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OverviewSure to be controversial and spur debate, this book presents a powerful analysis of rural change to marketization and globalization. Using Russia as a case study, it examines the how the rural population responded to reform policies during the transition away from communism. Wegren draws upon extensive field work, survey data, interviews, and wide-ranging Russian language source material to investigate adaptive behaviours by different groups of the rural population. The differentiated and nuanced analysis sheds considerable light on debates over whether actors are motivated mainly by rational or moral considerations. Full Product DetailsAuthor: S. WegrenPublisher: Palgrave USA Imprint: Palgrave Macmillan Edition: 2005 ed. Dimensions: Width: 14.00cm , Height: 2.00cm , Length: 21.60cm Weight: 0.500kg ISBN: 9781403969507ISBN 10: 1403969507 Pages: 278 Publication Date: 06 September 2005 Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Tertiary & Higher Education , Undergraduate Format: Hardback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: In Print  This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us. Table of ContentsReviewsContrary to the doomsayers, Wegren finds a great deal of social change in the Russian countryside. This in-depth and very carefully crafted research project, covering more than fifteen years, shows that if we look at the actual behavior of farm managers and ordinary rural residents they are reacting to reform much like we would expect rational actors to do. This work provides us with some genuine hope for the future of rural Russia. --David J. O'Brien, Professor of Rural Sociology, University of Missouri-Columbia <br> This is an ambitious and critically important reconceptualization of traditional theories of rural change and overturns our understanding of agrarian reform in Russia today. Rejecting conventional views of peasants and rural dwellers as isolated, conservative, collectivist, and anti-market, Wegren finds them to be individualistic, rational, adaptive, even opportunistic, and, when historical circumstances or government reformers have offered economically realistic alternatives and incentives, very willing to take advantage of market-oriented possibilities. He demonstrates not only that contemporary reform has produced significant, market-oriented changes in the contemporary Russian countryside but also that actual outcomes have diverged markedly from the expectations of both government and observers, so much so, indeed, that he considers Russia's future agricultural development to lie with the reconstructed collective and state farms. All subsequent students of these subjects will, perforce, have to take notice of this compelling work. --David A.J. Macey, Middlebury College <br> A major virtue of this volume is the comparison of Russia's rural economy with othertransition countries. At the heart of the book, however, is an examination of the fundamental character of peasant economy and polity. Wegren f rames this question as a conflict between the age old moral economy of the peasants and commercial market farming. Karl Polanyi described the same phenomenon many years ago as a clash between economies that were embedded in local social relations and rational peasant responses to price making markets. This volume will generate some welcome controversy again in the general field of rural studies. Wegren makes a very strong case for his view and backs it with solid empirical data. --James R. Millar, Professor of Economics and International Affairs, George Washington University Author InformationSTEPHEN WEGREN is an Associate Professor in the Political Science department at Southern Methodist University, USA. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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