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Book No. – 22 (Sociology)
Book Name – Indian Society & Culture (Nadeem Hasnain)
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1. Peasant Society
1.1. Characteristics
2. Power Structure and Class Stratification
3. Jajmani System
3.1. Mean of Realisation
3.2. Means of Maintenance
3.3. Decline of Jajmani system
4. Land Tenure Systems
5. Changing Agrarian Structure
5.1. Agrarian Transition – A Political Economic Process
5.2. Structural Stasis in Indian Agriculture
5.3. Unsuccessful Land Reforms
5.4. Green Revolution and Spread of Capitalist Farming
5.5. Globalisation and Crisis in Indian Agriculture
6. Withdrawal of State
7. Entrenchment of Corporate Sector (MNCs) into Indian Agriculture
7.1. Contract Farming
7.2. Seed Companies
8. Conclusion
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Agrarian Social Structure and Social Organisation of Agriculture
Chapter – 6
Table of Contents
- The study of agrarian social structure is a key area of focus in rural sociology and social anthropology.
- Agrarian refers to land, its tenure, and the distribution of lands, while agrarianism is a set of values that views agriculture as the most natural and desirable vocation, with the farm being the ideal place to live.
- An agrarian society is primarily based on agricultural production and related crafts, rather than industrial production. It focuses on large-scale cultivation of fields, distinguishing it from hunter-gatherer societies (which produce no food) and horticultural societies (which produce food in small gardens).
- AR Desai and Andre Beitelle have made significant contributions to understanding agrarian social structure in India.
- Beitelle argues that agrarian social structure involves more than just peasantry and includes all those involved in the agrarian society.
- Agrarian social structure revolves around two main aspects: (i) Technological arrangements, which include ecological conditions and agricultural technology, and (ii) Social arrangements, which include land ownership, power structure, land tenure, and other social dimensions.
- Andre Beitelle emphasizes that economic activities cannot be understood in isolation from the social framework in which they take place, especially in underdeveloped and developing countries like those in Asia.
- In Asian societies, economic organization is deeply intertwined with various social institutions that serve both economic and non-economic functions.
- Economic activities in agrarian societies involve mutual interaction of individuals whose rights and obligations are socially defined.
- The understanding of agrarian social structure and the Social Organization of Agriculture (referred to as the ‘Social Framework of Agriculture’) by Beitelle requires a sound understanding of peasantry and its implications within the Indian context.
Peasant Society
- Peasant society is a small-scale social organization dominated by peasants.
- A.L. Kroeber defined peasant societies as a ‘part society’, dependent on the larger society in technological, economic, political, administrative, religious, and moral spheres.
- George Foster expanded on this, describing peasant society as a ‘half society’, where the larger society consists of two parts: the cultivating class in villages and the upper classes in urban centers.
- Robert Redfield also defined peasant society as a ‘part society’.
- Until the 1960s, the peasantry was largely ignored in sociology, despite its long existence throughout history.
- Key works by Eric Wolf (1966) and Barrington Moore (1967) changed the perception of the peasantry, raising questions about its assumed passivity.
- The Vietnam War and peasant political activity in Latin America and Asia further challenged the view of peasants as passive.
- Within Marxist perspectives, under the influence of Maoism, the question emerged whether the peasantry could be the revolutionary force in Third World socialism.
- Shanin (1982) presents a defense of the concept of peasantry with four inter-related characteristics:
- The family farm is the central unit of economic organization.
- Land husbandry is the main activity with minimal specialization and family training.
- A distinctive ‘peasant way of life’ is based on local village communities.
- Peasants are politically, economically, and socially subordinated to non-peasant groups, using resistance, rebellion, or revolt against them.
- Peasant society involves a cyclical change over generations, with land division and the rise/fall of family labor.
- Structural change in the contemporary world draws peasants into market relationships, influenced by agri-businessand national politics.
- Robert Redfield (1956) described peasant society as falling between folk and urban communities, highlighting three important features:
- Reverence towards land.
- Agriculture is viewed as the noblest and ideal occupation.
- A strong belief in the dignity of labor.
- Important features of peasant society:
- The family is the primary unit of social organization.
- Agriculture and land are the main sources of livelihood.
- Distinctive traditional culture governs daily life.
- Peasants are often dominated by outsiders.
- For peasants, agriculture is a way of life, not just an enterprise, and they cannot easily transition to other profit-driven activities.
- Peasants may be subsistence cultivators and either owner-occupiers or tenants, and some may engage in market participation.
- Some scholars, like Chayamoy and Eric Wolf, have explored the distinctive peasant economy, while others, like Redfield, stress the cultural aspects.
- Peasantry is contrasted with urban elites, and the relationship between the two forms a complex socio-economic system.
- This contrast is reflected in concepts like the Great/Little Tradition and the Folk-Urban Continuum.
- Eric Wolf (1969) defines peasants as those whose surplus production is transferred to a dominant ruling group to maintain itself and redistribute resources.
- Peasant communities are not just made up of cultivators; they can include traders, laborers, and artisans with strong social and economic ties to peasants.
- Peasants often engage in multiple roles, showing the integration of the peasant household into a wider social, political, and economic network.
- David Lehmann (1985) suggests discarding ‘peasant’ as a comprehensive term and using it as an adjective describing rural production systems without trying to define it exhaustively.