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Some Reflections on Late Twentieth Century Agrarian Political Economy
Author(s) -
Buttel Frederick H.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
sociologia ruralis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.005
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1467-9523
pISSN - 0038-0199
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9523.00176
Subject(s) - agrarian society , rural sociology , commodity , agrarian system , sociology , political economy , politics , social science , agriculture , economy , political science , economics , rural development , geography , market economy , archaeology , law
The ‘new rural sociology’ arguably represented the most significant watershed in the development of rural sociology during the 1970s and 1980s. I argue, however, that the new rural sociology, especially its dominant traditions of Chayanovian and neo‐Leninist Marxism, has now been almost entirely superseded as a theoretical position in agrarian political economy by the international food regimes, commodity chains/systems analysis, regulationist, and actor‐network traditions. In addition, Wageningen School research on ‘farming styles’ and the ‘cultural‐turn’ within rural sociology and rural studies have arisen, in part, as challenges to the more structuralist styles of reasoning within agrarian political economy. Parallel trends in the sociology of development are also discussed. The paper concludes with an appraisal of the strengths and weaknesses of these new late twentieth century traditions in agrarian political economy, particularly in comparison with the new rural sociology.