Peasant Society Organizations and their Bangladesh Context

Peasant Society: SOC-405

Dr. Kazi Abdur Rouf

Associate ProfessorNoble International University, USA

And Visiting Associate ProfessorDepartment of Sociology

Chittagong University

Peasant Society Organizations and their Bangladesh ContextTopics to be Covered

• Peasant Society and their Social Organizations Characteristics• Generational Change and Peasant social Organizations• Family: A basic social organization• Peasant Family Types, their Dynamics and their Family Economic Relations• Household Peasant Economics• Patrimonial and Matrilineal Society• Little Community Peasant Society• Peasant Society is a mixed Social Organization Entity and Structure• Peasant Society is a Mutual Cooperation Neighborhood• Extended Family and Marriage• Clan, Descendent• Clan, Descendent and their Social Relations

Peasant Society Organizations and their Bangladesh Context continue-2

Topics to be Covered • Family Classifications based on Religion• Informal Rural Arbitration System• Multiple Factors divides Social Relations• Peasant Social Organizational Change and Dynamism• Gender Division Labor• Peasant Society and Land Tenure System• Peasant Development Cycle• Kinship Heredity• Heredity Property

Peasant society and their social organizations characteristics

• To understand peasant society, it is important to analyze social organizations• Peasant society has multiple relations and connections with different

institutions• Social relations developed among peasants through peasant families• Family, descendent, clan etc. are part of peasant society • A peasant has relationship with greater society around him• Relative relationships have preferential role in making peasant society social

relationships• However, status and power influence these relationships among peasant life• Anthropologist Miasu says, “Peasant society has plantation economy.

Peasant society and their social organizations characteristics continue-2

• These societies have simple productions and simple production relations• Traditional peasant society characteristic is using manual labor, individual

means of production, unplanned labor division, easy available land and raw martial’s

• Usually they become self-sufficiency in their family consumption• Their agricultural system based on lineage relationship • Miyasu emphasizes on influence of nature on agricultural production• Farmers wait for next crop cultivation after crop cultivation• People consume food from previous crop production.

Generational Change and peasant social organizations

• The generational change creates a new social structure in a society• In traditional system, seniors have power and control over food distribution

system• In the Materialist society, mechanical agricultural production and

accumulation agricultural resources• To understand peasant organizations, the following three points are

important: • (1)analysis of social organization• (2) interactions among social organization analysis and • (3) presentation of social organization dynamics and change.

Family: A basic social organization

• Family is a prime social organization. It is a place of primary socialization• Village informal justice performs in presence of other family members, but in

modern society, justice/arbitrary system, family members are not important in justice or magistracy

• Eric Wolf in his “Peasant Society” finds peasant society varies according to geography. He finds peasant society has two different families: • Nuclear family and • Extended family.

• Dyadic relations based on children and parents to social, economic and biological reproduction

• Patriarchal society has male dominance over women. Male has more social values than women

• Village informal justice performs in peasant society which is absent in modern society

• Family has intensive relationships with other village/ community organizations.

Peasant Family Types, their Dynamics and their Family Economic Relations

• Eric Wolf describes and analysis emerging social economic points and causes of crisis/ emergency situation.

• Matrilineal family system reflects through economic activity in the family. • It is reflected by different social festivals, village/family functions and

activities in the society and family• The chief of extended family has influence over all other family members,

although nuclear families separately have their meals and live in separate houses

• Family integrity and solidarity become strong if family chief has control and influence over family economics resources and family labor

• Extended family is similar to joint family. Aziz research shows, “a joint family is the family that has joint meal in the extended family.

Family types, dynamics of family and peasant family economic relations continue-2

• Eric Wolf says, “An extended family may consist of nuclear teams belonging to the same generations

• They maintain a common resources and labor• Arifin says, “Partial-single family is like a joint family; the difference is only

one man is the earning member of the family• Household, Chula, home etc also attached with the concept of family• Chula or household is the basic social unit in rural Bangladesh• Arifin says, “ The concept of Paribar is like Chula (oven, hearth), Khana

(eating group) and Ghar (literally house). • House and family is similar concept• Although many single families (biological brother) is separated, some

economic activities are performed jointly. For example, joint pond ownership.

Household peasant economics

• Bari (house) is uses as homestead. Aziz uses household (one or more Chula/ Khana performed in one courtyard

• Bangladesh government economic census uses Household (Khana): A basic family economic unit

• Lineage (relative relations) and their interactions with their descendent members

• Arifin says, “Bari means group (decent). Example is Miah Bari means Miah decent family.

Patrimonial and Matrilineal Society

• Similarly in matrilineal society, matriarchal property ownership is dominant• Common ancestry provides a sense of belonging that binds them together–

members of the descendent• Aziz gives example from Eric Wolf that Muslim women have link with both

her father and husband family. She is attached with her husband family as well as retain her relations/rights with her father’s family

• Eric here says “apparent isolation” of society blended Muslim women for building greater group or unit

• This cannot be understood if the whole peasant society not analyze.

Little Community Peasant Society

• B. K. Jahangir considers society as “little community” • Society is relatively widespread entity which is greater than clan, group,

kinship, household or home, and • Maintained these entity and relationships (social relationships/interactions)

through their different relations• Yansen says, “Society is a moral institution which includes all people and

society for control their behavior• Arifin describes, “It is beyond kinship relational organization that has social

collectivity and political bondage (civil rights) and• Its members have mutual bondage relationships.

