The new peasantries : struggles for autonomy and sustainability in an era of empire and globalization / Jan Douwe van der Ploeg.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This book explores the position, role and significance of the peasantry in an era of globalization, particularly of the agrarian markets and food industries. It argues that the peasant condition is characterized by a struggle for autonomy that finds expression in the creation and development of a self-governed resource base and associated forms of sustainable development. In this respect the peasant mode of farming fundamentally differs from entrepreneurial and corporate ways of farming. The author demonstrates that the peasantries are far from waning. Instead, both industrialized and developing countries are witnessing complex and richly chequered processes of 're-peasantization', with peasants now numbering over a billion worldwide. The author's arguments are based on three longitudinal studies (in Peru, Italy and The Netherlands) that span 30 years and provide original and thought-provoking insights into rural and agrarian development processes. The book combines and integrates different bodies of literature: the rich traditions of peasant studies, development sociology, rural sociology, neo-institutional economics and the recently emerging debates on Empire.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• List of Figures, Tables and Boxes (p. ix)
• Preface (p. xiii)
• List of Acronyms and Abbreviations (p. xix)
• 1 Setting the Scene (p. 1)
• Introduction (p. 1)
• Industrialization (p. 5)
• Repeasantization (p. 6)
• Deactivation (p. 7)
• Interrelations between constellations and processes (p. 8)
• The coming crisis (p. 10)
• The methodological basis (p. 12)
• Contents and organization of the book (p. 14)
• 2 What, Then, Is the Peasantry? (p. 17)
• Introduction (p. 17)
• The 'awkward' science (p. 18)
• A comprehensive definition of the peasant condition (p. 23)
• On commonalities, differentiation and change (p. 35)
• From peasant condition to the peasant mode of farming (p. 42)
• Labour-driven intensification (p. 45)
• Multilevel distantiation and its relevance in the 'modern' world (p. 49)
• 3 Catacaos: Repeasantization in Latin America (p. 53)
• Introduction (p. 53)
• Repeasantization (p. 54)
• Mechanisms of repeasantization (p. 59)
• The effects of repeasantization: Intensification of production (p. 62)
• Spurred intensification (p. 63)
• New modalities of repeasantization (p. 65)
• Meanwhile: The rise of Empire (p. 69)
• The peasant community and Empire (p. 80)
• 4 Parmalat: A European Example of a Food Empire (p. 87)
• Introduction (p. 87)
• The mechanics of global expansion (p. 87)
• Parmalat as a three-tiered network (p. 93)
• Did Parmalat ever produce value? (p. 96)
• The last resort: Fresh blue milk (p. 101)
• The distorted development of food production and consumption (p. 105)
• The non-exceptional nature of food degradation: The rise of 'lookalikes' (p. 106)
• Empire compared with a contrasting mode of patterning: Regressive centralization versus redistributive growth (p. 109)
• 5 Peasants and Entrepreneurs (Parma Revisited) (p. 113)
• Introduction (p. 113)
• The multiple contrasts between peasant and entrepreneurial farming (p. 113)
• From deviation to modernization: The historical roots of agrarian entrepreneurship (p. 125)
• The political economy of entrepreneurial farming (p. 128)
• Heterogeneity reconsidered (p. 136)
• The moral economy of the agricultural entrepreneurs (p. 140)
• The fragility of entrepreneurial farming in the epoch of globalization and liberalization (p. 142)
• 6 Rural Development: European Expressions of Repeasantization (p. 151)
• Introduction (p. 151)
• Mechanisms of repeasantization (p. 152)
• Magnitude and impact (p. 157)
• The quality of life in rural areas (p. 160)
• Newly emerging peasant types of technology (p. 167)
• Repeasantization as social struggle (p. 178)
• 7 Striving for Autonomy at Higher Levels of Aggregation: Territorial Co-operatives (p. 181)
• Introduction (p. 181)
• What are territorial co-operatives? (p. 182)
• A brief history of the North Frisian Woodlands (p. 185)
• Novelty production (p. 192)
• Dimensions of strategic niche management (p. 201)
• Design principles (p. 204)
• The construction of movability (p. 206)
• 8 Tamed Hedgerows, a Global Cow and a 'Bug': The Creation and Demolition of Controllability (p. 211)
• Introduction (p. 211)
• Taming hedgerows (p. 211)
• The global cow (p. 214)
• State apparatuses as important ingredients of Empire (p. 218)
• Science as a Janus-faced phenomenon (p. 220)
• The creation of a bug (p. 226)
• Postscript (p. 230)
• 9 Empire, Food and Farming: A Synthesis (p. 233)
• Introduction (p. 233)
• From the Spanish to the current Empire (p. 235)
• On railway systems and corporations (p. 243)
• The third level (p. 245)
• The central but contradictory role of information and communication technology (p. 247)
• State, markets and institutions (p. 252)
• The role of science (p. 253)
• Synthesis (p. 255)
• 10 The Peasant Principle (p. 261)
• Introduction (p. 261)
• Empire and the peasantry (p. 262)
• Resistance (p. 265)
• Reconstituting the peasantry (p. 271)
• The 'peasant principle' (p. 273)
• The peasant principle and agrarian crisis (p. 278)
• Some notes on rural and agrarian policies (p. 282)
• Notes (p. 289)
• References (p. 319)
• Index (p. 347)

Author notes provided by Syndetics