Changes in social structure and the role of the peasantry

Modernization processes in rural areas not only lead to the separation of peasant (traditional) and rural, due to the deagrarization and changes of cultural and political patterns, but also to full integration of agriculture into the social division of labor. As a part of economy, agriculture, in a social sense, ceased to be linked exclusively to rural areas, which enables the distinction between sociology of agriculture and rural sociology. In this paper, the changes in class/strata structure of agriculture that took place during the last two decades in the Serbian society are described and explained. After that, an attempt was made to explain this new structure in the context of a broader structure of Serbian society and its reproduction, taking into the consideration the existing views (Lazic/Cvejic). The author especially emphasises his critical views on some disputable issues.

The Sociology of Agriculture in Transition: The Political Economy of Agriculture after Biotechnology

ABSTRACT Due to its particularities as a nature-based process, agriculture’s ‘exceptionalism’ to capitalist industrialization has garnered much debate. One of the more productive consequences of this debate has been the development of conceptual tools that account for its distinction from typical capital accumulation patterns, such as Goodman, Sorj and Wilkinson’s (1987) classic concepts of “appropriationism” and “substitutionism.” The advent of agricultural biotechnology is now testing the limits of even these more refined conceptualizations, however, as the technology’s associated proprietary framework is reorganizing many traditional agricultural practices. Drawing on empirical examples of biotechnology-induced change—e.g. restrictions on seed saving, grower contracts, and patent infringement lawsuits—this paper argues that there is a need for a new concept in political economy of agriculture theory, which I term “expropriationism.” This concept identifies several aspects of an agricultural reorganization premised on legal means to enhance capital accumulation and on separating corporate ownership from liability.