ABSTRACT
The social usages of the debt principle give rise to a multiplicity of practical and symbolical constructions. The debt relationship is thought of as something that guarantees the existence of social links; when these links are broken, power loses its legitimacy. The debt relationship opens up a space for autonomous action by individuals. Individualism is linked to the solitary exercise of calculation and to an exclusive focus on short-term interests. The modes of installation of the successive waves of rural migrants that have come to populate the cities of Mali since colonisation would seem to follow this model. The observations of which I have presented some features here were made over a decade; readers of this article should bear this in mind. This chapter says about the three terms tradition, reason, charisma which corresponds to three forms of obedience.
