The Moral Economy of the Peasant: Rebellion and Subsistence in Southeast Asia
- ISBN-10
- 0300021909
- ISBN-13
- 9780300021905
- Category
- Business & Economics
- Pages
- 254
- Language
- English
- Published
- 1977-09-10
- Publisher
- Yale University Press
- Author
- James C. Scott
Description
James C. Scott places the critical problem of the peasant household—subsistence—at the center of this study. The fear of food shortages, he argues persuasively, explains many otherwise puzzling technical, social, and moral arrangements in peasant society, such as resistance to innovation, the desire to own land even at some cost in terms of income, relationships with other people, and relationships with institutions, including the state. Once the centrality of the subsistence problem is recognized, its effects on notions of economic and political justice can also be seen. Scott draws from the history of agrarian society in lower Burma and Vietnam to show how the transformations of the colonial era systematically violated the peasants’ “moral economy” and created a situation of potential rebellion and revolution. Demonstrating keen insights into the behavior of people in other cultures and a rare ability to generalize soundly from case studies, Scott offers a different perspective on peasant behavior that will be of interest particularly to political scientists, anthropologists, sociologists, and Southeast Asianists. “The book is extraordinarily original and valuable and will have a very broad appeal. I think the central thesis is correct and compelling.”—Clifford Geertz “In this major work, … Scott views peasants as political and moral actors defending their values as well as their individual security, making his book vital to an understanding of peasant politics.”—Library Journal
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 1977-09-10
- 254 pages
- Ebook
- Yale University Press
Similar books
-
The Rational Peasant: The Political Economy of Rural Society in Vietnam
By Samuel L. Popkin[This provacative reinterpretation of Vietnamese history in particular and peasant society in general will be of wide interest to political scientists, historians, anthropologists, sociologists, development planners, and Asian scholars].
-
The Moral Economy of the Countryside: Anglo-Saxon to Anglo-Norman England
By Rosamond Faith... Civitas to Kingdom: British Political Continuity 300–800 (Leicester: Leicester University Press, 1994) Davis, J., Medieval Market Morality: Life, Law and Ethics in the English Marketplace, 1200–1500 (Cambridge: Cambridge University ...
-
The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia
By James C. ScottAs the Han kingdoms expanded beyond their original, nonpadi heartland in the Yellow River area, they expanded into new padi state zones—that is, the Yangzi and Pearl river basins and westward along river courses and flatlands.
-
Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance
By James C. ScottHe develops this conclusion throughout the book, through the different scenarios and characters that come up during his time of fieldwork in the village.
-
Moral Economy and the Chinese Revolution: A Critique
By Gregor Benton, Yung-fa ChenMoral Economy and the Chinese Revolution: A Critique
-
The Moral Economy
By Laurence FontaineThe Moral Economy examines the nexus of poverty, credit, and trust in early modern Europe.
-
The Rational Peasant: The Political Economy of Rural Society in Vietnam
By Samuel L. PopkinPopkin develops a model of rational peasant behavior and shows how village procedures result from the self-interested interactions of peasants.
-
Community Welfare Organisations in Rural Myanmar: Precarity and Parahita
By Michael P Griffiths... Reciprocity and redistribution in Andean civilizations: Transcript of the Lewis Henry Morgan lectures at the University of Rochester, April 8th–17th 1969. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. New Light of Myanmar. (2017, December 19) ...
-
Two Cheers for Anarchism: Six Easy Pieces on Autonomy, Dignity, and Meaningful Work and Play
By James C. ScottIn the course of telling these stories, Scott touches on a wide variety of subjects: public disorder and riots, desertion, poaching, vernacular knowledge, assembly-line production, globalization, the petty bourgeoisie, school testing, ...
-
Global Crises And Social Movements: Artisans, Peasants, Populists, And The World Economy
By Edmund BurkeThis book takes the innovative step of linking social movements to international political and economic crises, identifying the general features of industrial and developing societies that predispose them toward social movements of ...