The political ecology of the modern peasant: calculation and community

Abstract

Does political action by peasants primarily serve the interests of the individual or does it address community concerns as well? Previous attempts to resolve this question often become mired in the age-old debate over selfish versus altruistic behaviour. In The Political Ecology of the Modern Peasant, Leslie Anderson goes beyond the polarized positions of previous discussion to reach a new synthesis in which individual and community interests are shown to be both interdependent and mutually sustaining. Anderson begins by demonstrating that peasant political behaviour is far more complex than previously thought, ranging over a broad spectrum from the deliberate choice of quiescence to political violence or revolution. Within these two extremes, she examines the motivation underlying a variety of non-violent collective actions. Her theory explains each of these forms of peasant action with reference to a particular world-view - the political ecological perspective - that peasants gain from living in a given social context that links the individual, the village, the natural environment and society. Drawing on personal experience in the villages of Costa Rica and Nicaragua, Anderson puts forth a theory with broad implications for the study of peasant political behaviour in Latin America and throughout the Third World. The Political Economy of the Modern Peasant aims to be of interest not only to political scientists, but to anthropologists, sociologists and students of developing countries and Latin America.