Peasant Behavior Research Articles

Peasant cooperation for watershed management in Maissade, Haiti : factors associated with participation

Soil erosion is an important contributor to the agricultural decline, poverty, and emigration which characterize rural Haiti today. The numerous soil conservation projects have often ignored indigenous knowledge, techniques and socio-cultural institutions and have not generally resulted in sustained conservation. Limited adoption rates have supported widespread assumptions that peasants were noncooperative, individualistic actors who required substantial external incentives for changing land use behavior. An alternate strategy was utilized in Maissade, Haiti, where peasants now cooperate to treat small, multiple-owner watersheds. Field research was conducted to understand the cooperative action and the socio-economic factors associated with participation (e.g. cooperation) and defection. Study results indicate that approximately one-half of watershed landholders participate, and a majority of labor is contributed by persons who do not own land in the watersheds. Participants also regularly treat nonparticipant land, and land tenure status is independent of both landholder participation and structure placement. Indicators of landholder exposure to trans-boundary erosion and the potential to economically benefit are associated with participation while the realization of a direct benefit is not. Landholder wealth status is independent of participation though landholders are significantly more wealthy than non- watershed participants. Participation is also strongly associated with membership in farmer cooperatives and labor exchange groups, and the previous adoption soil conservation innovations. The findings challenge conventional wisdom concerning peasant behavior in Haiti and also suggest that support of indigenous cooperative institutions can facilitate the treatment of common environmental problems.

1. Peasant Behaviour Under Uncertainty Decision-Making Among Low-Income Farmers in Bangladesh

1. Peasant Behaviour Under Uncertainty Decision-Making Among Low-Income Farmers in Bangladesh

The Prudent Peasant: New Findings on Open Fields

The usual picture of the medieval peasantry is based on nineteenth-century scholarship, which has proven difficult to dislodge from educated minds. This article continues the revision of an important detail in the picture, the scattering of plots in open fields. Some recent work on the subject by Robert Allen and Gregory Clark is midly disputed, and new evidence is presented that risk avoidance is the key to understanding peasant behavior. The reason for the scattering was not sentiment or socialism. Peasants were not perhaps rational in every detail; but they were prudent.

The Use of Court Records in the Reconstruction of Village Networks: A Comparative Perspective1

Taking a comparative study of peasant collective action as a starting point, this paper demonstrates how certain methodological techniques can improve the two-case contrast-oriented comparisons. The study, which is built on two comparative strategies (case versus case and case versus theory), is further upheld through case-level internal analyses reinforcing the implied causality across cases. Substantively, it argues that a better understanding of peasant behavior can be gained by embedding actors in networks of interaction within and across villages, presenting this as a fruitful bridge between micro (rational choice) and macro (institutional) analyses. In the process, new sources of historical evidence (court records) are proposed to reconstruct this middle level-horizontal structure of relations in villages indicating the degree of organization of rural communities.

Wouldn't you like to have all of your land in one place? land fragmentation in Northwest Portugal

This article addresses the land fragmentation debate, centering on the question of whether it is an ecological adaptation or an example of anachronistic, if not irrational and uneconomic, peasant behavior. Building on the ecological argument with case studies of inheritance and a quantitative analysis of farm production and land fragmentation in Portugal, two major assumptions about land fragmentation are refuted: (a) that it is extremely detrimental to farm production and (b) that its main cause is inheritance divisions.

Peasant Politicisation and Economic Recuperation in Ghana: Local and National Dilemmas

There is increasing evidence in Ghana, as well as in other African countries, to suggest that the relationship between rural production and nation-state politics is more complex than has been realised. In the late 1970s, it appeared to some analysts that global market fluctuations, continuous rural extraction and exploitation by the state, disdain for traditional institutions, and ‘urban bias’ had so ravaged Ghanaian rural producers that they were continuing to distance themselves from the state and its vaunted political economy. This peasant behaviour, although symptomatic of deep economic and other socio-cultural problems, was viewed as creating a basis for political instability within which riots, coups, and social disorder occurred with great frequency.1 Political scientists generally downplayed these complex socio-cultural factors, and argued that it was lack of political integration which failed to correct the fragmentation and incoherence within the newly independent states, and which made political stability and national development impossible. Here seemed to be another example of the ‘chicken and egg’ phenomenon, in which politics and economic stability were so inextricably interwoven that it was not feasible to have one without the other.

