Sociology of the “Dejao”: A form of the sociology of poverty

Resumen

Microcredit has long been promoted as a pathway out of extreme poverty, yet its effectiveness often depends as much on cultural as on financial conditions. This article reports on a field experiment (2012–2015) conducted within Colombia’s UNIDOS Program with internally displaced families in Villa Clarín, Magdalena. Preliminary findings were first presented as the keynote address at the 5th International, 6th National, and 1st Doctoral Colloquium of the International Research Network in Administration, University of Quindío, 23–25 October 2024. The study employed a dialogical Participatory Action Research design combined with grounded theory coding. Results show that repayment rates and venture growth were constrained less by liquidity than by dejao—a culturally embedded, short-term orientation that discourages long-term planning. Once this disposition was identified, trust-based lending circles were introduced, doubling repayment rates across three successive cycles. The study thus proposes an emergent “sociology of dejao” and argues that microfinance policy should integrate cultural diagnostics alongside conventional financial metrics.