A peasant is an agricultural Agriculture is the production of food and goods through farming. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of human civilization, with the husbandry of domesticated animals and plants creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more densely populated and stratified societies. The study of agriculture is known as worker who generally owns or rents only a small plot of ground. The word is derived from 15th century French French is a Romance language spoken as a first language by about 136 million people worldwide. Around 190 million people speak French as a second language, and an additional 200 million speak it as an acquired foreign language. French speaking communities are present in 57 countries and territories. Most native speakers of the language live in païsant meaning one from the pays, or countryside Rural areas are large and isolated areas of an open country with low population density. The terms "countryside" and "rural areas" are not synonyms: a "countryside" refers to rural areas that are open. A forest, wetlands, etc. with a low population density is not a countryside, ultimately from the Latin pagus, or outlying administrative district (when the Roman Empire became Christian, these outlying districts were the last to Christianise, and this gave rise to "pagan Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to polytheistic religious traditions, although from a Christian perspective, the term can encompass all non–Abrahamic religions" as a religious term).^[1] The term peasant today is sometimes used in a pejorative sense for impoverished farmers A farmer is a person, engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops such as produce and grain. A farmer might own the farmed land or might work as a labourer on land owned by others; but in advanced economies, a farmer is usually a farm owner, while.

Peasants typically make up the majority of the agricultural Agriculture is the production of food and goods through farming. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of human civilization, with the husbandry of domesticated animals and plants creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more densely populated and stratified societies. The study of agriculture is known as labour force in a Pre-industrial society Pre-industrial society refers to specific social attributes and forms of political and cultural organization that were prevalent before the advent of the Industrial Revolution, dependent on the cultivation In agriculture, cultivation is the process of growing plants on arable land. It is usually associated with large-scale agriculture, as opposed to small-scale gardening. Crop cultivation requires fertile soil, water (from irrigation or precipitation), and seeds. Cultivation involves the sowing of the seeds in the appropriate season. In the process of their land: without stockpiles of provisions they thrive or starve Starvation is a severe reduction in vitamin, nutrient and energy intake. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition. In humans, prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage[citation needed] and eventually, death. The term inanition refers to the symptoms and effects of starvation according to the most recent harvest In agriculture, the harvest is the process of gathering mature crops from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper. The harvest marks the end of the growing season, or the growing cycle for a particular crop, and this is the focus of seasonal celebrations of many religions. On. The majority of the people in the Middle Ages were peasants. Pre-industrial societies have diminished with the advent of globalization Globalization describes a process by which regional economies, societies, and cultures have become integrated through a global network of communication, transportation, and trade. The term is sometimes used to refer specifically to economic globalization: the integration of national economies into the international economy through trade, foreign and as such there are considerably fewer peasants to be found in rural Rural areas are large and isolated areas of an open country with low population density. The terms "countryside" and "rural areas" are not synonyms: a "countryside" refers to rural areas that are open. A forest, wetlands, etc. with a low population density is not a countryside areas throughout the world (as a proportion of the total world population).

Though "peasant" is a word of loose application, once a market economy A market economy is economy based on the power of division of labor in which the prices of goods and services are determined in a free price system set by supply and demand has taken root the term peasant proprietors is frequently used to describe the traditional rural population in countries where the land is chiefly held by smallholders In third world countries, smallholdings are usually farms supporting a single family with a mixture of cash crops and subsistence farming. As a country becomes more affluent and farming practices become more efficient, smallholdings may persist as a legacy of historical land ownership practices. In more affluent societies smallholdings may be. It is sometimes used by people who consider themselves of higher class as slang to refer pejoratively to those of poorer education who come from a lower income background.

