Corruption in the Context of the European Welfare State

Abstract

This essay explores what Ethnologie (social and cultural anthropology) can contribute to the study of corruption. It firstly lays bare basic approaches of the study of corruption by conventional political and social sciences and influential political agents such as Transparency International. In these approaches, corruption is shaped by a variety of assumptions: that corruption takes place between the public and a private sphere, that it is an indicator of instability and that it is morally reprehensibly and therefore a clandestine activity. The essay expands on these assumptions from the anthropological point of view, thereby detecting blind spots in the conventional approaches. Finally, by discussing four examples, the essay seeks to show how Ethnologie can enrich other approaches to social scientific corruption research with a genuine contribution.

Informal networks as investment: A qualitative analysis from Uganda and Tanzania

“…The research adopted an ethnographic perspective (Haller & Shore, 2015), applying narrative analysis and a short story approach (Earthy et al., 2016; Riessman, 1993; Sandelowski, 1991). Given the need for cultural proximity to the fields, the local researchers were vital for case studies identification, data collection, interpretation, and triangulation 1…”

“…The repetition of informal transactions along an indefinite time horizon further cements trust, proximity, and cooperation norms. These practices are part of the social fabric linking together citizens, business people, and public officials (Gupta, 1995; Haller & Shore, 2015; Pena López & Sánchez Santos, 2014; Ruud, 2000; Yeboah‐Assiamah et al., 2016).…”

Coloniality of anti-corruption: Whiteness, disasters, and the US anti-corruption policies in Puerto Rico

“…Muir and Gupta (2018, p. s6) argue that corruption, as a key category of modern political economy, typically indexes the nonmodern. Similarly, Haller and Shore (2005) point out that ideas of corruption and economic backwardness have consistently featured in imperialist and racialized historical narratives that invoke the primitiveness of less-developed states in order to justify colonial interventions. Thus, corruption narratives were, and continue to be, a key technology for justifying the colonialism of non-western societies.…”

Cross-Theoretical Compliance: An Integrative Compliance Analysis of COVID-19 Mitigation Responses in Israel

“…The question why people obey or break rules is studied in different academic domains and for different types of rules. This spans subjects as diverse as tax evasion (in psychology and economics, e.g., Kirchler et al, 2008;Muehlbacher et al, 2011;Wenzel, 2005), street crime (in criminology, e.g., Weisburd, 2015), littering (in psychology, Keizer et al, 2008), environmental crime (e.g., Shover & Routhe, 2005;Yan et al, 2016), white-collar crime (in organizational science, e.g., Pusch & Holtfreter, 2021), and corruption (in anthropology, e.g., Haller & Shore, 2005). Different approaches have resulted in different theories of what shapes compliance.…”