Joel Migdal

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Why Change? Toward a New Theory of Change Among Individuals in the Process ofModernizationAuthor(s): Joel S. MigdalSource: World Politics, Vol. 26, No. 2 (Jan., 1974), pp. 189-206Published by: Cambridge University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2009899 .

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WHY CHANGE?

Toward NewTheory fChangeAmongndividualsin theProcess f Modernization

By JOEL S. MIGDAL*

INTRODUCTION

WgtHEN andwhypeople bandon heir ldinstitutions,atterns

ofbehavior,ndeven laces fresidencenfavorfnewonesthat re ssociated ith ustainedconomicrowthnddevelopmentis a questionf centralmportanceo social cience.ncreasingly,o-litical cientistsave ssociatedhese rocessesfchangewith heoc-currencef disintegrationfparticularolitical nits, roups, ndsystems,ndwith he ntegrationfothers.' he changingature fsocialnd ulturalies ignalsoncomitantodificationsnwhat eopledefines their

ommunity,here hey lacedemands,ndwhere heylook or uthoritativeecisionsobe made.Theprocessf abandonmentf oldwaysfornew oneshasbeen

copiouslyescribednd abelled uring he astfifteenears. ariousmodels singnformationheory,ommunicationheory,ersonalitytheory,nd otheronceptsavebeen mployedoexplain heprocessof hangendergoney arge umbersf ndividuals.et, urprisingly,

*I would like to thank he members f theTel Aviv Universityepartmentf

Political cience taffeminar or heir ommentsn an outline f thispaper. wouldalso ike to thankDr. Shimshon elniker orhis thoughtfulriticisms.1Samuel P. Huntington as talkedof politicalnstitutionalizationf states,which

is closelyonnected o integration,nd ofpolitical ecay,which s a processnvolvingdisintegration.oliticalOrder n ChangingocietiesNew Haven i968), esp. chap. .In a recentrticle,WalkerConnorhas linked ocial change imultaneouslyo thein-tegrationf national ntitiesethnicgroups)and to thedisintegrationf states. n"Nation-Buildingr Nation-Destroying?"orldPolitics, xiv (April I972), 3I9-55,

he cites longlistof political cientists ho relate ocialchangeto integration,ndcriticizeshe ack of literaturen therelation f changeto disintegration.e is cer-tainly ight n criticizinghisdeficiency,ut there resomerecentworkshe doesnot

cite.See,forexample,RobertMelsonand HowardWolpe, "Modernizationnd thePolitics fCommunalism: Theoretical erspective,"merican olitical cienceRe-view, XIV (December970), III2-30. Other ocialscientists avealso beenconcernedwiththerelationshipetween evelopmentnd integration.he anthropologistlif-fordGeertzwrote ne of the firstnd most mportantrticles n this ubject, TheIntegrative evolution: rimordial entimentsnd Civil Politics n theNew States"in Geertz, d.,Old Societies nd New States: The Quest forModernityn Asia andAfrica Glencoe, ll. i963), I05-57. S. N. Eisenstadt,n Modernization:rotest ndChange EnglewoodCliffs, .J. 966), v, has spoken f "breakdown"r "regression"withrespecto socialchange.



190 WORLD POLITICS

thequestion fwhypeople bandon heoldpatternsasbeenap-proachedn verymuch he amemannerhroughoutracticallyllthe iterature.

Thekey xplanationfferedmost ftent s anassumptionatherthan nexplicitxplanation)sthat xposureothemodern-what eshall all "cultureontact"'-willeadpeople oabandonheold andattemptogarnerhe ruitsf henew. tatednother ay, hismeansthat ontactetweenld andnewpatternseads othe riumphfthenew. "How you onna eepemdown nthe armnce hey'veeenParee?") n recent ears here as beena growing odyof litera-ture ointingoweaknessesnthe xplanation,utthere asbeenno

developmentfan inclusiveheoreticallternative.Theexplanationhat xposurendcontactrethe auses fchange

has t east hreeomponents:I) Thebenefitsfthemodernar ut-weigh he enefitsfthe raditional.32) Theindividualsfree romseverenstitutionalestraintshichwouldpreventismaking freedecision.3) Those ndividualshoselecthenew arerational ndareoptimizers,4nd thosendividuals ho do not ccept hemodernfail o do so because f"wrong"rnonrationalalues.

