Premium
dependency, mediation, and class formation in rural Guyana
Author(s) -
SILVERMAN MARILYN
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
american ethnologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.875
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1548-1425
pISSN - 0094-0496
DOI - 10.1525/ae.1979.6.3.02a00040
Subject(s) - peasant , mediation , duality (order theory) , sociology , dependency (uml) , class (philosophy) , economic geography , epistemology , positive economics , social science , economics , mathematics , political science , computer science , law , pure mathematics , philosophy , software engineering
Both economic dependency theory and anthropological/sociological analyses in the West Indies are premised on a duality in the agricultural sector based on a distinction between plantation and peasant modes of production. As a result in local‐level analyses, dependency theory incorrectly assumes a homogenous, undifferentiated peasantry whereas social analyses are unable to comprehend empirical complexity. This also means that macro‐and microanalyses remain independent endeavors. It therefore is necessary to eliminate the concept of duality and to concentrate instead on historical analysis of economic differentiation and class formation—both products of the interaction between national and local levels and between so‐called peasant and plantation modes. To do this, the concept of mediation is used to refer to the process that articulates diverse interests and different structural levels within a broader frame of dependency and that thereby produces a cumulative process of differentiation on the local level. From this perspective, patronage, factionalism, and occupational multiplicity are explained as part of the process of local‐level class formation.