The Philippine peasant as capitalist: Beyond the categories of ideal‐typical capitalism

Abstract

As elsewhere, Marxist discussions about the peasantry in the Philippines have also been informed by ‘articulation theory’ which renders it difficult to conceive of peasants as full participants in the capitalist labour process either as ‘capitalists’ or ‘proletarians’. This conceptual difficulty is traced to ideal‐typical presuppositions about capitalism and its ‘standard’ form of productive relations. The conventional categories of Marxism thus become inadequate in analysing societies in the world‐capitalist periphery. However, the methodology of historical materialism is relevant in illuminating the capitalist nature of tenancy as well as the multiple relations of exploitation observable in small‐scale rice farming in the Philippines.

Notes

Department of Rural Sociology, Warren Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. I am grateful to Benedict Anderson, Manuel P. Diaz, Shelley Feldman, Napoleon Juanillo, Jr., Gavin Kitching, Philip McMickael, Takashi Shiraishi, and two anonymous reviewers for their comments on various drafts of this article.