The patron client relationship is at the heart of relationships in Southeast Asian culture. Though, the introduction of nation-states and bureaucratic institutions diminished the importance of the patron client relationship.
The patron client relationship is a form of social safety net where the wealthy and powerful support the poor and weak. While perhaps especially ingrained in Southeast Asian culture, the client patron relationship is hardly exclusive to Southeast Asia. There is a long tradition in Western culture of providing favors in exchange for political support. Our own political system works on the client patron system as well as the "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours". The patron client system in the Philippines where poor voters essentially sell their vote to the patron that will give them the most (Neher, 62) is a universal condition in modern politics.
I would argue that the patron client system is a more efficient and just system than those "enjoyed" in modern nation-states with powerful central governments. If I do a favor for someone and they have a sense of indebtedness they will probably repay the debt and perhaps work harder to solve their own problems to avoid going into debt. On the other hand, in a modern nation-state, the central government acts as the social safety net to provide services that (allegedly) the free market cannot provide. This means that people seek favors from the government rather than individuals. I should say that in order to seek favors from individuals in high places of government requires large sums of money for lobbyists, but I digress. Those seeking favors never see the face of the person who actually meets their needs. The central government takes the money in the form of taxes and redistributes it to those in need. This creates a system where the government becomes the patron and gains the servitude of those people receiving favors while doing so with the money from someone else.
I believe that Southeast Asia developed the client patron system in lieu of strong central governments and bureaucratic structures. They have now developed strong central governments that collect taxes and redistribute the wealth in the form of government services. The traditional client patron relationships will dissolve overtime, replaced by a patron government.
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Do you think that the parton-client relationship is viable and that all parties get what they want or do you think that elites take advantgage of the underprivilaged classes. I would argue that in all societies where there is a hierarchal structure, there will be those who will always take advantage of those from the lower classes.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with your argument that it probably works better than in our society where uber coprorations take advantage of the masses so that they can get rich.
According to the readings, in places like Thailand patron-client relationships were an honorary reciprocal system in which both parties were to benefit. Those of the lower classes were to get needed items like food, clothing, shelter, and education among others while the elites were to support and protect those under their charges. Since this was an honorable system it would probably work better than ours.
But these systems have diminished over time thanks to more indpendent organizations that offer the same thing.
The elites have most of the power so it is almost inevitable that they will take advantage of those with less power. They use their power to stack the system to their advantage. The elites have to be careful that they do not push so far that they start a revolution or encourage a coup, but it is not too hard for them to stay in power.
ReplyDeleteElites anywhere want power and willingly trade money and goods to obtain the power. The only "advance" we have made in the West is that all of the quid pro quo goes on behind the scenes and the average citizen no longer has access to the benefits.
With a powerful central government and national political structure, the game changes. Political leaders no longer have to appease the masses with their own money, they collect taxes and redistribute the proceeds for their own political benefit.
With the development of "modern" central governments, the patron/client system is simply not an efficient way to consolidate power.