The logic of clientelism in Argentina: An ethnographic account

Based on ethnographic fieldwork in a shantytown in the outskirts of Buenos Aires, this article studies the workings of Peronist "political clientelism " among the urban poor. It analyzes the web of relations that some slum-dwe llers establish with local political brokers to obtain medicine, food, and solutions to other everyday concerns. The article also explores the main fu nctions of the "problem-solving networks," which are resource control and i nformation hoarding, and pays particular attention to an underexplored dime nsion of the operation of clientelism: clients' own views on the network.