Globalization and Agrarian Economic Systems ( Sociology Optional)

Agrarian Economic Systems

  • Of all the global social organizations, the least understood are probably the indigenous and agrarian economic systems.
  • The literature emphasizes excessively on the “backwardness” of indigenous and agrarian technology.
  • The myth of “hunters and gatherers” and “pastoralist agriculture” persists, giving the impression that such societies had no economic institutions or culture before the advent of modern systems, colonization, and globalization.
  • Inexorably tied to the land, societies are supposedly eked out livings from primitive agriculture. Trade and exchange are mostly unknown since self-sufficiency and subsistence farming were the operative goals.
  • Agrarian and indigenous societies have a profoundly spiritual relationship with the nature, one that ties the land to their very existence. There is also a strong correlation between areas of high biological diversity and the presence of such peoples in those areas around the world.
  • Because they have tended to preserve their lands, there is often abundant resource available on their lands that mainstream society may want to access, such as oil, lumber, and farmable land. These economic pressures can seriously threaten both the environment, but also the indigenous group. Therefore, the protection of this land as well as indigenous rights to preserve their group's land is integral to indigenous survival.

Threats due to globalization

  • Globalization is a multi-pronged attack on the very foundation of their existence and livelihoods, for example-
  • Indigenous and agrarian people throughout the world sit on the "frontlines" of globalization's expansion; they occupy the last pristine places on earth, where resources are still abundant. All are ferociously sought by global corporations, trying to push traditional societies off their lands.
  • New advances in technology, the reorientation toward export-led development, and the imperatives of pleasing global financial markets are all driving forces in the extermination of countless native communities.
  • Traditional sovereignty over hunting and gathering rights and pastoralist agriculture has been thrown into question as national governments bind themselves to new global economic treaties.
  • New trade and investment agreements have forced such peoples to defend their homelands under an invasion of unprecedented rate and scale: big dams, mines, pipelines, roads, energy developments, military intrusions all threaten native lands.
  • Global rules on the patenting of genetic resources via the WTO has made possible the privatization of indigenous people’s genomes, the biological diversity upon which they depend, and the very knowledge of how that biodiversity might be used commercially.
  • National governments making decisions on export development strategies or international trade and investment rules do not consult native communities.
  • The reality remains that without rapid action, these native communities may be wiped out, taking with them vast indigenous and traditional knowledge, rich culture, and traditions.
  • The forces of globalization are reducing the number of cultures around the world. This process often increases the similarities between cultures while reducing their differences. The promotion of homogenous cultures could pose a serious threat to human survival. Researchers are recognizing that cultural diversity drives changes in civilization, just as biodiversity enables biological evolution.
  • A significant amount of ecological knowledge is accumulated by the such peoples who live in rare and poorly understood ecologies. Their knowledge is held in their language, so with the loss of their language the world loses the intimate knowledge of the plants that could provide future medical technological advances. The U.S. National Institutes of Health concluded that "traditional knowledge is as threatened and is as valuable as biological diversity".
  • Such peoples' rights seek to protect their special class which is particularly vulnerable to the encroachment of the modern state and the wider societies they support. Language and culture are key attributes that define these people’s identities and therefore deserve special efforts of protection.

Agricultural and indigenous societies are on the cusp of the crisis in sustainable development. Today, they face the challenges of extinction or survival and renewal in a globalized world. The impact of globalization is strongest on these populations perhaps more than any other because these communities have no voice and are therefore easily swept aside by the invisible hand of the market and its proponents.