Análisis de Redes sociales y actividades económicas en las comunidades de Molinos

• Main Author: Teves, Laura
• Format: Article
• Language: Spanish
• Published: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona 2005-12-01
• Series: REDES: Revista Hispana para el Análisis de Redes Sociales
• Subjects: Andean societies; current economic relationships; Social Network Analysis; local dynamics.
• Online Access: http://revista-redes.rediris.es/html-vol9/vol9_2.htm

The central feature of rural Andean societies is their extensive socio-economic network which is connecting different local units to regional clusters. Until recently it was structured by clearly defined rules of real and fictitious kinship and it played a decisive role in the organization of power on the local and regional level. At first view, the norms seem to define strict limits but contemplated precisely, they reveal inherent flexibilities and potentialities of frontier crossing. Various factors that are forced by the influence of both the world system and the local dynamics, like migration and the import of money based economy, instigated a process of profound alteration. The relationships based on kin and alliance began to shift into sectors controlled by economic parameters which are generated and defined on transnational level. As a consequence, the new configurations began to transform the traditional systems. According to our opinion, the method of Social Network Analysis (SNA) is one of the most important tools to be applied in Social Anthropology for the description of current socio-economic relationships of a given local or regional group. It also is valid to detect tendencies, attitudes and behavior involved in the dynamics of social processes. In this context, we will make a critical review of the transformation processes actually taking place in local societies, in this case Andean groups, which allows registering their most pending problems.