In many pre-industrial societies The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transport and technology had a profound effect on the socioeconomic and cultural conditions starting in the United Kingdom, then subsequently spreading throughout Europe, North America, and eventually the world. The, peasants comprised the bulk of the population. Peasant societies often had well developed social support networks. Especially in harder climates Climates encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elements in a given region over long periods of time. Climate can be contrasted to weather, which is the present condition of these same elements and their variations over periods up to two weeks, members of the community who had a poor harvest In agriculture, the harvest is the process of gathering mature crops from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper. The harvest marks the end of the growing season, or the growing cycle for a particular crop, and this is the focus of seasonal celebrations of many religions. On or suffered other hardships were taken care of by the rest of the community. Peasants usually only had one set of clothing, two at most. Also, a peasant usually owed their lord 20% of their earnings. They also owed the priest or bishop 10% of their ownings. Of course, knights could, and would usually demand tributes for keeping them alive. Overall, the peasant usually retained only 10-20% of their total work and earnings.

Peasant societies can often have very stratified In sociology and other social sciences, social stratification refers to the hierarchical arrangement of individuals into divisions of power and wealth within a society. The term most commonly relates to the socio-economic concept of class, involving the "classification of persons into groups based on shared socio-economic conditions ... a social hierarchies within them. Rural people often have very different values and economic behavior from urbanites, and tend to be more conservative Social conservatism is a political or moral ideology that believes government and/or society have a role in encouraging or enforcing what they consider traditional values or behaviors based on the belief that these are what keep people civilized and decent. A second meaning of the term social conservatism developed in the Nordic countries and. Peasants are often very loyal to inherited power structures that define their rights and privileges and protect them from interlopers, despite their low status within those power structures.

Fernand Braudel Fernand Braudel was the foremost French historian of the postwar era and a leader of the Annales School. His scholarship focused on three great projects, each representing several decades of intense study: "The Mediterranean" (1923–49, then 1949–66), "Civilization and Capitalism" (1955–79), and the unfinished " devoted the first volume–called The Structures of Everyday Life–of his major work, Civilization and Capitalism 15th–18th Century to the largely silent and invisible world that existed below the market economy.

Since it was the literate classes who left the most records, and these tended to dismiss peasants as figures of coarse appetite and rustic comedy, the term "peasant" may have a pejorative rather than descriptive connotation in historical memory. Society was theorized as being organized into three "estates": those who work, those who pray, and those who fight.^[2]

Medieval European peasants

The relative position of peasants in Western Europe Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the westernmost region of Europe, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity — the region lying in the Western part of Europe. Another definition was created during the improved greatly after the Black Death The Black Death was one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. It is widely thought to have been an outbreak of bubonic plague caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, although this view has been challenged by a number of scholars. Usually thought to have started in Central Asia, it had reached the unsettled the demography of medieval Europe The Middle Ages is a period of European history from the 5th century through the 15th century. The period followed the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476, and preceded the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period in a three-period division of history: Classical, Medieval, and Modern. The term "Middle Ages" (medium aevum) was coined.

In the wake of this disruption to the established hierarchy, later centuries saw the invention of the printing press, the development of widespread literacy Literacy has traditionally been described as the ability to read and write. It is a concept claimed and defined by a range of different theoretical fields. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization defines literacy as the "ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate, compute and use printed and and the enormous social and intellectual changes of the Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment is the era in Western philosophy and intellectual, scientific and cultural life, centered upon the eighteenth century, in which reason was advocated as the primary source and legitimacy for authority.

This evolution of ideas in an environment of relatively widespread literacy Literacy has traditionally been described as the ability to read and write. It is a concept claimed and defined by a range of different theoretical fields. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization defines literacy as the "ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate, compute and use printed and laid the groundwork for the Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transport and technology had a profound effect on the socioeconomic and cultural conditions starting in the United Kingdom, then subsequently spreading throughout Europe, North America, and eventually the world. The, which enabled mechanically and chemically augmented agricultural production while simultaneously increasing the demand for factory A factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial building where laborers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production. Typically, factories gather and concentrate resources: workers in cities A city is a relatively large and permanent urban settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law. These factory workers with their low skill and large numbers quickly came to occupy the socio-economic stratum formerly the preserve of the medieval peasants.

