Social Relation And Dynamics Of Production And Reproduction

The transition from the traditional hunter gatherer societies, in to an agriculture based living system, has allowed humans to increase their population size, putting strains on the Earth’s environment. Agriculture has also brought along with it a decrease in women’s roles in the community, while also bringing about a class system where the wealthy rule, and were the weak and poor obey. As humans began to domesticate more plants and animals, they settled in permanent areas. The Change from hunter gatherer benefited few, but had dire consequences for the earth and groups with in it. One such consequence was the population increase, which has lead to major issues throughout history, and one that has ties to current global issues.

They looked forward being independent farmers who worked for themselves and got paid. However, this took a left turn. In the diagram, “The Sharecroppers Cycle of Poverty”, a cycle of debt that sharecroppers would find themselves in was depicted. It also showed that the owners controlled a majority of the sharecropper's life, and ended up taking a lot of the sharecroppers money. (Slides, 11).

agricultural property; rent, interest and profit to be the only legitimate forms of non work

The importance of land ownership has been a vital part of modern society due to the many goods and resources one can acquire from it. Because of this, landowners have a distinct advantage over non-land owners when it comes to these resources. Not only are landowners able to use the land themselves, but grant others the ability to use their land for a percentage of the produce. This is known as sharecropping. As seen is William Faulkner’s short story, Barn Burn, it is land ownership and not ethnic origins gives power to certain individuals. By controlling the livelihood of individuals who live off the earth, landowners place themselves in a more advanced social class than those without land. In Charles Chesnutt’s story The Goophered

Social reproduction refers to the continuous intergenerational physically and emotionally exhausting household labour that is needed to maintain life (Trotz, lecture, Jan 13, 2016). This kind of labour though is considered to be a woman’s duty. Since an economic activity happens where there is a market, social reproduction is not considered as one as it doesn’t have a visible market. Even though, it doesn’t have market value, domestic work greatly contribute to the economy (Waring, 2013). Since this work is done in homes and by women who are usually marginalized, it remains invisible and thus not considered for pay. This kind of work depends on the traditional division of labour in which women are seen as housewives while men, breadwinners. Thus, the gendering of social reproduction is a result of “doing gender,” where women’s abilities to be mothers are naturalized (Coltrane, 1989); in other words, women are made to fit into the simplistic “domestic = family = heterosexual woman = care and love” equation (Manalansan & Martin, 2008, p.2), while any man who does the caring work in a family is feminized and considered a lesser man (Coltrane, 1989).Thus, a woman’s femininity depends on her motherhood while a man’s masculinity depends on “not doing mother’s work” (Coltrane, 1989, p.473).

Leopold once said “land is still property. The land relation is still strictly economic, entailing privledges but not obligations” (1897, p.203) Donald Worster responded with “We have to being putting some obligations into place. He believes that the idea of private property is a scared truth. He believes it is a secular invention and was created for the private accumulation of capital. “Turning the earth into private property was done to promote the wealth and private individuals and thereby, it was hoped, of whole nations” (Worster) said. 60% of the nations land is owned privately, only a small group of people or corporations own that land because they either have enough money to buy land or they have inherited it. Worster believed that most of the land has been held by “those who seek, with varying intensity, to use property to improve their personal wealth”.

The plantation was the center of the agriculture life. Large-scale agriculture is still important as many countries rely on these products as they put large strain on export –oriented growth. Only recently has there been any significant attempts at industrialization and many countries are economically backward.

Land ownership and distribution are extremely unequal in Guatemala. This is immensely unfair because “2% of landowners hold 65% of the arable land”("Guatemala Country"). Due to these extreme numbers, the distribution of land “is one of the most unequal in the hemisphere” ("Guatemala Country"). As a result of this, lower-class citizens have no way of earning money other than taking a, usually laborious and low-paying, job. Not only is this causing a low quality of life for many Guatemalans, this is also contributing greatly the chronic poverty in Guatemala.

