Corruption as Everyday Practice. The Public—Private Divide in Local Indian Society

Drawing on ethnographic material from West Bengal (India), the article investigates the practice of corruption. Several points are made on the relevance of ethnographic investigation to an understanding of the practice of corruption. Networking is an everyday coping strategy that does not distinguish between the private and public roles of the individual. Although such distinctions may be well known, practices such as networking and the moral weight of reciprocal obligation ensure that the dividing line is still crossed. A certain heroism attached to the daring and successful player adds to this. Different and partially opposing values create a situation of innovative and contesting interpretations that in part maintain a level of corruption and in part represent a dynamic field for possible opposition.