Peasants in transition : the changing economy of the Peruvian Aymara : a general systems approach

'The book is an important demonstration of the viability of General Systems Theory for anthropology. Among the surprising findings directly deriving from this approach is that the Aymara transition is a response not to inputs from the industrial sector, but to instabilities within the traditional Aymara economic system itself. The Systems Theory principle of the adaptive value of deviance is the basis for an in-depth analysis of the emergence of the Seventh-Day Adventists as a power-elite in many Aymara communities.' The peasant transition from a subsistence-agriculture economy to a money economy is one of the most significant and widespread phenomena of the twentieth century. For the world's largest occupational group--comprising from one-half to two-thirds of the world's population--this process constitutes a fundamental transformation in terms of economic and In this book, the author suggests several principles that might apply to a general model of peasant transition on the basis of comparison of the Aymara with peasant groups in other parts of the world. He shows why and how the Peruvian Aymara have entered the money economy.