Famine in Peasant Societies

In this controversial study, Seavoy offers a new approach to the problem of periodic peacetime famine based on the actual behavior of peasants. He maintains that it is possible to increase per capita food production without massive and inappropriate technological inputs. Seavoy shifts the focus from modern development economics to a cultural and historical analysis of subsistence agriculture in Western Europe (England and Ireland), Indonesia, and India. From his survey of peasant civilization practices in these countries, he generalizes on the social values that create what he terms the subsistence compromise. In all of the ages and culture, Seavoy finds a consistent social organization of agriculture that produces identical results: seasonal hunger in poor crop years and famine conditions in consecutive poor crop years. He argues that economic policies have failed to increase per capita food production because economists and government planners try to apply market-oriented policies to populations that are not commercially motivated. Once they understand the subsistence compromise, policy-makers can take appropriate political action.

Redefining the Peasant Community in Medieval England: The Regional Perspective

Historians of the medieval English peasantry have tended to assume that the history of peasants and their culture can best be revealed through the history of the village as a social and economic unit. As a result, the important recent advances in our understanding of peasant culture have been made by historians who, borrowing heavily from the disciplines of sociology and anthropology, have written studies of particular villages or small towns. The mystique of the “village community” has retained a hold on the historian's imagination. Even as the peasant and his family now attract more attention from scholars, studies of family size, household structure, and inheritance and marriage patterns are usually carried out within the context of a particular village or small town, largely because collections of local records naturally coalesce around a parish name. These close examinations of specific vills have been made possible primarily through the exploitation of the village court rolls that survive from the mid-thirteenth century. Ironically, it has been these very village court rolls that, in the end, have forcefully demonstrated that the assumptions identifying peasant history with village history must now be abandoned.The numerous studies of medieval English villages that have made possible the study of peasant family structure and behavior are now demonstrating that the history of the peasant family and the history of the particular village must part company. Certainly, the study of a single series of village court rolls makes possible the discovery within the village of family groups with characteristic behavior patterns.

‘Efficient but Poor’, — schultz', theory of traditional agriculture

Abstract For quite some time after World War II peasant behavior in less developed countries was ‘unproblematic’. There was a general consensus that peasants were not ‘economic men’, in the sense that they tried to maximize profits as postulated by mainstream economic theory. Instead, their acts were assumed to be governed by ‘tradition’, or ‘conservatism’, which by and large had nothing to do with the type of maximizing or minimizing behavior which acquired prominence in economic theory not least by the central role that was conferred on it in Paul Samuelson's Foundations of Economic Analysis.1 Their ambitions and horizons were thought to be limited in such a way as to render standard economic theory inapplicable in the study of peasant behavior. The discussion focused on the ‘inert’, or ‘lazy’, (satisficing) peasant.2

Neo-Colonialism and Indian Unrest in Southern Peru, 1867-1898

The last half-century of Spanish rule in the southern Andes was character? ized by large-scale native rebellion that resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands and caused widespread economic dislocation. The persistence of Indian rebellions in the region during the nineteenth century is an important thread that links the colonial and national periods of Peruvian history. Although scholars have frequently discussed peasant revolts in the modern period they have produced mostly tentative or introductory accounts that do not adequately relate the events to economic and political changes at the local, regional, and national levels. The state of the literature on nineteenth century rebellions can be attributed to at least two causes: there were no insurrections ofthe scope and significance of the great eighteenth century rebellions, so scholars have taken less interest in the topic, and sources on nineteenth century insurrections are harder to find and comparatively incomplete. Many scholars of modern rebellions have been at least partially concerned with identifying insurrec? tions as a means of countering elite claims of Indian passivity. AJthough this is an important point, it does little to advance our knowledge of the general causes and results of native rebellion. Several writers, such as Jean Piel, Wilfredo Kapsoli, and Peter Blanchard, have identified important insurrec? tions and linked them to unjust taxation and political chaos. Blanchard, in particular, argues that the proliferation of rebellions in the late nineteenth century can be primarily attributed to the economic, political and adminis? trative disarray that followed Peru's defeat during the War of the Pacific (1879-1883)-1 These conclusions are sound as far as they go, but we may profit from a closer analysis of political economy and economic change. The more developed literature on late colonial rebellions demonstrates the complexity of causes and the difficulty of interpreting peasant behavior in the southern Andes. Most of these publications concern the great rebellion of Tiipac Amaru II of 1780-1783. Tremendous variations in interpretation exist on this insurrection, ranging from those who portray it as an Incan separatist movement to writers who see it as an attempt to reform adminis? tration and taxation. It is inappropriate to offer a summary of this voluminous literature here,2 but I will note a few contributions that provide linkages to modern rebellions. Most recent publications have focused, in one way or another, on the economic policies of the Spanish Bourbons as the principal cause of eighteenth century insurrections. Jiirgen Golte's Repartos y Rebeliones:

