Farm Diversification and the Restructuring of Agriculture

1988 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian W. Ilbery
Keyword(s):  
Second World War ◽  
Main Stream ◽  
World War ◽  
Farm Diversification ◽  
Intensive Farming ◽  
Limited Success ◽  
Second World

The intensive farming that has been a feature of western agriculture since the Second World War has led to increased productivity but also to overproduction and a consequent fall in prices. Government-imposed constraints to regulate production have had only limited success and farm incomes, in real terms, have fallen. To retrieve the situation, increasing numbers of farmers have diversified their interests into activities periperhal to the main stream of agriculture.

Some Social Concomitants of Industrialization and Urbanization

1959 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 53-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Kahl
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
World History ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Modern Technology ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Main Stream ◽  
World War ◽  
Material Benefits ◽  
Second World ◽  
Mode Of Production

The transformation of society by industrialization and urbanization is currently of great concern to men of affairs and to men of science. Since the second World War the rate of industrialization has increased as people in previously isolated or tradition-bound societies have entered the main stream of world history to demand the material benefits of modern technology. They often seek those material benefits while hoping to retain their traditional cultures, yet, since England pointed the way in the eighteenth century, experience indicates that their hopes are utopian, for a radical change in the mode of production has profound repercussions on the rest of culture. This generalization is as sure as any in all of social science, but it is so abstract as to offer little guide to one who wants to know what the specific consequences of industrialization are likely to be. Some recent research helps us to do better.

Settler dominance, agricultural production and the Second World War in Kenya

1980 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 497-514 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Spencer
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Direct Production ◽  
Limited Success ◽  
Food Shortages ◽  
European Maize ◽  
The Government ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Second World

The article examines the ways in which European settler farmers successfully used wartime conditions to secure their economic recovery and lay a basis for future economic dominance in Kenya. In 1939–40 farmers attempted with only limited success to persuade the Imperial government to purchase high-priced agricultural products. London's acquiescence was given reluctantly to avoid the possibility of political difficulties. In Kenya, largely due to a shortage of manpower and wartime feelings of solidarity, settlers were drawn extensively into the government positions. After the call for increased production for the Middle East in November 1941 the Agricultural Production and Settlement Board was set up with a network of settler-controlled district committees to direct production and administer the distribution of a range of new subsidies. Various forms of indirect assistance and disguised aid were devised further to assist European producers. Minimum prices were fixed at differential levels for European and African maize growers. Both the War Office and the Colonial Office believed European maize to be overpriced whereas African payments were fixed at a level which depressed production and contributed to the famine of 1943. Cattle prices were also set at levels favouring European settlers. Forcible methods were extensively used in the reserves to collect cattle, some of which were sold to settlers at advantageous prices. Overall, the benefits enjoyed by the settlers during the war years can be sharply contrasted with the economic difficulties experienced by the African farmers. The benefits of increased African cash incomes were more than offset by rapid price rises in all imported goods and meat, forcible cattle purchases and severe food shortages in 1943 and 1944.

The Second World War Japanese Occupation of Singapore

2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 243-270
Author(s):  
Gregg Huff ◽  
Gillian Huff
Keyword(s):  
Social Control ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Black Markets ◽  
World War ◽  
Japanese Occupation ◽  
Social Breakdown ◽  
Limited Success ◽  
Reign Of Terror ◽  
Second World ◽  
Basic Consumer

Japan's Second World War occupation of Singapore was marked by acute shortages of food and basic consumer goods, malnutrition, rampant black markets and social breakdown. We argue that the exploitation of Singapore was extreme and fully accorded with pre-war Japanese policy. Japan used Singapore mainly as a communications centre and port to ship Indonesian oil. Mid-1943 attempts to add manufacturing to the city's role had limited success. Acquiescence of Singaporeans to Japanese rule was a notable aspect of occupation. While part of the explanation is that the occupation was a reign of terror, the economics of shortage conferred on the Japanese considerable leverage in maintaining social control.

Gender and the Second World War

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corinna Peniston-Bird ◽  
Emma Vickers
Keyword(s):  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Second World

Kapitalistische Krisen mit und ohne systemischer Herausforderung.

2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (185) ◽  
pp. 543-560 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingo Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
World Market ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Deep Penetration ◽  
World War ◽  
Major Overhaul ◽  
Domestic Markets ◽  
Global Restructuring ◽  
Social Divisions ◽  
Class Power ◽  
Second World

This article draws on Marxist theories of crises, imperialism, and class formation to identify commonalities and differences between the stagnation of the 1930s and today. Its key argument is that the anti-systemic movements that existed in the 1930s and gained ground after the Second World War pushed capitalists to turn from imperialist expansion and rivalry to the deep penetration of domestic markets. By doing so they unleashed strong economic growth that allowed for social compromise without hurting profits. Yet, once labour and other social movements threatened to shift the balance of class power into their favor, capitalist counter-reform began. In its course, global restructuring, and notably the integration of Russia and China into the world market, created space for accumulation. The cause for the current stagnation is that this space has been used up. In the absence of systemic challenges capitalists have little reason to seek a major overhaul of their accumulation strategies that could help to overcome stagnation. Instead they prop up profits at the expense of the subaltern classes even if this prolongs stagnation and leads to sharper social divisions.

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