THE DEMISE OF THE PEASANT: SOME REFLECTIONS ON IDEOLOGICAL INROADS INTO SOCIAL THEORY.

This paper presents a number of critical reflections on some ideological distortions which have adversely biased research on the peasantry as a class, as a cultural universe and as a political force. The authors look at the two main traditions in the theory of modernization -- the "liberal" and the "Marxist" -- to prove that both assume the disappearance of the peasantry as a necessary event and that therefore the peasantry as such has inevitably become scientifically uninteresting for their representatives. They explore each tradition in some detail and establish the existence of a certain amount of open hostility towards the peasantry among certain sociologists, economists, planners, and policy makers. Significant countertrends in current rural sociology are, however, detected and a conclusion calls for greater attention to the values and possibilities of peasant culture and life, without falling into a romanticised vision of the peasantry, is reached in the end. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]