A decade or more ago, a great deal of research was being carried out on clientelistic societies, where a limited number of individuals or groups controlled access to resources, that is, power. In my work throughout Latin America and elsewhere, I still see this phenomenon...everywhere and all the time. There are patrons and clients, although these terms may not be used and the networks are almost always informal.

Is this way of life, which provides sustenance and in some rare instances survival, a pattern of culture distinct from honor and shame or innocence and guilt?