Peasants and entrepreneurship in the nineteenth-century agricultural transformation of Sweden
(2006) In Social Science History 30(3). p.387-429- Abstract
- In post-World War II agricultural research, a new perspective on "peasant society" developed. This approach is still vigorous today and implies that peasant society defined by subsistence production, the safety-first principle, and a stable village system with moral obligations-leads to conservative behavior toward change. It also assumes that only external forces can tear down the system and force peasants into markets. However, many researchers throughout Europe have challenged these opinions of peasant mentality and peasant behavior. This study investigates five parishes in southern Sweden (Scania) to analyze the behavior of peasants during the agricultural transformation (c. 1750-1850). Important organizational and institutional... (More)
- In post-World War II agricultural research, a new perspective on "peasant society" developed. This approach is still vigorous today and implies that peasant society defined by subsistence production, the safety-first principle, and a stable village system with moral obligations-leads to conservative behavior toward change. It also assumes that only external forces can tear down the system and force peasants into markets. However, many researchers throughout Europe have challenged these opinions of peasant mentality and peasant behavior. This study investigates five parishes in southern Sweden (Scania) to analyze the behavior of peasants during the agricultural transformation (c. 1750-1850). Important organizational and institutional changes, such as enclosures, the emergence of a formal credit market, and the growing land market, are analyzed. Results reveal that some peasants actively participated in the agricultural transformation in a number of ways and that peasant farmers in Scania did not demonstrate a conservative attitude toward change. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/686186
- author
- Svensson, Patrick LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2006
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Social Science History
- volume
- 30
- issue
- 3
- pages
- 387 - 429
- publisher
- Duke University Press
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000240268000003
- scopus:33748803310
- ISSN
- 0145-5532
- DOI
- 10.1215/01455532-2006-003
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 6d6f1726-360d-4801-ae88-24e182d9fcb1 (old id 686186)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 12:36:25
- date last changed
- 2022-01-27 07:22:55
@article{6d6f1726-360d-4801-ae88-24e182d9fcb1, abstract = {{In post-World War II agricultural research, a new perspective on "peasant society" developed. This approach is still vigorous today and implies that peasant society defined by subsistence production, the safety-first principle, and a stable village system with moral obligations-leads to conservative behavior toward change. It also assumes that only external forces can tear down the system and force peasants into markets. However, many researchers throughout Europe have challenged these opinions of peasant mentality and peasant behavior. This study investigates five parishes in southern Sweden (Scania) to analyze the behavior of peasants during the agricultural transformation (c. 1750-1850). Important organizational and institutional changes, such as enclosures, the emergence of a formal credit market, and the growing land market, are analyzed. Results reveal that some peasants actively participated in the agricultural transformation in a number of ways and that peasant farmers in Scania did not demonstrate a conservative attitude toward change.}}, author = {{Svensson, Patrick}}, issn = {{0145-5532}}, language = {{eng}}, number = {{3}}, pages = {{387--429}}, publisher = {{Duke University Press}}, series = {{Social Science History}}, title = {{Peasants and entrepreneurship in the nineteenth-century agricultural transformation of Sweden}}, url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/01455532-2006-003}}, doi = {{10.1215/01455532-2006-003}}, volume = {{30}}, year = {{2006}}, }