The Origin Myth of Angus Deaton

• In Event: 286 - Section on Sociology of Development Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Paper Session: Table 02. Institutions

Abstract

Angus Deaton’s new book The Great Escape exemplifies opposing narratives about development. I contrast the elite narrative of academic experts with a popular narrative that depicts development not as contextually specific but as basically similar across time and place. Emphasis is placed not on developing the right institutions but on inciting individual mobility. This popular narrative has guided the creation of roughly 10,000 new American NGOs in the last two decades. Most of these are what I call grassroots aid organizations, in that they rely on meager budgets--$25,000 per annum or less—and copious volunteer labor, according to IRS records. They are typically founded by individuals who hold a college degree but have no training or professional experience in the field of development. Because they are financed almost entirely by small, private donations and because they are not “professionalized” by the circulation of expert staff, grassroots NGOs can durably operate according to a development narrative at odds with the elites of the field. This paper elaborates the concept of a popular development narrative in contrast to an elite narrative and offers evidence for the popular narrative in interviews with volunteers of grassroots NGOs. Then, using an analysis of grassroots NGO websites, I offer a typology of grassroots NGO aid. I demonstrate how the popular narrative gives rise to aid projects that reject concerns of institution building in favor of providing goods and services or of developing individuals themselves as religious, educated, or capitalist subjects.

Author

• Allison Youatt Schnable, Princeton University