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The Embourgeoisement of the Kerala Farmer

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Barrie M. Morrison
Barrie M. Morrison
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia
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Extract

A new class is emerging in rural Kerala. Though it was christened a bourgeoisie by E. M. S. Namboodiripad, the chief minister of Kerala state during the two phases of land reform (1957–59 and 1967–69), it is not an extension of the modern industrial bourgeoisie into a rural society. Rather it is a distinctly new social formation emerging from among the farmers. The opportunities for farmers to adopt bourgeois aspirations have been created by the particular form of Keralaʼns capitalism interacting with recent changes in localized agrarian society.

Type
Articles
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 31 , Issue 1 , February 1997 , pp. 61 - 87
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

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References

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