on this site
  • For correspondence: Beck@UOregon.edu
Smitha Radhakrishnan
Associate Professor of Sociology, Wellesley College Email: SRadhakr@Wellesley.edu
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Search for this author on this site
  • View author's works on this site
  • For correspondence: SRadhakr@Wellesley.edu

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Tracing Microfinancial Value Chains
Beyond the Impasse of Debt and Development
Erin Beck, Smitha Radhakrishnan
Sociology of Development, Vol. 3 No. 2, Summer 2017; (pp. 116-142) DOI: 10.1525/sod.2017.3.2.116
Erin Beck
Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Oregon; Email: Beck@UOregon.edu
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Search for this author on this site
  • View author's works on this site
  • For correspondence: Beck@UOregon.edu
Smitha Radhakrishnan
Associate Professor of Sociology, Wellesley College Email: SRadhakr@Wellesley.edu
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Search for this author on this site
  • View author's works on this site
  • For correspondence: SRadhakr@Wellesley.edu
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  • Article
    • Abstract
    • MICROFINANCIAL HISTORIES: FROM NONPROFIT SELF-HELP TO GLOBAL INDUSTRY
    • THE IMPASSE OF “DEBT” AND “DEVELOPMENT” IN THE STUDY OF MICROFINANCE
    • CONCEPTUALIZING MICROFINANCIAL CHAINS: INTEGRATING COMMODITIES, GENDERED LABOR AND THE “GIFT”
    • TRACING MICROFINANCIAL CHAINS IN GUATEMALA AND INDIA
    • ABSTRACTING THE DIVERSITY OF MICROFINANCE
    • CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS
    • References
    • NOTES
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