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Justice and Tyranny: Bringing “Rural” Back into the Sociology of Food and Agriculture
Author(s) -
Tanaka Keiko
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
rural sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.083
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1549-0831
pISSN - 0036-0112
DOI - 10.1111/ruso.12317
Subject(s) - capitalism , sociology , economic justice , food systems , politics , environmental ethics , neoliberalism (international relations) , public sociology , political economy , social science , agriculture , political science , law , food security , ecology , philosophy , biology
In the current polarizing political climate, what constitutes just has become increasingly questioned and debated in the public arena. Tyrants seem everywhere to shape people's understanding of who belongs in communities and nation‐states and, therefore, who should be given a voice and what should be valued. This paper unpacks the mechanisms of tyranny and the pursuit of justice in the global agri‐food system. The first section discusses justice and tyranny as sociological concepts and practice, followed by the second section that examins two types of tyrannies in the globalized agri‐food system: neoliberal capitalism and community . I argue that neoliberal capitalism and community are the logics for organizing social relations and the sites of enacting tyrannies and justice. Third, I argue that in the tension between capitalism and community in achieving justice, rural becomes critical both theoretically and empirically for understanding the current transformations and the future challenges for transforming agri‐food systems. Finally, the paper concludes with possible contributions of rural sociological imagination s to shaping the discourse of justice and explore the process of justice.