The Moral Economy of Farmers: Rebellion and Survival in Southeast Asia: Rebellion and Survival in Southeast Asia

Author: James C. Scott
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2001-07-01
Features: Farmers who treat survival as their goal are highly representative in avoiding economic disasters rather than taking risks to chase maximized average income. This fact holds great significance for understanding the issue of exploitation. Based on this principle, it is possible to infer what kinds of lease and tax systems would have a decisive impact on farmers' lives. The key question is not the average surplus wealth extracted by the elite class and the government, but rather at whose expense their stable income is maintained. This book tests this theory through the historical development of agricultural societies in southern Myanmar and northern Vietnam. The commercialization of agriculture and the development of the bureaucratic state gave rise to lease and tax systems that gradually undermined the stability of farmers' income, leading to fierce resistance. The book provides a detailed analysis of two prominent incidents of such resistance—the Shwe Kyin Uprising in Myanmar and the Yiyi-Jingxi Soviet in Vietnam. The Moral Economy of the Peasantry (The Moral Economy of the Peasantry) is a work by James C. Scott, a renowned American scholar and professor at Yale University, published in 1976. It embodies the empirical research characteristics of Scott's theory by combining theoretical interpretation with case analysis. The Moral Economy of the Peasantry is a truly ground-breaking work that examines the survival and rebellion of peasants from their perspective, offering a more realistic approach to understanding these issues. It holds significant practical value for studying peasant problems in Asia and other countries around the world.