Publisher's Synopsis
The book examines five main aspects of peasant life: social structure;local and global economy;class and political action; culture; attitudes and policies towards peasants.;The study of peasant societies, especially in the context of changes brought about by "modernization", is a developing area of contemporary social science. This growth is reflected in the new edition of a work first published in 1971.;More than half the items in this edition are new and mirror the achievements, controversies and queries of the 1980s.
