patronage, mediators, and the historical context of social organization in Bombay

The focus of this discussion is not so much the dynamics of patronage relationships, but an examination of what individual patronage networks can reveal about the social, political, and economic organization of a large city. Details of selected individual social networks in Bombay, India are compared and are combined with a discussion of the historical development of Bombay. The contemporary structure of patronage is viewed in the context of Bombay's growth under the British colonial administration, and both patronage and personal networks are to be understood as part of broader historical social processes .