Peasant Poverty and Persistence in the Twenty-First Century
Theories, Debates, Realities and Policies
Julio Boltvinik editor Susan Archer Mann editor
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published:15th Aug '16
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
An innovative study of the ways in which peasants across the global South are persisting and resisting in the face of neoliberal capitalism and environmental degradation.
Peasants are a majority of the world’s poor. Despite this, there has been little effort to bridge the fields of peasant and poverty studies. Peasant Poverty and Persistence in the Twenty-first Century provides a much-needed critical perspective linking three central questions: Why has peasantry, unlike other areas of non-capitalist production, persisted? Why are the vast majority of peasants poor? And how are these two questions related? Interweaving contributions from various disciplines, the book provides a range of responses, offering new theoretical, historical and policy perspectives on this peasant 'world drama'. Scholars from both South and North argue that, in order to find the policy paths required to overcome peasants’ misery, we need a seismic transformation in social thought, to which they make important contributions. They are convinced that we must build upon the peasant economy’s advantages over agricultural capitalism in meeting the challenges of feeding the growing world population while sustaining the environment. Structured to encourage debate among authors and mutual learning, Peasant Poverty and Persistence takes the reader on an intellectual journey toward understanding the peasantry.
Outstanding … on key issues and debates about the peasantry … a highly provocative, stimulating and innovative book in agrarian critical political economy. * Journal of Agrarian Change *
An original contribution to past and present debates on the peasantry. A range of issues are discussed from a variety of critical perspectives exploring the causes of poverty as well as alternative developments which offer a better future. This is the text I was searching for in my teaching. Readers will learn much from it. * Cristóbal Kay, International Institute of Social Studies, The Hague *
Brings together different points of view to provide an innovative theoretical background and analyse changes in the condition of the peasantry, as well as suggesting ways to move so many people beyond a poor and precarious existence. * Frederick Magdoff, co-author of What Every Environmentalist Needs to Know About Capitalism *
This stimulating book offers a most exciting renewal of classic debates in Marxian theory over the character and the persistence of peasant production, and illuminates the implications for rural people of the ways in which contemporary capitalism works. * John Harriss, Simon Fraser University *
A provocative examination of the persistence of the world’s peasantry and rural poverty that explores, challenges, and significantly advances one of the most influential lineages of scholarship that has shaped the contemporary sociology and political economy of agriculture. * Patrick H. Mooney, University of Kentucky *
A fascinating set of essays investigating the relationship between peasant persistence and poverty. The editors have assembled an outstanding line-up of respondents to address this puzzle from a variety of perspectives. This is a timely and substantive revival of the classic debate. * Philip McMichael, author of Food Regimes and Agrarian Questions *
ISBN: 9781783608430
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 616g
490 pages