Survival in Crises, Capitalist Development, and Traditional Solidarity: Economy and Social Structure of a West African Peasant Village

The economy of a West African village is depicted as a complex network of various socioeconomic sectors. Transfer of goods & services is based on power relations. Data were collected in fieldwork in the village of Ayou, South Benin, in 1968. The structure of exchanges involves agrarian & cra...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Zeitschrift für Soziologie 1980-10, Vol.9 (4), p.343-365
Main Author: Elwert, Georg
Format: Article
Language:ger
Subjects:
Africa/African/Africans
Economy/Economies
Peasant/Peasants/Peasantry
Social structure/Social structures
Village/Villages/Villagers
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Summary:The economy of a West African village is depicted as a complex network of various socioeconomic sectors. Transfer of goods & services is based on power relations. Data were collected in fieldwork in the village of Ayou, South Benin, in 1968. The structure of exchanges involves agrarian & crafts subsistence & commercial production, housework, semicapitalistic agrarian production, trade, governmental bureaucratic appropriation, industrial production (world market), & urban wage labor (migration). Mutual services & assistance are a strong part of village life. The villagers use an extensive credit, loan, & pawn system, whereby an entire coffee plantation may be pawned for cash. Survival has been based on a traditional system of economic solidarity, which is now endangered by shifts in the relations of production, leading to deep macroeconomic alterations toward greater commercial production & wage labor. Traditional social mechanisms ensuring reciprocal assistance are being weakened, endangering the survival of the weakest subsistence producers. 2 Tables, 1 Figure, 3 Diagrams. Modified HA.
ISSN:0340-1804