Premium
agriculture and the domestication of industry in rural Bulgaria
Author(s) -
CREED GERALD W.
Publication year - 1995
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.1995.22.3.02a00040
Subject(s) - peasant , capitalism , agriculture , socialism , subsistence agriculture , premise , economic system , subsistence economy , economy , politics , modernization theory , economics , market economy , political economy , political science , economic growth , communism , geography , law , linguistics , philosophy , archaeology
The capitalist model underlying most analyses of agro‐industrial interaction leads to an assumption of industrial determinism whereby the requirements of industry set the parameters for agricultural adaptations. Examining the interaction under east European socialism challenges this premise. In Bulgaria the complete integration of the local socialist economy worked together with a continuing cultural equation between village and agriculture to “domesticate” industry: that is, the system forced industry to accommodate the needs and requirements of agriculture. This interpretation sheds light on the difficulties faced by postsocialist economies and also challenges our assumption of industrial primacy under capitalism, where subsistence agriculture and part‐time farming continue to be significant forces in the political economy. [agriculture, Bulgaria, economic development, peasant worker, rural industry, socialism]