Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

6-2024

Abstract

How capitalism transforms peasant farming is a central question in agrarian studies. The two most important theoretical perspectives on this question—Marxist and Chayanovian theories—both have limitations. The former overlooked how commercial capital can transform smallholders’ production through vertical integration and extract surplus from smallholders through commodity relations; the latter neglected how labor commodification transforms smallholders’ family economic behaviors. These two theories, however, complement each other on these two fronts. Through critically re-interpreting Marxist and Chayanovian theories, this paper offers a synthesis that integrates the two perspectives into a coherent theoretical framework and proposes that capitalist agriculture expands through both “horizontal concentration” and “vertical integration”. Using the experience of China’s agrarian transition, this paper illustrates how these two dynamics gave rise to a variety of ways through which capital transforms smallholders’ family production and extracts surplus from them.

Keywords

smallholder, capitalist agriculture, agrarian change, agribusiness, dispossession, peasants

Discipline

Agribusiness | Asian Studies | Rural Sociology

Research Areas

Sociology

Areas of Excellence

Growth in Asia

Publication

Journal of China Agricultural University (Social Sciences)

Volume

41

Issue

3

First Page

34

Last Page

55

ISSN

1009-508X

Publisher

China Agricultural University

Copyright Owner and License

Author

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