Artigo



Dados n. 15 Rio de Janeiro 1977

Os Novos Padrões de Controle e Dominação no Campo: Mudança e Continuidade no Nordeste

Dias, Gentil Martins

Resumo

This paper analyzes the nature and scope of the changes which have been taking place in Brazil's agrarian structure since 1920, as well as the effects of these changes on the country's rural population, particularly as regards relations between the peasants and the more affluent local merchants. Based on a case study of the Brazilian Northeast, the author challenges the theory that the country's agricultural backwardness is due to a typical capitalistic process of excessive concentration of land ownership. He points out that the relative decline of large-scale commercial agriculture and the increased availability of land for the peasant workers have fostered the growth, in unprecedented numbers, of scattered family-operated rural production units. However, the social isolation of these independent producers, and their lack of both technical sophistication and direct access to the market and the local decision-making organizations, have made them dependent on the more powerful local merchants and precluded the rise of a dominant group from within their own ranks. According to the author, it is the resulting subordinate position of the Brazilian peasant vis-à-vis the national socio-economic and political structures which accounts, to a peat extent, for Brazil's continuing agricultural crisis.

Texto completo

Os Novos Padrões de Controle e Dominação no Campo: Mudança e Continuidade no Nordeste