M. Kanno, O. Tahara and T. Hosoya, "Thoughts and Behavior of Peasants in Tohoku-District"

M. Kanno, O. Tahara and T. Hosoya, "Thoughts and Behavior of Peasants in Tohoku-District"

Famine forecasting; Prices and peasant behaviour in Northern Ethiopia

This paper, completed in January 1984, begins by briefly outlining the contrasting views of price behaviour during the last Ethiopian famine (1972-1974) put forward by Seaman and Holt (1980) and Sen (1981). A hypothesis is developed to account for peasant behaviour and price responses under developing famine conditions. This is then tested with data recently made available. The paper concludes by summarizing the findings and their implications for famine forecasting, and argues that famine conditions in Northern Ethiopia are likely to worsen during 1984.

Some Aspects of Peasant Behavior in Bengal, 1890–1914: A Neoclassical Analysis. By Akbar Ali Khan. Dhaka: Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, 1982. Pp. viii, 171. Taka 100 cloth; taka 60 paper.

Some Aspects of Peasant Behavior in Bengal, 1890–1914: A Neoclassical Analysis. By Akbar Ali Khan. Dhaka: Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, 1982. Pp. viii, 171. Taka 100 cloth; taka 60 paper. - Volume 44 Issue 1

From individuals to class: The dynamics of peasant cooperatives in revolutionary Nicaragua

Upon the 1979 victory of revolutionary forces in the Nicaraguan civil war, the Freute Sandinista de Liberation National (FSLN) initiated an agrarian reform program that remains perhaps the most comprehensive of any undertaken in the region. Pursuing poli? cies of land distribution to formerly landless peasantry, and the provision of technical and credit assistance to smallholding farmers, the Nicaraguan Agrarian Reform Institute (INRA) has promoted voluntary association with cooperatives as a means of socializing produc? tion relations in peasant agriculture, more efficiently extending credits and services to the peasant sector, and attaining economies of scale in basic grains production. After three years of the Sandinista agrarian reform pro? gram, approximately 53 percent of all landed Nicaraguan peasantry were reported to be members of agricultural cooperatives [ 1 ]. The voluntary nature of this affiliation, and indeed the widespread participation of peasantry in the insurrection that toppled the Somoza regime, seem at first to defy conven? tional anthropological models of peasant behavior. From the presumed suspicion, inter? personal hostility and passivity attributed to peasant communities by Foster, Erasmus and many others [2], to more sophisticated models concerning the independent and self sufficient domestic organization of peasant economies [3], most anthropological theory would seem to preclude the cooperativization of production relations now developing in Nicaraguan rural areas. The very politicization of peasantry that impelled their participation in the Sandinista revolution may itself seem unlikely, given the generally reform-oriented character of past agrarian rebellions [4]. Yet models that seek to explain peasant be? havior as the consequence of values that are tradition-bound, conservative and individu? alistic, or as a derivation of an ideal-typical autonomous household unit that exists apart from the encompassing process of proletarian? ization in the Third World, overlook the class and historical determinants of social and economic behavior. The material that follows will suggest the utility of considering class membership and political-ideological factors in the determina? tion of peasant consciousness, rather than the static idealist model of value orientations or ahistorical consideration of the peasant house? hold economy. Seen in this light, the organ? ized rebellion of Nicaraguan peasants, and their subsequent affiliation with cooperatives and adoption of collective agriculture in many areas, become not an enigma, but an outcome explicable in terms of the distinctive develop? ment of rural capitalism in Nicaragua and the processes of agitation and education that politically incorporated the peasantry into the FSLN strategy of "prolonged people's war" [5]. Mark A. Moberg is a graduate student in the Department of Anthroplogy, The University of California at Los Angeles.

