ABSTRACT
Inter-individual action encompasses both face-to-face and more ‘distanced’ relationships. The types of social relationships range from interpersonal links based upon dyadic ties (such as patron-client relations and involvement in various types of transactions – buyer-seller, producer-money lender, and client-ritual specialist, farmer-extensionist, etc.) to social and exchange networks, to more formally constituted groups and organisations (such as farmers’ organisations, cooperatives, village councils, churches, etc.) where legal prescriptions, bureaucratic legitimacy and authority and defined membership criteria assume greater significance.
