Prompted in large part by an interest in the vast changes that have occurred with agrarian society in China in recent years, the editors (of the U. of British Columbia, Canada, and the U. of Oregon, US) present 15 papers that grapple with three key issues: the long-term relationship between capitalism and agrarian society, the city and the countryside in the analysis of agrarian society, and the question of the peasant as a social category. Opening chapters review world-historical trends and consider what the "end of the peasantry" scenario would mean for world social systems (with influential world-systems theorist Immanuel Wallerstein contributing one chapter). Six chapters then focus on China as a paradigmatic example of the issue, examining the transformation of the peasantry, the political economy of spatial inequality, the use of farmland, processes of urban village redevelopment in coastal urban China, and changing conditions of property regulation. Five chapters than provide more international perspectives, with discussions of experiences in India, Indonesia, Zimbabwe, and Ecuador and an examination of the issue in relation to food security and sustainability in Latin America. An epilogue considers lessons from the 2008 world food crisis. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Biežāk uzdotie jautājumi par e-grāmatām