How corruption discourses reveal the state as a complex, non-monolithic entity
In short: An ethnographic study of corruption in a small North Indian town suggests that the state is not a single, unified institution. By examining the practices of lower-level bureaucrats and mass media representations, the research challenges the idea of the state as a monolithic entity.
The study critiques traditional, Eurocentric distinctions between state and civil society. It highlights how studying translocal institutions like 'the state' can reveal the limitations of using participant observation as a fieldwork technique.
The researcher conducted an ethnography focusing on bureaucratic practices and media discourse in North India.
Why it matters: The state is better understood as a complex collection of practices rather than a single, unified institution.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Research: Gupta (1995). blurred boundaries: the discourse of corruption, the culture of politics, and the imagined state. American Ethnologist.
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