Inequality and the Agrarian World

In the twenty-first century, agriculture and rural life is seen as a relic of the past. In the Western world, a tiny minority of people are still farmers—most of whom are indebted or surviving with state support and subsidies. Much of the farming is done by large-scale agribusinesses, with the help of farm workers. In the Global South, far greater numbers of indebted small and marginal farmers continue to persist, although their demise has been predicted often, and the penetration of agribusiness has grown. This process of commodification, industrialisation and financialisation of farming, built upon an edifice of science and technology, has been promoted as one that has produced more food in an efficient manner, and allowed people to escape out of agriculture for a better life in the urban sector. Yet, as this review shows, this ‘pathway to development’ has only worked for some privileged social groups in the world, leaving many others worse off, and leading to greater inequality. This chapter traces the different ways in which scholars have analysed the condition of farmers and explained the processes leading to greater inequality—agrarian transition and capitalism, implications of race, caste and gender, the role of colonialism and violence, the state and agribusiness, and science and technology in shaping agrarian worlds. It also brings in literature on the epistemic rift, power-knowledge relationships, climate change and the urban-rural relationship arguing that we need to rethink fundamental categories of value for achieving social and epistemic justice.