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Farmers’ Movements and Agricultural Development in India

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Social Movements in Development

Part of the book series: International Political Economy Series ((IPES))

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Abstract

Agricultural development and the emergence of a rural petty bourgeoisie (that is, the farmers) were central elements of the modernization process in most industrialized countries. The successful mobilization and organization of commercialized peasants and farmers was in particular vital to Western history (Esman and Uphoff 1984: 31). With the labour movement, producer oriented agrarian movements mobilized the majority of the population, and made them co-actors in the great social transformations which created the modern world (Olofsson 1988: 17). The significance of these movements can still be seen in the considerable political leverage that farmers have, despite their numerical weakness, on contemporary policies in Western Europe and North America.

This chapter is based on a research project on ‘The New Peasant Movements in India’ at the Department of Sociology, University of Lund. It was received financial support from SAREC, Stockholm and from the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, Copenhagen.

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Authors
  1. Staffan Lindberg
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, University of Lund, Sweden

    Staffan Lindberg (Associate Professor of Sociology) (Associate Professor of Sociology)

  2. Department of Sociology and the Research Policy Institute, University of Lund, Sweden

    Árni Sverrisson (Assistant Professor of Sociology) (Assistant Professor of Sociology)

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© 1997 Staffan Lindberg

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Lindberg, S. (1997). Farmers’ Movements and Agricultural Development in India. In: Lindberg, S., Sverrisson, Á. (eds) Social Movements in Development. International Political Economy Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-25448-4_6

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