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" A grounded theory approach to comparing rural change processes : "
Manandhar, Prabin.
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Latin Dissertation
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1096121
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TLets427061
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Manandhar, Prabin.
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| Title & Author
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A grounded theory approach to comparing rural change processes :\ Manandhar, Prabin.
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| College
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University of East Anglia
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| Date
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2005
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2005
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| Degree
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Ph.D.
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| Abstract
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The broad objective of this thesis is to understand the dynamics of rural change In Nepaland to relate this to the dominant paradigms of rural change espoused by key informants inKathmandu. The conceptualisation of social relationships in rural society is built on notionsof civil society and social wealth and involves the Identification of bonding, bridging andlinking as distinctive forms of interaction and solidarity.Empirically, the thesis compares and contrasts three examples (case studies) of ruralchange in three locations -a remote village, a roadside village and a Maoist controlledvillage in a hill district and thereby makes a contribution to the analysis of rural change inthe middle hills and wider Nepal. The case studies exemplify three ideal types of ruraltransformation in which traditional/conservative authority works with mechanical solidarity toproduce strong bonding and linking social wealth, bureaucratic/liberal-democratic authorityworks with organic solidarity to challenge bonding and linking social wealth and constructnew bridging "class" social wealth, and charismatic/populist authority works with mechanicaland organic solidarities to build on bonding social wealth towards greater bridging socialwealth, and challenge linking social wealth, respectively.The research deploys qualitative field research methods in a grounded theory approach,bringing semi-structured interviews and participatory investigation into interaction withconcepts drawn from the literatures on social capital and complexity theory, Weberianauthority patterning, Durkheimian models of social solidarity, Burnsian models of leadership,and Hersey and Blanchard's models of change strategy. The research does not take ameta-view of civil society, however, but stays close to the observations at village level.Epistemologically, the research adopts a social constructivist approach drawing oncomplexity theory.The findings reveal that the paradigms of rural change prevalent at the centre are toosimplistic, overstating exogenous forces and underestimating local structural resilience.The shifting frontier between transactional and transformatory actions at the village level isnot well understood and the vision of overall direction of rural change is not clear to peopleat the centre. In other words, academics and policy-makers at the centre lack a coherentand grounded vision of where Nepal is actually heading.The usual basic model adopted is that Nepal is poor and backward, but moving towardsmodernity. The case studies, however, suggest that the dynamics of rural change are farmore complex. Rural society in Nepal is moving at different speeds in different directions,though movement is to some extent path-dependent, constrained by historically embeddedstructures. The thesis shows that, apart from the most remote village where moreconservative linking processes still dominate, the two other case study villages are dynamic,but in different ways. The remote village is conservative and reproduces social structuresand relationships that underpin a system of mutual support and associated exploitation withauthority legitimised by tradition. The roadside village is undergoing change as a result ofrural infrastructural change and the penetration locally of market relations. Here processesthat might be broadly Identified as capitalist are challenging historic relationships (ofbonding and linking) and new forms of relationship are emerging changing the nature ofpatterning of inequality. The Maoist controlled village is deepening the (bridging) socialwealth of poor and disadvantaged people within a distinctive progressive framework tofacilitate deliberate intervention to reverse hierarchies. The findings demonstrate that building on ethnic bonding relationships can facilitate bridging between groups, which in turngenerates more organic social wealth and underpins struggles against hierarchical linkingmechanical relations using the mix of participative and directive change strategy. Thefindings also demonstrate that not just market relations and rural infrastructuredevelopment, but progressive political, social and ideological changes are needed to bringabout the kind of rural transformation that generates more equality and justice as well asmore wealth.
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University of East Anglia
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