Dr. Kazi Abdur Rouf Department of Sociology University of Chittagong

1. Peasant SocietyConcepts, , major features, of peasant society, general features of peasant economy Dr. Kazi Abdur Rouf Department of Sociology University of Chittagong

2. Definitions, concepts of Peasant Society Peasants (Krishoks) are attached and integrated with soil cultivations They have plantation economy and customary agricultural economics activities in the villages Krishoks of Bangladesh are small scale local producers Peasants are rural natives They have strong kinship, but simple equipments, relaying on substance produce They are miserable marginal peasants in rural Bangladesh Peasants sell and buy their cultivated products in cities, but the prices are determined by the market Periodic festival gathering at different occasions in the villages, they have their specific rituals, values, believes, and practices

3. Concepts-Continue-2 Some scholars substituted peasant society as Folk society, folk culture Peasants together generate national economy Land lord peasants have strong ties among them , but marginal peasants are isolated. Peasant society is often described as intermediate-transitional Redfield says, “The peasant is a half-way house and a stable village structure-. This society is often described as static-unchanging Transitional meaning folk-urban continuum- cultural lag- peasant adjust them with the city commercial dynamics

4. Concepts Continue-3 Their agricultural knowhow treated as traditional / backdated They are not autonomous to communicate (primary relationships) with their communities They are the producers of agricultural products, control and use their own land Peasants have developed their own songs, music, sports and festival, beliefs, rituals, but now they are depending on peasant-city relationships They automatically loss their power However, still they maintain close contact with people in neighboring villages Commercial farmers are profit oriented at the cost of Krishoks

5. Feudal Society Land lords and land cultivators (peasants, serfs, Krshoks) Feudal land tenure system: Land lords (land owner, rural elites, rural power structure in the villages Serfs (land cultivators) Subsistence agricultural food producers Self -sufficient village community in Bengal Different agricultural groups/categories Powerful land lords and powerless peasants- exploiters and sufferers Peasants livelihoods and village traditional agricultural management system Not segmented society-whole society in village Turned to industrialization and capitalist society –accumulation and concentration of powers and resources

6. Absentee landlords development Each society has two dimensions: Vertical and Horizontal Horizontal peasants- equal status in the peasant society Vertical-up class, powerful people influential people, absentee landlord Pre-industrial society- developed urban centers, money is commonly used and developed market procedures and market efforts Source of non-agricultural innovation and diversified products.

7. Peasants positions in the capitalist society If agricultural production hampered, they suffered from starvation and miserable life, no food security for peasants from the state Peasant are losing their own cultural forms and norms Non-agricultural groups are dominant Peasant are rural proletariat and became urban worker, relatively powerless Peasant survive in the modern world because of cultural lag, dependent on modern elites Change rural institutions-family, clan, serfs, community Peasant leadership is normally weak-inefficient in meeting their traditional and domestic demand Decaying peasant traditions

8. Peasant social structure Two types of peasant social structure: Patron-client patterns and Fictive kinship Patron-client pattern: villagers seek out more powerful people-city dwellers, wealthy owners and religious leaders with powers to aid Fictive Peasant: The second common structural device –peasants fortify their positions in their communities and in their wider societies. In the economic sphere peasant is also a subject to his larger social unit Peasants rarely set the prices that they sell and buy. Prices are fixed by international forces/corporations Elites drain off most of the economic surplus Peasants hate and fear cities because city dwellers control over them

9. Village Aid Program Now peasants are dependent on city for their non-agricultural products and needs Increasing landless, marginal and small peasants are increasing V-Aid program started in 1950 based on agricultural extension model to serve peasants This program differentiated gender division of labor-male’s work (agricultural work) and women’s work (home economics) Women are also involved in harvesting, gardening, poultry raising and livestock care apart from domestic work Women were given training on smokeless chulas, proper health care, home sanitation or nutrition

10. Problems of the peasants in Bangladesh Traditional agricultural practice treated primitive Income from agriculture are lesser than non-agricultural occupation No organizational outlets at the grass root level No agricultural training for mass people Agricultural development agents are outsiders of the village Initiated the social welfare approach-mother’s club in 1960s and onward Peasant programs are controlled by outside organizations, Target groups are mainly women-sewing, weaving, handicraft making No peasant community centers Started Cooperative movement approach: IRDP, BRDP, Thana Training Development Center (TTDC) in 1960s, 1970s and continue but cooperative managers cheating general cooperative members

11. Peasant problems -continue Cooperative members are cheated by cooperative managers Women are relying on repaying loans, irregular supply of goods and services from the government Agricultural credit for marginal farmers are few, but if credit is available , incurred high interest rate Industries and housings are continuously occupying and destroying agricultural lands Destroying village self-sufficient concept Destroy the ecological balance in the village , nature and society Diminishing village leadership and village informal Shalishi (non-formal Justice) System

12. Next Class Peasant Economy theories Peasant social sphere theories Please read Bangladesh Krishok Samaj by Monirul Islam Khan- Third article of the book

13. Comments/ Questions Group Discussions Wrap up Nest Class- Thursday, November, 27, 2014 at 10:00 am-12:00 noon