Illegal Resource Exchange through Social Networks: A Relational Approach to Corruption

• In Event: 355 - Section on Economic Sociology Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 14. Law, Consent, Corruption

Abstract

Two main approaches dominate the corruption literature. While the rational-actor models represents pure profit-oriented individual decisions without any social constraints or past relations, the other end of the spectrum is the structural approach where human action is fully determined by structural constraints. However both paradigms have significant weaknesses since they provide rather static and substantialist descriptions of social reality. A third paradigm emphasizes the importance of social networks in illegal resource exchange. This paper argues that the relational approach has more explanatory power because is focuses on the actors’ dynamic relationship structure in actual corrupt transactions. Moreover the relational approach has the potential to link rational actors with structural elements, or in other words, to bridge agency with structure in corruption research. This article provides a review on the relational view and its major contribution to corruption research. It also stresses some weaknesses and potential directions for future research.

Author

• David Jancsics, City University of New York-Graduate Center