Small modern farmers: Neither peasants nor fully‐fledged capitalists?

Abstract

This article discusses several previous attempts to theorise the so‐called capitalised family farm, and proposes an alternative approach to the subject. Petty capitalist production is posited as a category embracing all productive forms experiencing capital accumulation and worked by their owners with some hiring of additional labourers. The varied geneses, trajectories and performances of these productive forms are explained by means of a multiple determination in which market structures and forms of regulation play a significant role. The theoretical inquiry is briefly illustrated by historical data from five Venezuelan case studies.

Notes

Department of Anthropology. Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC), Caracas, Venezuela. I would like to express my gratitude for Henry Bernstein's criticisms and suggestions on an earlier version of this article. However, the usual disclaimers also apply.