The Moral or the Rational Peasant? Competing Hypotheses of Collective Action

The analytical and empirical foundations of the moral-economy and rationalchoice approaches to peasant behavior are critically examined. Normative decisionmaking models are compared to models that assume household utility maximization. Differences between collective and individual rationality are highlighted. The importance and implications of risk aversion are explored. The effect of the introduction of markets on the economic security of peasant producers is considered, and evidence from Southeast Asian economic history is used to test the implications of both approaches. The results serve to challenge and qualify the arguments put forth by the moral economists on both analytical and empirical grounds.

A Village Level Study of Producer Grain Transactions in Rural Senegal

This village level study in Senegal seeks to improve the understanding of peasant behavior in developing countries. Policy makers designing programs for and interventions in the agricultural sector should benefit from an enhanced understanding of the workings of rural grain transactions. The study attempts (1) to provide a summary of principal producer grain transactions and (2) to discuss in greater detail millet marketing in rural Senegal. The methodology presented and conclusions advanced should encourage other researchers and Third World governments to recognize that evaluations of market process are vital to design effective agricultural policies. For example, many West African countries have chosen to rely on national marketing organizations instead of using the private trader to commercialize food grains. Such reliance stems from their belief that the private market is noncompetitive and that public sector intervention will lead to efficiency gains. The conclusions of this study show that policy makers should first test the assumption of noncompetitive behavior before assuming that intervention will provide greater efficiency. The first section of this paper provides some background information on Senegal agriculture. Next comes a summary of producer transactions. An analysis of the millet marketing process appears in the third section, while the last section indicates some policy implications.

Rural Guangdong's “Second Economy,” 1962–74

While social scientists have examined in some detail the income earning activities of Chinese peasants in communes, the primary focus of these studies has been to describe the general pattern of peasant behaviour – the orthodox, legitimate, legally sanctioned methods for increasing collective (and household) income. What these studies ignore, however, is the existence of a “second economy” in rural China, characterized by a wide range of informal, extra– or illegal strategies also designed to enhance collective income. In Guangdong from 1962 to 1974 these included: altering the size of production units; speculation; fraudulent loan applications; corruption; theft; withholding goods or services; false reporting; and violence or demonstrations. While acknowledging that these activities did not represent the norm, nonetheless, a systematic discussion of informal and perhaps deviant behaviour, highlighting time and participant variations, is necessary to form a more accurate picture of Chinese peasant behaviour.

World View and Peasant Rebellion: Reflections on Post-Mao Historiography

This article is based on academic journals published in the People's Republic of China (PRC) from 1978 to early 1980 and analyzes the trend in post-Mao historiography regarding peasant rebellions. Previous belief in the revolutionary nature of peasant rebellions is being reversed, and their “anti-feudal” character being questioned. The question now is whether peasant rebellions, or even class struggle itself, constitute an important motive force for progress in Chinese history. Conflicting views persist, but overall a more negative view of peasant behavior has led many PRC writers to view the small producers' “patriarchy,” which fosters hierarchy and particularism, as a source of current bureaucratic problems.

Theories of Revolution: The Third Generation

The work of Ted Robert Gurr, Chalmers Johnson, Neil Smelser, Samuel P. Huntington, and Charles Tilly has dominated the recent study of revolutions. However, Jeffrey Paige, Ellen Kay Trimberger, S. N. Eisenstadt, and Theda Skocpol have lately produced theories of revolution that are far better grounded historically than those in earlier works. Five major points were neglected by earlier theorists: (1) the variable goals and structures of states; (2) the systematic intrusion of international pressures on the domestic political and economic organization of societies; (3) the structure of peasant communities; (4) the coherence or weakness of the armed forces; and (5) the variables affecting elite behavior. Starting from these points, Paige, Trimberger, Eisenstadt, and Skocpol have produced analyses of the causes and outcomes of a variety of revolutions. Yet significant challenges to the theory of revolutions—such as extending the range of cases analyzed, clarifying the grounds of peasant behavior, and tying theoretical analysis to demographic data—still remain.

The Rational Peasant. The Political Economy of Rural Society in Vietnam.

Popkin develops a model of rational peasant behavior and shows how village procedures result from the self-interested interactions of peasants. This political economy view of peasant behavior stands in contrast to the model of a distinctive peasant moral economy in which the village community is primarily responsible for ensuring the welfare of its members.