This process was especially pronounced in Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a region lying in the Eastern part of Europe. The term is highly context-dependent and even volatile, as there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region". A related UN paper adds that "every assessment of spatial identities is essentially a social and cultural construct&. Lacking any catalysts Catalysis is the change in rate of a chemical reaction due to the participation of a substance called a catalyst. Unlike other reagents that participate in the chemical reaction, a catalyst is not consumed by the reaction itself. A catalyst may participate in multiple chemical transformations. Catalysts that speed the reaction are called positive for change in the 14th century, Eastern European peasants largely continued upon the original medieval path until the 18th and 19th centuries. The Tsars Tsar is a title used to designate certain monarchs or supreme rulers. The first ruler to adopt the title tsar was Simeon I of Bulgaria. As a system of government, it is known as Tsarism then began to notice that though the West had made enormous strides, they had not; they responded by forcing the largely illiterate Literacy has traditionally been described as the ability to read and write. It is a concept claimed and defined by a range of different theoretical fields. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization defines literacy as the "ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate, compute and use printed and peasant populations under their control to embark upon a course of Westernization Westernization or Westernisation , also occidentalization or occidentalisation (from the Occident, meaning the Western World; see "occident" in the dictionary), is a process whereby societies come under or adopt Western culture in such matters as industry, technology, law, politics, economics, lifestyle, diet, language, alphabet, and industrialization Industrialisation is the process of social and economic change that transforms a human group from a pre-industrial society into an industrial one. It is a part of a wider modernisation process, where social change and economic development are closely related with technological innovation, particularly with the development of large-scale energy and.

Peasant Revolution and Peasant Studies

The field of peasant studies as such was rooted in the early work of scholars such as Florian Znaniecki Florian Witold Znaniecki was a Polish sociologist. He taught and wrote in Poland and the United States. He was the 44th President of the American Sociological Association and the founder of academic sociology studies in Poland. His theoretical and methodological work contributed to the development of Sociology as a distinct academic discipline and Fei Xiaotong Fei Xiaotong, or Fei Hsiao-Tung (November 2, 1910 – April 24, 2005) was a pioneering Chinese researcher and professor of sociology and anthropology; he was also noted for his studies in the study of China's ethnic groups as well as a social activist. Considered by some as one of China's finest and most prominent sociologists and anthropologists,, and post-war studies of the Great Tradition and Little Tradition in work of Robert Redfield Robert Redfield was an American anthropologist and ethnolinguist. Redfield graduated from the University of Chicago, eventually with a JD from its law school and then a PhD in cultural anthropology, which he began to teach in 1927. After a series of published field studies from Mexican communities (Tepoztlán in Morelos and Chan Kom in Yucatán),. In the 1960s, anthropologists and historians began to rethink the role of peasant revolt in world history and their own disciplines. This rethinking was partly in response to American involvement in the Vietnam War The Vietnam War [A 2] was a Cold War military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from November 1, 1955 [A 1], to April 30, 1975 when Saigon fell. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of South Vietnam, supported by the United States, which critics on the left regarded as an attempt to repress a peasant revolution. Peasant Revolution was seen as a Third World The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned or not moving at all with either capitalism and NATO or communism and the Soviet Union (which along with its allies represented the Second World). This definition provided a way of broadly categorizing the nations of the Earth into three groups based on response to capitalism and imperialism.^[3]