I willfirstxaminehis xplanationndpoint ut ome fthediffi-cultiesnanalysis hichtraises. willthen ffertheoreticallterna-tiveo he uestionfwhy eoplebandonheir ldpatterns.lthoughcultureontactmaybe a necessaryonditionorchange, contendthatt s n tself ot sufficientondition.heanalysis illbefocusedspecificallyn change mong easantsnAsia andLatinAmerica.'

2Cultureontact aslongbeen n use as a termn anthropology;epending n the

author sing t, t has takenon various onnotations.he emphasis erewill be onthecontact etween raditional,illage-basedatternsnd those ssociatedwithmoreurban tyles.More specifically,e are talking f the contact y traditionalillageswith hepatternsnd values characteristicf modern ocieties. or a briefdiscussionon thevarious sesoftheterm,eeRaphaelPatai,"On Culture ontact nd ItsWork-inginModern alestine," merican nthropologist,ew Series LIX (October 947).

3Hallowellmakes xplicitomeof thepointsnvolvedn this ssumption. is sub-ject ofconcerns the nfluencefEuropean ulture n theotherparts f theworld.He feels hat cculturations basically learning rocess,nd thatEuropean ulturehas spread o rapidly ecause the rewards utweigh hepunishmentsor the indi-vidual. A. IrvingHallowell,"Sociopsychologicalspects f Acculturation,"n RalphLinton, d.,The Science fMan in the WorldCrisisNew York

945), M71-200.4 In recent ears, lex Inkeleshas been one of thefewwhohasexplicitlyddressedhimselfo thequestion fwhypeoplebecomemodern.He citesa varietyf factors(the city,massmedia, hefactory),utstates hatone factor ssumespreeminence:namely,ducation. he school . . . serves s a modelofrationality,fthe mportanceof technicalompetence,f the ruleofobjectivetandardsfperformance,nd of theprinciplef distributiveustice eflectedn thegrading ystem."nkeles, TheModerni-zationof Man," in MyronWeiner, d., Modernization: he Dynamicsof Growth(Voice ofAmerica orumLectures966), I59-60.

5The term peasant" s used here n an inclusiveenseto denotepoor peoplewho



CHANGE AND MODERNIZATION 191

Asia has a longhistoryfpeasantsiving nder heruleof a state;LatinAmerica'seasantsirstaced uch nfluenceith headventofSpanish nd Portugueseule.The strongddedpressuresf im-

perial enetrationnd state entralizationn the ateeighteenthndnineteenthentury,willargue, ffectedhebehaviorf ndividualsinbothAsia andLatinAmerica.

CULTURE CONTACT AND CHANGE

In socialcienceiterature,articularlynanthropology,he mphasisonexposureoalternativeodes fbehaviors a prime ause f ocial

change oesbackat least otheearly art f thecentury.6n 1934,Robertedfield rote,The ocaldifferencesnYucatanhat ostrikethe ttentionre hosepparentlyuetothedifferentegreesowhichvariousommunitiesavebeen xposed o whatwe often peak f as'civilization'-schools,oadsand economic xploitation.he townsandvillagesre n varyingtages f a process f transitions a resultof these nfluences."7nthropologistsave continuedo relyheavilyonthe ultureontactmodeof analysis. or example, lmosthirty

yearsfter edfield'study n theYucatanwas written, eorgeM.Fosteruggestedhat hedegree f contact ith rban enterss thegreatesteterminantfchange mong easants.8

