Description
The paper in progress is presented at Seed Panel 13: A value discussion as a starting point for trans-and interdisciplinary cooperationAbstract of the presented paper:
Community-driven development (CDD) is a widely used approach that emphasizes the value of local participation and empowerment (Holmlund & Rao, 2021). However, CDD projects are often criticized for their failures in engaging local community members and transforming local decision-making in a lasting way (Casey, 2018). Many scholars have attributed this phenomenon to constraints such as insufficient social capital (Chen, 2010) or the time cost of participation (Casey, 2018). However, both of these accounts fail to examine the obstacles to implementing CDD from the perspective of the participants or indigenous community members.
Drawing from the experience of rural community development in China, I argue that the local population's value system has played a crucial role in their cooperation with external donors. Simply assuming that villagers follow the same modern rationality (e.g., the homo economicus hypothesis) as external donors leads to a reductionist view of the interpretation and motivation system of locals. Although behavioral economics has started to recognize the role of the poor's psychological mechanisms in development processes (Banerjee & Duflo, 2007), this individualistic-based analysis overlooks the impact of cultural context, governance traditions, and norms on participants' mindsets. Instead, it limits the analysis of local behavior logic to the premise of individualistic values and the homo economicus hypothesis.
In contrast to the behavior logic derived from studies on WEIRD (Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic) populations, the concept of "community rationality" refers to small peasants' indiscriminate attitude towards the value of land, capital, and labor within the community, and the appreciation of community welfare and mutual assistance (Adams, 1986; Bryceson, 2000; Edelman, 2005; Scott, 1977; Polanyi, 1944). Scholars have also discussed the importance of similar concepts, such as "village rationality" and "peasant rationality," as the basis for China's rural development and governance (Keister & Nee, 2001; Wen & Dong, 2010). They believe that under village rationality, the rural community acts as a whole to develop and transform, which reduces transactional costs and creates organization rent (Li, 2012; Wen & Dong, 2010; Xu, 2006). These claims resonate with the notion of bottom-up development in CDD. However, current literature lacks an understanding of the psychological mechanism driving such rationality and the evolution of its effective boundaries.
This analysis adopts and develops the concept of "community rationality" to understand the peasants' behavior logic in the context of CDD. Using the Relational Model Theory (RMT; Fiske, 1991, 1992, 2004), I examine the small peasants' agency, joint decision-making, and participation in collaborating with outsiders. Specifically, I look into peasants' cooperation in improving community economic and public welfare activities and their interaction with external stakeholders in bottom-up development and governance.
I use five village development cases, extracted from fieldwork and historical documents, to investigate peasants' community rationality and its interaction with sociocultural evolution and marketization. The cases include a rural revolutionary base from the 1930s, a village upholding strong collective traditions, and three villages where drastic transformation happened between 2010-2020. I also complement the analysis with interview scripts extracted from open sources.
| Period | 10 Jul 2023 |
|---|---|
| Event title | EADI CEsA General Conference 2023: Towards New Rhythms of Development |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Lisbon, PortugalShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | International |