The anthropologist Eric Wolf Eric Robert Wolf was an anthropologist, best known for his studies of peasants, Latin America, and his advocacy of Marxian perspectives within anthropology, for instance, drew on the work of earlier scholars in the Marxist tradition, such as Daniel Thorner, who saw the rural population as a key element in the transition from feudalism to capitalism The history of capitalism can be traced back to early forms of merchant capitalism practiced in the Middle East and Western Europe during the Middle Ages, though many economic historians consider the Netherlands as the first thoroughly capitalist country. In early modern Europe it featured the wealthiest trading city and the first full-time stock. Wolf and a group of scholars criticized both Marx and the field of modernization theorists In the social sciences, Modernization refers to a model of a evolutionary transition from a 'pre-modern' or 'traditional' to a 'modern' society. The teleology of modernization is described in social evolutionism theories, existing as a template that has been generally followed by societies that have achieved modernity. While it may theoretically for treating peasants as lacking the ability to take action In the social sciences, agency refers to the capacity of individuals to act independently and to make their own free choices. By contrast, "Structure" refers to those factors which seem to limit or influence the opportunities that individuals have.^[4] James C. Scott’s field observation in Malaysia convinced him that villagers were active participants in their local politics even though they were forced to use indirect methods. Many of these activist scholars looked back to the Peasant Movement in India and the theories of revolution in China led by Mao Zedong Mao Zedong listen (simplified Chinese: 毛泽东; traditional Chinese: 毛澤東; pinyin: Máo Zédōng; Wade-Giles: Mao Tse-tung; December 26, 1893 – September 9, 1976) was a Han Chinese revolutionary, political theorist and communist leader. He led the People's Republic of China (PRC) from its establishment in 1949 until his death in 1976. His starting in the 1920s. The anthropologist Myron Cohen, however, asked why the rural population in China were called "peasants" rather than "farmers," a distinction he called political rather than scientific.^[5] One important outlet for their scholarly work and theory was the Journal of Peasant Studies.

See also

• Family economy
• Feudalism Feudalism is a political and military system between a feudal aristocracy , and his vassals. In its most classic sense, feudalism refers to the Medieval European political system composed of a set of reciprocal legal and military obligations among the warrior nobility, revolving around the three key concepts of lords, vassals, and fiefs. Although
• Petty nobility Petty nobility is dated at least back to 13th century and was formed by Nobles/Knights around their strategic interests. The idea was more capable peasants with leader roles in local community that were given tax exemption for taking care of services like for example guard duties of local primitive strongholds
• Folk culture Folk culture refers to the lifestyle of a culture. Historically, handed down through oral tradition, it demonstrates the "old ways" over novelty and relates to a sense of community. Folk culture is quite often imbued with a sense of place. If elements of a folk culture are copied by, or moved to, a foreign locale, they will still carry
• Lower class Working class is a term used in academic sociology and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs, as measured by skill, education and lower incomes. Working classes are mainly found in industrialized economies and in urban areas of non-industrialized economies
• Peasant revolt
• Popular revolt in late medieval Europe
• Serfdom
• Slavery

Other terms for peasant

• Aloer
• Campesino
• Chiabur
• Churl
• Cotter

• Fellah
• Free tenant
• Hari
• Honbyakushō
• Kotsias
• Kulak
• Muzhik
• Nóngmín
• Pagesos de remença
• Peon
• Serf
• Villein
• Smerd
• Ṭǎran
• Vecin
• Peasant farmer

Notes and references

1. ^ Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary p. 846, 866
2. ^ Richard Southern: The Making of the Middle Ages (1952)
3. ^ Eric R. Wolf, Peasants (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.,: Prentice-Hall, 1966).
4. ^ Eric R. Wolf, Peasant Wars of the Twentieth Century (New York,: Harper & Row, 1969).
5. ^ Myron Cohen, "Cultural and Political Inventions in Modern China: The Case of the Chinese 'Peasant'," Daedalus 122.2 (Spring 1993): 151-170.

• E. J. Hobsbawm, Peasants and politics, Journal of Peasant Studies, Volume 1, Issue 1 October 1973 , pages 3 – 22 - article discusses the definition of "peasant" as used in social sciences

Categories: Early Middle Ages | High Middle Ages | Farming history | Feudalism | Industrial Revolution | Social history | Rural economics

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