The Sociology of Farming Concepts and Methods

This book provides a detailed and comprehensive introduction to the concepts and methods of the sociology of farming. The sociology of farming focuses on co-production: the ongoing interaction and mutual transformation of the natural and the social (of ‘human and living nature’) which requires putting the farm labour process centre stage. While there are many books which discuss food and agriculture, this book is different: it delves into the methods and concepts used and presents a comprehensive conceptual framework and the associated methods for research to give students and researchers of agriculture and rural studies a solid set of tools for unravelling the complexities of farming and rural life. Importantly, these tools also empower us to design new ways forward. A wide array of case studies, as wide-ranging as Brazil, Peru, China, the Netherlands, Italy and Guinea Bissau, help readers to grasp the commonalities that underlie strongly diversified and divided rural worlds. The book lists over two hundred basic concepts and includes boxes that discuss the main methods of the sociology of farming. This textbook is essential reading for students and scholars of food and agriculture, agrarian studies, rural development, food and farming systems, peasant studies and environmental sociology.

1. The specificity of farming 2. The farm labour process 3. Markets and technology:A space for manoeuvre 4. Styles of farming 5. Farm development trajectories and agricultural growth 6. Farming, society and capital 7. Rural development processes 8. Constructing new markets 9. Peasant resistances and struggles 10. Dealing with socio-material practices

Jan Douwe van der Ploeg is Emeritus Professor at Wageningen University, the Netherlands and an Adjunct Professor in the College of Humanities and Development Studies at the China Agricultural University in Beijing. He is the author of The New Peasantries: Rural Development in Times of Globalization (Routledge, 2018).