Raids in the Rainforest demonstrated a conflict conservationists face. Before watching the video, I thought problems surrounding the use of protected areas and environmental regulations were caused mostly by large companies and ignorant people wanting money and power, but I now realize this is a U.S.-centric view. Workers in countries which are underdeveloped compared to the U.S. may not have as much respect for protected areas because they need to focus more on providing for their families and generally surviving than preserving nature. The video also showed the unfortunate reality that policies don’t stop true criminals. Although some of the people found damaging the protected area were given fines, posted rules didn’t stop people from illegally

Investors from outside sub-Saharan Africa are continually purchasing land from local farmers. This practice is causing challenges for the indigenous people who depend on the land for their livelihoods. Certainly, land grabbing is a major challenge for African countries due to the increasing interest among these foreign investors who show increasing interest since the global food crises in 2007-08 (Kachika, 2008). “Generally, countries short of agricultural land supply are looking elsewhere, particularly to Africa, in order to meet their agricultural needs” (Kachika, 2008). Furthermore, a high demand for bio fuel feedstock has many investors seeking land throughout Africa.

Although large battles have been fought and won against wealthy and powerful industrial powers by native communities and those supporting their cause, there is still a long way to go. There is currently a significant disparity between what governments and corporations should be doing and what they do. Policy and rulings that call for a halt in native land extraction do not necessarily stop the abuse. Constant vigilance by native communities and the “green” groups of concerned individuals is imperative to ensure the protection of native rights. The combination of judicial proceeding and the mass movement of people has extreme potential, as demonstrated by the current state of increased protection of indigenous rights, to solve complex issues like climate

Powerful international corporations and foreign investors often buy land off of countries in Africa and South America to repurpose and use as farmland for cash crops, factories, or biofuel production. These sales are made possible by the chief executives of these countries who are all too willing to give up chunks of land for sums of money offered by these rich corporations and investors. However, with these deals come some major issues. On top of the replacement of small subsistence farmlands by large-scale cash crop farms or businesses, the rights of locals in the areas being bought and sold are often neglected and these people face injustices and mistreatment by these deals and corporations.

Romania is a large agrarian country. Its long history is one of being a rich agricultural country, with its people deeply connected to the land. Romanian farmers have weathered many crises and changes over the centuries, but their connection to the land has always remained strong. Now, they find themselves once again at a crossroad. Agriculture today is plagued by many problems: the deep scars left by the communist regime, the current agro-politics, the lack of quality development and the poverty in the Romanian countryside are the main issues effecting Romanian agriculture growth and development.

      Due to the effects of urbanization and industry, the amount of land available for agriculture is rapidly reducing. Of the total land area of 792,607 hectares for Negros Occidental (the Philippines) the Alienable and Disposable (A & D) areas covers 68.17 percent 0r 540,350.13 hectares. Classified Forest Land occupies 31.83 percent ( 252,256.53 hectares). Cropland makes up most of which is considered Alienable and Disposable. This includes the residential, commercial and institutional areas as well as agricultural lands. Fish ponds are also found in this area occupying an area of 9,333.14 hectares. Zoning and land use plans have been put into place to regulate the development of communities ensuring that the distribution of land is properly allocated so that it is not in incompatible use. Despite these measures, many farmers are very poor. The average size of an individual farm in the Philippines is 1.5. hectares. Small farms can only produce enough for subsistence purposes.

There are controversial viewpoint on the benefit and downsides of land grabbing. Civil society organization and peasant network from developing countries are concerned over impact on food security, the environment and human rights. Others welcome investment activities in developing countries as important steps for boosting economies. Land grabbing increase competition for land would lead higher land price and in turn the price of food increase. Local people in developing countries would become less able to afford food even it grown in their own country. These two view observed lack of concentration and make it in balance mood to serve both the society and the economic developments of the country and current Ethiopian research effort do not addressed the issue of good governance related to displacements and resettlement programmes and focused only on redevelopment programme and condominium housing constructions. Scholars and professionals including the community debate to reach on consensus by minimizing the possible risk happening and maximizing its opportunity it has for society.