Other ranchesfthe ocial ciences ave ubsequentlydoptedheculture-contactode f nalysis.n ThePassing fTraditionalociety,the ociologistanielLernerxplicateshemost ompletend sophis-ticated odel fcultureontact. yfocusingn why uch hange c-curs, e attemptso go beyondhemere ssertionhat ontacteads o

liveandwork n rural, rimarilygriculturalommunities; ho participateo somedegree n cashand commodity arkets;nd who are subordinateo other lasses nthesociety. his article erives rom studywhichemployed content nalysis ffifty-oneases n monographs n villages n Asia and LatinAmerica, nd also stemsfrom ieldwork n Mexico and India. In manyareas,however, ata are scarce ndpropositionsemain ypothetical.or a listof thecases and a discussion f methodol-ogy, eeMigdal, Peasants n a ShrinkingWorld: The Socio-Economicasis of Po-liticalChange," npub.Ph.D. diss. HarvardUniversity972); also Migdal,Peasants,Politics,ndRevolutionPrinceton,orthcoming).

eB. Malinowski s thepre-eminentcholar ssociatedwiththisview in respect otribal eoples.He holds hat hange nAfrica s "theresult f an impact f a higher,active ulture pona simpler,morepassive ne." The Dynamics f CultureChange:AnInquiryntoRaceRelationsn AfricaNew Haven I945), I5.

7RobertRedfield nd AlfonsoVilla Rojas,ChanKom: A Maya Village (Chicagoi962), iX.

8 GeorgeM. Foster, raditional ultures,nd the mpactof Technological hange(NewYork962), 25, 30. "Thegreaterhe ange fnoveltyowhich eople reex-posed, hegreaterhe ikelihood hat heywill adopt newforms. ontact etween o-cietiessthe ingle reatesteterminatef culturehange" p. 25).



192 WORLD POLITICS

change. is modelbeginswith hepersonwhoacceptshange ndbecomes odernized'-"theobile ersonality."uch personsonewhohasa high apacityordentificationithnewaspectsfhisen-

vironment.10hus, hekey ngredientnthemobile ersonalitysem-pathy, heability o see oneselfn theother ellow'situation.hequestion erneroses s how societys able o producemanymobilepersonalities,orheperceives odernocietys oneconsistingfpeo-plewith he ualityfempathy.1"

Lerner'snswers that ttakes nexpansionfhuman ommunica-tion o produce hemodernman, heperson ith psychic obility,"who s ready oparticipaten andaccept ewpatterns. t first,his

expansionf communicationame hroughn increasentravel,utthemedia owobviateheneed or hysicalisplacement.he mediaaccent thepsychicisplacementfvicariousxperience,"nd are, nfact, venbetterhan ravel,or xposureo them ives hepersonmore rderedense fthewhole.12fter eaching certainhresholdofurbanization,iteracy, assmedia,nd nstitutionsfparticipation,a societyas a sufficientpparatusoprovideargenumbersfpeopleinits raditionalector ith xposurend contact ith henew, husconvertinghemntomobile ersonalities.13

The assumptionhat ncreasedontact ith ndexposureonewpatterns ill eadnotonly oincreasednowledgeut also tonewbehaviors foundn other heoriess well. n politicalcience,orexample,. Lamond ullishasusedFrank oung'snformation-proc-essing heoryo builda paradigmfpoliticalnd social hangenPeru.14ullis efinesinformation-processingapacity"sthe xtento

which n individualanprocess diversityf complexnformation9There s no total onsensusn themeaning fmodernization.n fact, omeschol-ars have spurnedts use altogether.ee, forexample, rvingLouis Horowitz,ThreeWorlds f Development: he Theorynd Practice f nternationaltratificationNewYork 966). In ThePassing fTraditionalociety:ModernizingheMiddleEast (NewYork I958), Viii,Daniel Lerner ees it primarilys a stateof mind-expectation fprogress, ropensityorgrowth,eadiness o adaptoneself o change.Later (p. 50),Lerner oes dentify odernociety ithbehavior, alling t the"Participantociety."For a general ndwidely ccepted efinitionfmodernization,e can use David E.Apter's,n The Politics fModernizationChicago i965), v. He refers o therapid

increase froles hat refunctionallyinkedn a settingmarked yrational, ierarchicalorganizations.10Lerner (fn. 9), 49. 1Ibid., 50. 12 Ibid., 53.13 "Traditional"s usedhereas a general erm, eferringo an institutionaletting

markedby diffusenessf roles and ascriptivealues. t also refers o patternshatare"long-held"i.e.,havebeenemployed yat least wogenerationsutusuallymanymore). n no way s it meant o denotehomogeneityfstructure,ortraditionalat-terns arywidely.

