ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines an intellectual framing that situates mutual aid, reciprocity, sharing and other 'community economic practices' within a diverse economy in which the trajectory of change is not dominated by the capitalist development narrative but is up for negotiation. It introduces the diverse economy framing and describes a sample of local economic practices that occur in Southeast Asia drawing on contemporary and historical studies. The chapter reviews the ways that economic diversity has been accommodated within literatures that take capitalist economic relations to be the norm or the goal of economic development. It discusses studies of local economic practices that have been theorized in terms of informality, patron-client relations and moral economies and social capital. The analysis of social capital within a capitalocentric world view deflects attention away from the non-capitalist logics and customary or community dynamics of interdependence that are generated and maintained through ethical negotiation.
