The Moral Economy Reconsidered : Russia’s Search For Agrarian Capitalism

This book focuses on rural responses to agrarian reform from above, using Russia as a case study. Although the factual material and analysis apply to present-day Russia, the questions this book addresses have a long history in the literature on peasant studies. The "agrarian question" is one of the most enduring issues in peasant studies, although the definition of the agrarian question has been approached differently by various authors, with both the questions and approaches evolving over time. 1 Russia's contemporary "agrarian question" is straightforward: how to achieve agrarian capitalism, which in turn implies that issues such as peasant adaptation, peasant resistance, embedded values, the nature of reform from above, state strength, and rural orientations are of crucial importance. The hope here is that this book contributes to a general understanding of rural actors and their rural economy by shedding new light on rural orientations to marketization and privatization in postcommunist societies. In doing so, the larger question of how and why peasant behaviors adapt to their economic environment is addressed. By presenting an original analysis of how peasants adapt to their changing environment, the book sheds new light on three vitally important questions about peasant societies: (1) Why peasants adapt to their environment (2) How peasants respond to their changing environment, which addresses the question of the strength of embedded peasant values and institutions. (3) Who in peasant society is adapting, that is, which substrata of the peasant population are changing their behavior. In short, this book seeks to shed light on the relationship between peasant behavior and the processes of marketization. In doing so, it directly challenges the moral economy argument and forces us to reconsider its application to post-Soviet states, and perhaps to peasant societies worldwide. The third problem with the moral economy approach is that it distracts our attention from the ability of peasants to adapt, motivations and stimuli to adapt, as well as to their actual adaptive behaviors. Some authors argue that the embedded nature of pre-communist values are a fundamental cause for the failure of Russia's agrarian transition to achieve agrarian capitalism. 13 More than seven decades of Soviet rule is suggested to have robbed the peasantry of ambition and ability. In contrast, this book casts doubt on the idea that rural values in Russia are inherently antimarket and antiprivatization. Instead, it sees contemporary reform as tapping into and unleashing a range of behaviors that facilitate economic stratification and differentiation, behaviors that were suppressed but not extinguished under Soviet rule. The book also rejects the idea that all peasants can be lumped together for whom blanket generalizations can be applied, either in terms of behavior or embedded values. Moreover, this book argues that significant rural change has occurred, and subsequent chapters demonstrate that at least some rural actors in Russia have taken advantage of opportunities presented by reform policies. Clearly, the propensity to adapt is conditioned by a number of factorslegal structures, economic opportunity, social and human capital of the household, village institutions, and the constraints imposed by nature. But where conditions are conducive, evidence of the ability and willingness to adapt is widespread and has been extensively discussed in the literature of peasant studies-one could peruse The Journal of Peasant Studies for any given year (since 1973) and locate numerous examples of peasant adaptation. In 2001, a new journal called The Journal of Agrarian Change began publication, and one could find examples of peasant adaptation there also. It is, therefore, impossible to cite every instance throughout the world of peasant adaptation. The point is that it is misleading to assume, a priori, that peasants can and will only resist. From a pragmatic standpoint, it is important to note that traditional peasants have to be adaptive and responsive to their environment because they live so close to the subsistence threshold. They cannot afford to ignore the signals sent by the larger environment, and if the environment becomes too inhospitable, they migrate, which shows an acute sensitivity to the environment. 14 In a classic book written several years ago, Nobel Prize winner (in Economics) Theodore Schultz argued that peasants are very sensitive to their economic environment and respond to market forces. Where work habits seem to be lacking, it is due to inadequate incentives. He argued: Incentives to work more than these people do are weak because the marginal productivity of labor is very low; and incentives to save more than russia's agrarian question / 5 russia's agrarian question / 19 russia's agrarian question / 29 why peasants adapt / 37

Contrary to the doomsayers, Wegren finds a great deal of social change in the Russian countryside. This in-depth and very carefully crafted research project, covering more than fifteen years, shows that if we look at the actual behavior of farm managers and ordinary rural residents they are reacting to reform much like we would expect rational actors to do. This work provides us with some genuine hope for the future of rural Russia.—David J. O'Brien, Professor of Rural Sociology, University of Missouri-Columbia

This is an ambitious and critically important reconceptualization of traditional theories of rural change and overturns our understanding of agrarian reform in Russia today. Rejecting conventional views of peasants and rural dwellers as isolated, conservative, collectivist, and anti-market, Wegren finds them to be individualistic, rational, adaptive, even opportunistic, and, when historical circumstances or government reformers have offered economically realistic alternatives and incentives, very willing to take advantage of market-oriented possibilities. He demonstrates not only that contemporary reform has produced significant, market-oriented changes in the contemporary Russian countryside but also that actual outcomes have diverged markedly from the expectations of both government and observers, so much so, indeed, that he considers Russia's future agricultural development to lie with the reconstructed collective and state farms. All subsequent students of these subjects will, perforce, have to take notice of this compelling work.—David A.J. Macey, Middlebury College

Sure to be controversial and spur debate, this book presents a powerful analysis of rural change to marketization and globalization. Using Russia as a case study, it examines the how the rural population responded to reform policies during the transition away from communism. Wegren draws upon extensive field work, survey data, interviews, and wide-ranging Russian language source material to investigate adaptive behaviours by different groups of the rural population. The differentiated and nuanced analysis sheds considerable light on debates over whether actors are motivated mainly by rational or moral considerations. "This book presents an analysis of rural change sure to be controversial and spur debate. A contribution to the moral-economy vs. rational peasant debate, it takes a distinctive look at how changes in Russian agrarian reform affected and was in turn affected by peasant and farmer response. Stephen K. Wegren focuses on how peasants adapted in differentiated ways, some favoring privatization and marketization. With implications for understanding responses to marketization and globalization, this study of change has broad interest."--BOOK JACKET Front Matter....Pages I-XIII Russia’s Agrarian Question in Historical and Contemporary Context....Pages 1-34 Why Peasants Adapt: Origins of Behavioral Change Under Yeltsin....Pages 35-59 How Peasants Adapt: Large Farms and Farm Managers....Pages 61-104 How Peasants Adapt: Rural Households....Pages 105-151 Effects of Adaptation and Sources of Rural Revival....Pages 153-195 Peasants’ Moral Economy and Implications for Russia’s Agrarian Capitalism....Pages 197-214 Back Matter....Pages 215-278