14F. LamondTullis,Lord and Peasant n Peru:A Paradigm f Political nd SocialChange Cambridge,Mass. 970), esp.chap. .




that ranscendstrictlyocalizedymbolicuances. e maintainshattheres a directinkbetweenuchnformation-processingapacitynindividualsnd modernization.peasant hogoes o thecity egu-

larly, ould,ccordingoTullis, robablyevelop highernforma-tion-processingapacityndwould doptmodern aysmore uicklythan newho stayed ome.

The mportancef ultureontacts a cause f ndividualnd socialchangesprobably ost bviousn the arge ndgrowing odyofliteraturen thediffusionf nnovation.akingmuch rom erner'sapproach,iffusion-of-innovationheoristsave mphasizedhe rucialrole f ommunicationndetermininghe ypefperson ho hanges.

Everettogers,he eading xponentf the heoryf diffusionf n-novationsnpoliticalcience, asemphasizedhe rucial oleofcom-municationngivinghe ndividualhewherewithalobecomemodern.Again, he ndividualsthekeyunit fanalysis,utRogers ttemptstoidentifyheconditionsnderwhich he ndividual ill be mostlikelyooptimize-thats, o abandon he raditionalor hemodern.He assertshat he nnovatormong easants ascertainharacteristicsorantecedentshichmakehim dentifiable.hese nclude iteracy,exposureothemassmedia, mpathy,nd achievementotivation,amongthers.'5heunderlyingngredientsfmodernization,owever,donot ifferignificantlyrom hose fLerner's odel. he processfchangesbasicallynewithoutevere iscontinuities,s the erm if-fusiontselfonnotes;hemore hedifferingectorsome ntocon-tactwith neanother,hemore ndividuals ill gainthe attributesassociated ith hange.

Inshort,hangesmost fteneennterms f ncentivesor he n-dividualo dopthe ew verhe ld.Cultureontact,itherersonallyorthrough edia xposure,resentshe ndividual ith he ability,the mpathy,he nformation-processingapacity,tc., o relate er-sonallyoalternativeife-styles.e then anweighhispresent at-ternsndcommitmentsgainst hemodern,nd theres little oubtamongmost uthorshat e will ccept hemodern.arriersochangeare een sbeingnternalothe ndividual-hisersonalrientation-

and ittle otesgiven othe trengthftraditional,arochialnstitu-tions nd heirbilityoaffecthe ndividual'shoice adically."6

15 Everett ogers,Modernization Among Peasants: The Impact of Communication(New York i969), 292.

1" Althoughmany cholars ay lip service o the roleof "individualization"n theprocess fmodernization,heconceptualensesusedto studywho changes nd whenlead researcherso impute high degreeof individualismo traditionalocieties swell.On individualization,ee,forexample,Alexander ckstein,Individualismnd



194 WORLD POLITICS

I will come ack ater o the uestionf theuse of the ndividualas thekey nalyticnit. irst,etusturno theweaknessesfthe ul-ture-contactxplanation.

DIFFICULTIES IN THE CONCEPT OF CULTURE CONTACT

Two interestingonographsave highlightedaseswhere herehasbeen degreefcultureontact,ut ittle bandonmentfthe ldpatterns.'7n thePeruvianillage fHualcan, umerous en eft hevillage achyear or emporaryork utside. largeproportionfthesemenwent o worknmoderngricultural-industriallantationsonthe oast fPeru, ar rom heir ndean illage. heseplantations

presentedworld ulturallyistincto thesemen, ndsomeworkedthereor p to twomonthsta time. et, ccordingo WilliamW.Stein, hese ontacts ere acculturationallyrrelevant."

