Publication: Better a Hundred Friends than a Hundred Rubles? Social Networks in Transition--The Kyrgyz Republic
Date
2004-06
ISSN
Published
2004-06
Author(s)
Kuehnast, Kathleen
Dudwick, Nora
Abstract
The purpose of this study, carried out
in the Kyrgyz Republic in 1999, was to investigate the
impact of socioeconomic change on the characteristics and
functions of the social networks of poor and non-poor
households in rural and urban communities. A better
understanding of the role of informal networks in Kyrgyz
society, it was thought, would help development specialists
devise more effective ways to reach out to the poor and
socially excluded, while ensuring that the benefits of
development were not simply captured by those with more
effective and far-reaching connections. The .findings reveal
the dynamics of how the poor both disengage from and are
isolated by and from the non-poor. They further describe how
the social networks of poor and non-poor households have
polarized and separated in a process that parallels the
sharp socioeconomic stratification that has taken place
since national independence in 1991. The study examines not
only how the networks have separated, but also how each has
changed in character.
Citation
“Kuehnast, Kathleen; Dudwick, Nora. 2004. Better a Hundred Friends than a Hundred Rubles? Social Networks in Transition--The Kyrgyz Republic. World Bank Working Paper;No. 39. © Washington, DC: World Bank. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/8c6604ee-bce0-5d38-a12f-10c4c91024a8 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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