Alternative Title
资本化农业下小农经济的现状和挑战
Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
acceptedVersion
Publication Date
2-2024
Abstract
This paper posits that the majority of “smallholders” in contemporary China are commodity producers who must engage in various commodity exchanges to carry out agricultural production and accomplish their social reproduction. Consequently, “smallholder” refers to a family-based economic operation model, rather than a social identity or psychological identification. Within this framework, the study focuses on the intricate relationships between smallholders, various commodity markets, and other market participants. Specifically, it examines two aspects: the relationship between smallholders and capitalized large-scale producers and other agriculture-related capital entities, and the relationship between smallholders and the commodified labor force. The paper argues that the interaction between smallholders and capitalized large-scale producers is not a zero-sum game of mutual replacement; except in certain areas, smallholders are not driven out of agricultural production by large-scale capitalized producers, but coexist and interact with them in various ways. On the other hand, smallholders heavily rely on short-term hired labor for their agricultural production, and many also become wage earners themselves, participating in the agricultural production of other producers and earning wage income. Compared to the expansion of capitalized large-scale production, the most significant challenge facing China’s smallholder economy, as this paper contends, is the intergenerational reproduction crisis brought about by the aging of the labor force and the urbanization of the younger generation.
Keywords
smallholder economy, commodity production, intergenerational reproduction, hired labor, large-scale agriculture
Discipline
Agricultural and Resource Economics | Asian Studies
Research Areas
Sociology
Publication
Rural China
Volume
21
Issue
1
First Page
126
Last Page
152
ISSN
2213-6738
Identifier
10.1163/22136746-12341311
Publisher
Brill Academic Publishers
Citation
ZHANG, Qian Forrest.(2024). Smallholders in capitalist agriculture: Persistence and challenges. Rural China, 21(1), 126-152.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3923
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1163/22136746-12341311