Credit to Capabilities
A Sociological Study of Microcredit Groups in India

Credit to Capabilities focuses on the controversial topic of microcredit's impact on women's empowerment and, especially, on the neglected question of how microcredit transforms women's agency. Based on interviews with hundreds of economically and socially vulnerable women from peasant households, this book highlights the role of the associational mechanism - forming women into groups that are embedded in a vast network and providing the opportunity for face-to-face participation in group meetings - in improving women's capabilities. This book reveals the role of microcredit groups in fostering women's social capital, particularly their capacity of organizing collective action for public goods and for protecting women's welfare. It argues that, in the Indian context, microcredit groups are becoming increasingly important in rural civil societies. Throughout, the book maintains an analytical distinction between married women in male-headed households and women in female-headed households in discussing the potentials and the limitations of microcredit's social and economic impacts.

Awards

• Winner of the 2015 Outstanding Book Award, Sociology of Development Section, American Sociological Association

Reviews & endorsements

'Microcredit has been a major interest of development economists for years, given their effectiveness as an engine of upward mobility among the poor. Paromita Sanyal's remarkable book gives us a different lens on their importance. She reveals the critical role of microcredit in enabling women to build independent lives even in the face of traditional suppression. This engaging study should be read by students, scholars and policy makers who want to know how this strategy can make a profound difference for women in developing countries.' Katherine Newman, Provost, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and author of Taxing the Poor: Doing Damage to the Truly Disadvantaged

Customer reviews

Product details

• Date Published: June 2016
• format: Paperback
• isbn: 9781107434479
• length: 336 pages

• dimensions: 227 x 152 x 17 mm
• weight: 0.49kg
• contains: 15 b/w illus. 1 map 15 tables
• availability: Available