Is anomaly the new hybrid? Semiformal and parabanking institutions in the financial sector

Mica, Adriana

Is anomaly the new hybrid? Semiformal and parabanking institutions in the financial sector

Abstract

The recent decades have witnessed an expansion of academic interest in hybrid forms, coming from the most distinct domains, well beyond Latour's initial theory in philosophy and anthropology of science. These incipient theories of hybridity have recently begun to be systematized in an attempt to do away with the scattered quality of the analytical attempts which, although proliferating and ambitious, are still somehow dispersed.This systematization is carried out on various levels (not solely academic). The existing accounts allow us to observe that some of these forms go well beyond what in the relevant literature is depicted as hybrid forms. In order to make this point, this chapter looks closely at the manner in which two forms from the financial sector are presented and semantically constructed - the semiformal and parabanking institutions. The review allows us to see not only that the former element better fits the profile of the hybrid, while the latter - the one of the anomaly, but also that, currently, the discontent and discomfort with regard to hybrids that was attributed to modernity seems to manifest itself in relation to the anomaly. The anomaly is basically the new hybrid.

Keywords

hybridity anomaly microfinancing financial sector semiformal institutions parabanking institutions

Citation

Mica, A. (2018). Is anomaly the new hybrid?: Semiformal and parabanking institutions in the financial sector. In I. Jakubowska-Branicka (Ed.), Loan companies in Poland: Theory and practice (pp. 11–32). ISNS UW.