Capitalizing on Desire

Reconfiguring 'the Social' and the Government of Poverty in the Philippines

Bibliographic Data

ID4951966
AuthorsKoki Seki (0000-0002-1662-1675, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume46
Issue6
Pages1253-1276
Publication date2015-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDevelopment and Change (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0012-155X • E-ISSN: 1467-7660
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/dech.12200
OpenAlexW2262086998
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited25

Tracing the contours of 'the social' is of critical importance today, since there is a widely shared understanding that 'the social' has been undergoing a fundamental mutation under the encroaching influence of globalization and neoliberalism. This mutation means that a population and its risks are increasingly administered and managed through the nurturing of free subjects, productive citizens and active communities. By focusing on conditional cash transfers as a poverty-alleviation programme in the Philippines, this study examines how the contemporary government of poverty attempts to realize social inclusion through the nurturing of desires, habits and dispositions that are conducive to an 'investment in human capital'. The study argues that such regimes produce various forms of exclusion and counterclaims by the beneficiaries, and that these counterclaims, which reflect the popular notions of patronage and clientelism, have serious implications for envisioning the alternative configuration of 'the social

Basic needs · Culture of poverty · Development economics · Economic growth · Economics · Globalization · Government (linguistics) · Investment (military) · Market economy · Neoliberalism (international relations) · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Population · Poverty · Social exclusion · Sociology · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Law · Microfinance and Financial Inclusion · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare