The Rational Peasant: The Political Economy of Peasant Society

The development of strong central states & of national & international markets has typically been accompanied by changes in the situation of peasants, from corporate to open villages. A widely held analysis, the moral economy approach, sees these changes as detrimental, through destruction o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Theory and society 1980-05, Vol.9 (3), p.411-471
Main Author: Popkin, Samuel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural land
Change/Changes
Economic benefits
Economy/Economies
Landlords
Peasant class
Peasant economy
Peasant/Peasants/Peasantry
Political economy
Political/Politically/ Politicalization (see also Politics)
Private land
Society/Societies
Tenants
Villages
Workforce
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Summary:The development of strong central states & of national & international markets has typically been accompanied by changes in the situation of peasants, from corporate to open villages. A widely held analysis, the moral economy approach, sees these changes as detrimental, through destruction of the moral framework of peasant society. This framework is seen as concerned with security rather than with the maximization of commercial profits or commodity production; village society & patron-client relations are seen as sources of security. However, this approach does not deal with the question of how decisions are actually made in peasant society. A political economy approach is presented as an alternative, stressing the concern of peasants with both 'insurance' & 'gambling'; contributions to village action & similar measures can be evaluated by the same investment logic as other activities. Bureaucratic approaches to innovation, favored by moral economists, can generate stratification through differential access to bureaucracies; further, peasants are ready to respond to new opportunities given by markets, & such response explains changes in village form. This model is applied to a variety of features of traditional village society. W. H. Stoddard.
ISSN:0304-2421
1573-7853
DOI:10.1007/BF00158397