The Rationality of Rural Life - Economic and Cultural Change in Tuscany (Hardcover)

Since the 1950s, the rural districts of central Italy have undergone a series of significant transformations. After World War II the area was still dominated by a share-cropping system, the mezzadria, an integrated rural production system which satisfied most of the subsistence needs of the rural community. In 1950 the mezzadria was at the centre of a political struggle which resulted in these districts losing half of their population and three quarters of their farmers in a rural exodus. The collapse of the mezzadria created major fractures in rural society. "Agriculture" emerged in the sense that farms began to concentrate exclusively on field production and in the process they became increasingly dependent on industry and subservient to it. This monograph analyzes these developments in detail and at the same time places them in a wider context, exploring the strengths and weaknesses of theoretical writings on modern agriculture.