Izvorni znanstveni članak
The Farmer's Relation to Land and his Perceptions of his Status and Occupation
Mirko Martić
Sažetak
In traditional peasant societies land has always been regarded as a unique, exceptional and unequalled asset.
Under the economic, social, legal and political systems on which the autarchic
peasant economy with all its traditional and unchanging techniques was based, land
had a very high value. At the same time, continual work on one and the same piece
of land, the same field, only contributed to this evaluation lending it an emotional
and a sentimental aspect.
An investigation carried out by the author was to show, among other things,
in what measure this ’sentimental aspect’ of the peasant's relation to land is still
present among contemporary farmers, in view of the essentially changed social,
legal political and economic premises which have determined the position of the
private farm in Yugoslavia sience the war.
The investigation showed that the emotional attachment to land is a quality
of comparatively few heads of the peasant households covered by the enquiry.
The number of peasants willing to sell their land varies from one out of eight
(12.5%) to one out of two (49.0%) depending on the type of the respective village.
Farmers possessing the smallest area of land appear to be least inclined to sell
their land in contrast to those with bigger farms.
Considerable departures were also observed according to the type of occupation
of the interviewed persons. Comparatively the greatest opposition to the
sale of land^ is shown by what are called ’pure’ farmers, and the least by what
are called ’pure’ workers, with peasants—workers taking a place in between
these two groups.
The reasons given by most of the persons covered by the enquiry for being
m favour of selling their land suggest the presence of those motivic factors which
are generally regarded as playing a decisive role in the deagrarianization process and
rural exodus in Yugoslavia in general, — i.e. unfavourable working and living
conditions of many farmers and their families, and the attractivity of the urban
way of life and of ’urban' occupations.
However, even when rejecting the idea of giving up farming, most of the
persons belonging to this group explained their attitude as resulting from objective
circumstances such as the impossibility to earn a living with activity outside
their own farms.
For the traditional peasant the idea of land incorporates several values: it
means not only the land which he tills and the farm which provides a living for
his family, but also his personal occupation and the position he holds in relation
to other classes and occupations in society as a whole.
This general hypothesis is supported by the results of the investigation as regards the views and ideas of the interviewed heads of households on the farmer's
social and professional status, the characteristics of his occupation, and the occupational
future of his children. For these results lead the investigator to try and
discover in every major change in the peasant’s attitude to land a broader scale
ol new values and ideas in Yugoslavia’s rural communities.
Ključne riječi
Hrčak ID:
119433
URI
Datum izdavanja:
6.12.1971.
Posjeta: 1.290 *