model ques (1) Explain the idea of peasant community. Identify & discuss the factors which are responsible for the changes in peasant communities in the past four decades. The term peasant is very vague and in fact it is very difficult to clearly and precisely define it. Several rural sociologists have tried to define the term in their own way. Moore says that peasantry by history is somewhat subordination to landed upper class, recognized & enforced by law. It has sharp cultural distinctions as compared with the elite class & that has de-facts possession of land. The peasant society, according to Robert Redfield, falls in between the little community and the urban society. On the one hand, it is not as much self sufficient and isolated as the little community and on the other hand it is not as much secular as the urban society Robert Redfield therefore calls it Part Societies. These part societies are those village communities which have a culture of their own, together with wide spread relationship with other villages & cities. According to him peasantry are such due to this long established inter-dependence with gentry & towns people. According to Redfield the peasant society is composed of two halves, the `intelligent and the rustic these two parts may also be observed in distinction between the local life and the life of the state. Both these forms a system of social relationship arranged in hierarchy. In the social system at the bottom are the kinship and neighbor -hood relationships & at the top are mere impersonal and formal institutional relationships. (at landlord & political elite level). The local peasant life is bound by traditions and others. One important feature of the society is that a peasant does not leave his basic characteristics even if he leaves the village & begins to live in the town. We can see peasant society, dependent on the outer world in four sphere of life - economic dependence, political dependence, administrative contact & in social organization. In the economic field it depends on the outside would because it is to sell its products in the outside market so that it can earn money both for paying the taxes as well as for purchasing commodities of day to day use. Since these days barter system is not possible, therefore, sales of produce to some extent is unavoidable. It has political dependence in that, that it must depend and accept social & political decisions. The decision makers are political elites & peasant society cannot completely ignore them. In the administrative field too it has dependence on the others. It must participate in panchayat raj institutions and activities. It must also participate in other institutions of democratic decentralization in a reasonable way. In the social field the dependence of this society on the others is unavoidable. It cannot have matrimonial alliances in one village alone. Similarly it cannot expect that all its relation must be concentration in a particular village alone. In the words of Marriott Daughters of the village move out & wives of the village move in at marriage, moving & from more than 300 other villages. Thus the peasant society has its own characteristics & feature and these are not peculiar to India but found all over the world. The agrarian society is undergoing several changes in it structural aspects. Important changes have taken place in family, caste, political & economic institution. Religious system also is slowly being influenced lay modern forces. The development of modern communication & transport system, spread of modern education, the process of industrialization & urbanization. The governments development programme & legislative measures, the political parties & social reform movements are some of the important factors which introduced changes in rural society. The picture of social transformation is more visible in economic field than in cultural values. Even though the peasant communities are changing the changes are not evenly taking place in all communities. These changes vary from region to region depending on the nature of their exposure to modern forces but the process of change has started in all rural communities.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Sep 2014 19:43:16 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015