Peasant Society: A Reader

468 Pages·1967·72.805 MB·English

by  Jack M. Potter, May N. Diaz, George M. Foster

Peasant
Society
A READE
i
Edited by
Jack M. Potter
May
Diaz
IM.
George
IVLFoster
The Little, Brown Series in Anthropology

PEASANT SOCIETY A A READER

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PEASANT SOCIETY
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Reader
JACK M. POTTER
MAY N. DIAZ
GEORGE M. FOSTER
University of California, Berkeley
LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY
BOSTON
COPYRIGHT © 1967, BY LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY (iNC.)
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NO PART OF THIS BOOK MAY
BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY ELECTRONIC
OR MECHANICAL MEANS INCLUDING INFORMATION
STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL SYSTEMS WITHOUT PERMIS-
SION IN WRITING FROM THE PUBLISHER, EXCEPT BY
A REVIEWER WHO MAY QUOTE BRIEF PASSAGES IN A
REVIEW.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NO. 67-24912
FOURTH PRINTING
Published simultaneously in Canada
by Little, Brown & Company (Canada) Limited
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Preface
PEASANT SOCIETY: A READER is planned to present the
student with a sampling of current ideas about peasant society and culture.
Since most recent studies of peasant life have been written by social
anthropologists, we have given the book an anthropological direction. But
the authors include, in addition to anthropologists, sociologists, an econ-
omist, a philosopher, and a social psychologist. The accounts they give are
based principally but not entirely on first-hand field observations, although
some authors have drawn upon historical materials to elucidate their
points. Because space is limited and because we are interested in peasant
society as a generic, worldwide type, rather than as a socioeconomic
phenomenon of European history, we have not utilized the voluminous
writings of historians and economists who have studied European peas-
antry.
The formal study of peasants in a nonhistorical, noneconomic context
is very recent, going back scarcely twenty years, and as yet no full agree-
ment has been reached on the most important theoretical and factual
We
points that should be included in a university course on this subject.
have therefore deemed it desirable to discuss at some length, in the editors'
introductions, characteristics of peasant society that we feel will give
readers a general view of the field at its present stage. These introductions
are signed because we found that, with the individualism that often
characterizes anthropologists, we did not always agree on emphasis and
weighting. But, both the items reprinted and their assignment to the
vi Preface
several sections of the volume represent our collective judgments. Only
after these decisions were made did we divide the task of preparing the
introductory statements, in which each of us has assumed considerable
latitude of interpretation.
In preparing a reader, editors are faced with a major decision: to seek
comprehensive coverage by selecting brief sections from manv items, or to
gain depth by concentrating on relatively few major sources and reprinting
We
them in their entirety. feel the second course is preferable, since it
does greater justice both to authors and to readers. In writing articles and
chapters, authors customarily develop a point or series of points, the sig-
nificance of which may be obscured bv abridgment. We find that stu-
dents learn more when they can stick with one author long enough to find
out what he has in mind, than they can by spreading their effort over
daubs and patches of several sources.
Following this philosophv, most of the studies that follow have been
reproduced in their entirety, including notes and citations. In a few in-
stances, usually because of length, it has been necessary to shorten or
otherwise modify the original text. These changes are indicated in the
appropriate places.
We wish to thank our colleagues who have given us permission to re-
produce their works. Readers may be interested to know that all royalties
from the sale of this book will be paid to the American Anthropological
We
Association, and not to us. hope that our efforts will contribute in a
direct and tangible manner to the furtherance of anthropological research.
Jack M. Potter
May N. Diaz
George M. Foster
5
Table of Contents
part one Peasant Society
Introduction: What Is a Peasant? George M. Foster 2
Gideon Sjoberg, The Preindustrial City 1
Robert Redfield, The Social Organization of Tradition 25
L. A. Fallers, Are African Cultivators
to Be Called "Peasants"? 35
Morris E. Opler, The Extensions of an Indian Village 42
part two Peasant Economics
Introduction: Economic Relations in Peasant Society
May N. Diaz 50
Ernestine Friedl Dowry and Inheritance
y
in Modern Greece 57
G. William Skinner, Marketingand Social Structure
in Rural China (Part I) 63
Sidney W. Mintz, Pratik: Haitian Personal Economic
Relationships 98
OscarLewisandVictorBarnouw, Caste and the Jajmani
System in a North Indian Village 110
vii
viii Table of Contents
Barbara E. Ward, Cash or Credit Crops? An Examina-
tion of Some Implications of Peasant Commercial Pro-
duction with Special Reference to the Multiplicity of
Traders and Middlemen 135
part three Peasant Social Organization
Introduction The Social Life of Peasants May N. Diaz
:
and Jack M. Potter 154
May N. Diaz, Opposition and Alliance
in a Mexican Town 168
Sidney W. Mintz and Eric R. Wolf, An Analysis
of Ritual Co-Parenthood (Compadrazgo) 174
Mary R. Hollnsteiner, Social Structure and Power
in a Philippine Municipality 200
George M. Foster, The Dyadic Contract: A Model
for the Social Structure of a Mexican Peasant Village 213
Eric R. Wolf, Closed Corporate Peasant Communities
in Mesoamerica and Central Java 230
Robert /. Smith, The Japanese Rural Community:
Norms, Sanctions, and Ostracism 246
Clifford Geertz, Form and Variation in Balinese
Village Structure 255
Sydel F. Silverman, The Community-Nation Mediator
in Traditional Central Italy 279
part four Peasant Personalities
Introduction: Peasant Character and Personality
George M. Foster 296
George M. Foster, Peasant Society and the Image
of Limited Good 300
F. G. Friedmann, The World of "La Miseria" 324
Michael Maccoby, Love and Authority: A Study of
Mexican Villagers 336
Herbert P. Phillips, Social Contact vs. Social Promise
in a Siamese Village 346
Bernard Gallin, Chinese Peasant Values
Toward the Land 367
part five Contemporary Peasant Problems
Introduction Peasants in the Modern World
:
Jack M. Potter 378