Peasant Society is a mixed Social Organization Entity and Structure• Social organizations exist through their continuous functions. • Social organizations are not static rather than they are changing in course of

time• They are functional social structure• Wolf pointed out the applied (functional) side of peasant society. • Natural, economic and social conditions and barriers are facing peasants in

their social interactions and relations.• These interactions are essential for maintaining his entity and survive. • His adverse situations are natural disasters, limited resources, land, capital

and competition with other people, demographic challenges, and tax payment

• Wolf talks about “Mir” organization and oriental “Musar” village social organization.

• Society has responsibility to land distribution and rehabilitation. There is some procedure maintained in distributing land.

Peasant Society is a Mutual Cooperation Neighborhood

• Cooperation is main interactions among peasants• Eric Wolf also mentions mutual cooperative relationships among peasant is

essential for their survival• Multiple relationships happened when peasant has economic, social, political

and religious relationships with other peasant or peasant family. • Patron-client relationship• The relationships have both

• Dyadic relations and • Polyadic relations

• Horizontal and vertical. Horizontal relations among peasant exist when all peasant in the society have equal status

• However, currently vertical relation have higher and lower classification in the rural neighborhood.

Extended Family and Marriage

• Extended family has additional responsibility in addition to economic work. Examples are marriages, social festivals, religious festivals etc.

• In the single, extended, joint family, the intra and interfamily values are important.

• Young brother respect elder brother, elder brother has some responsibility to younger brother.

• Age, economic power and political status etc. are determinant factors in peasant interactions

• Age is an important factor in peasant society• Changing family is unfavorable to extended family• Martial relation is a social mixed action. This relation is for the biological

reproduction

Clan, Descendent

• Powerful family generations (clans, descendent) become rural elites and backward family dependent to elites resulted unequal descendent peasant society

• Clan family relationship and interactions are not only cooperative, but also competitive and conflicting

• Wealth division is one of the reasons of conflict• Ownership division generates competition and conflict among clan family

members• In this process descendent structure and bondage both could be weak• Permanent power structure determined by familial economy, politics, social

influence and family good standing, fame (dignity)• Arifin highlights that clan is not a corporate unit or not undivided whole.

Clan, Descendent and their Social Relations • Clan families work as independent economic families (units) and have limited

clan status and functionality because clans have no corporate character• The economic division of clan within clan makes clan structure weak and

their relative deep relations become slow• Eric Wolf says , “ Clans are suffering from inequality and weak family mutual

relationships.”• Interrelationships of families of a society determine multiple functions

through interactions• Main determinants are controller of economic resources, political and

administrative power, lineage status, clan division through labor forces. • These factors increase social and clan relations and interactions• Class social structure is influenced by economy• Social relation is determined by politics and administrative power.

Family Classifications based on Religion

• Muslim society-Asraf and Atraf family• Purda destroy if women go for work in the field. Adult children have

different assigned activities in the family• Hindu-Caste system

Informal Rural Arbitration System

• Eric Yansen mentions rural society conflict creates rural social divisions• Leaders of social organization are Matabbar in the village• Heredity mattabbar in the village and their informal arbitration system

Multiple Factors divides Social Relations

• Multiple factors divides social relations• Marriage, religious rituals are rural social relations and interactions• Social behavior control through social interactions• However, economy is the prime determinant factor to build social structure• Economic inequality or status inequality has huge influence in social relations

These make social inequality in rural Bangladesh.

Peasant Social Organizational Change and Dynamism

• Changes are happened in family, clan, and society. It becomes dynamic through economic system and other social system

• Eric Wolf discuss family change elements at the extended family is based on enough food supply.

• Usually extended family can be seen where food supply is enough• Elder son take charge of the position of father and make decision in the

family and control/influence other family members of his family• Similarly daughter-in-law takes the responsibility of the family and she

dominates mother-in-law and other female family members

Gender Division Labor

• Gender division of labor happens among family members in patriarchal society

• Feminism is conflicting with patriarchal values and norms of the family• In villages, single family has gender division of labor• In China, women members are factors for dividing the joint family system

Peasant Society and Land Tenure System

• Eric Wolf also mentions land or farm fragmentations are responsible for creating single family

• Land distribution among children helps to form more than one single family in the extended family

• Land tax collection • Permanent land Settlement Act/ land ownership in Bengal• Land ownership creates landlord (rural elites)-powerful person, exploiter and

serf- peasant-powerless, victim• Rich and poor classs emerge from feudal, pre-industrial, capitalist and post-

modern period

Peasant Development Cycle

• Eric Yensen considers peasant development cycle. The structure of extended family continues when parents, children, husband wife and grand children live together.

• Extended family/ joint family has big role in having social status and power in villages

• Land conflict, resource conflict weaken extended family strength and reason for division of the family. Poverty and competition is more responsible for division of extended family.

• Family division is more profitable to single family• Single family unites when their job opportunities increases and build joint

family• Aziz mentions family development cycle continues, but reverse is rare

Kinship Heredity

• Arifin says, “Economic differentiation is a main reason for changing society and descendent

• Extended families become weak when their weak economic situation• Example is rich relative and poor relative• Kinship heredity is another point that is responsible for changing family

structure• Land ownership distribution is related to heredity rights

Heredity Property

• Impartiable inheritance, Partiable inheritance is component of heredity

• Special profitable crop cultivation is one of the features of the family division• China encourages new farming family • Because it can increase agricultural fiscal tax• Eric says, “ Patrilinialism preserves impartiable inheritance• On the other hand prebendalism (tax system) encourages paritable

inheritance.”

Heredity Property contiue-2

• Yansin finds, “Daughter does not receive heredity property from her father’s property, but it could be used for her security preserves

• Hindu religion, daughter has no right to her parents‘ property after her marriage

• However son/sons are the inherent property owner of his parents.

Comments/QuestionsOne question will be from this topic in the final exam