That snot osay hat ochangesnvillageife esultedromheplantationork.Menreturned ith mpressiveums fcashwhichaffectedhe ocial tratificationfHualcan. et, nterestingly,hemendid notadopt hepatternshey ncountered.heirclotheshangedlittle. heirmoney as nvestedn andandfiestas,he ong-acceptedwaytodisposefsurplus.'8

Muchthe ame et ofevents ccurredmong hemenof Buarij,Lebanon. here, lmostll the dultmales eft hemountainousil-lageduringhe lackwintereasono work lsewhere. any f theirjobsput hemnto ontact ith ery ifferentndverymodernectorsofLebanon. lthough,nce gain, hangesnvillageife ccurred,hestrikingactoriscoveredyAnneH. Fullerwas the tabilityf at-

titudes,nstitutions,ndbehavior espite hese early orays."9the Role of the State n EconomicGrowth," conomicDevelopment nd CulturalChange, i (January958), 8I-87. AlsoseeJackM. Potter, apitalismnd theChinesePeasant:Social and EconomicChange n a Hong Kong Village(Berkeley968), 3,wherehe speaksof a changefrom "collectivityrientation"o an "individualisticorientation."

17 Bysimplyooking tcases nwhich hedegree fcontactwas highand economicgrowthwas quite low, Everett . Hagen has rejected xplanationsf national co-nomicgrowthhat rebasedon thedegree f contactwith heWest: "How EconomicGrowthBegins:A Theoryof Social Change," n JasonL. Finkleand RichardW.

Gable, ds.,Political evelopmentnd SocialChange, nd ed. (New York I97I), 73-74.Although do not feelthat theorys disproved yciting uchcases, am im-mediatelyed to questionwhythetheory id notexplain heparticularvents.

18 WilliamW. Stein,Hualcan: Lifein theHighlandsofPeru (Ithaca,N.Y. i96i).See alsohis"OutsideContact nd Cultural tabilityn a PeruvianHighlandVillage,"in Verne F. Ray,ed., Cultural tability nd CulturalChange,Proceedingsf theI957 AnnualSpringMeeting f theAmerican thnological ociety Seattle 957),i5-i6.

19AnneH. Fuller, uarij:Portraitfa LebaneseMuslimVillage Cambridge,Mass.i96i), 97.




These examples re representativef a growingnumberof casesthathavebeenturned p by researchersn recentyears n which theobjective onditions fhigh culture ontactwerenot followed y the

widespread ehavioralhanges ssociatedwith heprocess f moderni-zation. n one sense, headherents f the concept f culture ontactas an explanation f change turn t into an axiombeyonddisproof.Since oneofthe elements fthe concept s belief hat certain eoplemaynot elect hebenefitsfmodernityecause f their alue structureor ethos,20ne can always ttributehe ack ofchange n specific n-stances o the people'sparticular alues. In short, alues become agigantic esidual ategory hich "explain"all cases, uch as Hualcan

orBuarij,nwhich ignificanthangedoes not takeplace despite ighculture ontact.

Seriousdoubtsmustbe raisedabout such undifferentiatedonceptsas valuestructuresr ethos.For example, erynear thePeruvianvil-lageof Hualcan is anotherndian,freeholdingillage called Recuay-huanca. here, oo, easantseft hevillage uring he ff-seasono takejobson agricultural-industriallantationsn the coast.The results ftheirxperience eremuchdifferentrom hose f Hualcan'speasants,however. heyoung eople doptedWestern ress,ndeducationwentupinvalue. omevillagersollowed heirwork n theplantations ithtemporaryobs in Lima, and almost ll joined laborunionsbetween1945 and 1948.Manyoptedforpermanentmigrationrom he village,andothers, hilenotyet ble tomigrate, eldthe goal of eventuallyliving n Lima.21

Ifvaluesdo in fact xplainwhysomereject hangeand others c-

cept t,howdowe account orpeasantsn twovillages o close to oneanother nd structurallyimilar bothwerefreeholding illages, ncontrastothenearby aciendaofVicos), who reacted o differentlyto culture ontact?Can we assumethatvalue structuresre so dif-ferentorthetwo 22

A furtherroblemnregard o thereliance nvaluesorethos temsfrom henumerous ases n which ndividuals hange some patterns

20 Inrespect

o thefailure f peasantsochange,heword"ethos" as been employedby EdwardC. Banfieldn hisstudy f a southerntalianvillage,The Moral Basis ofa Backward ociety New York 958).

21 Joan nyder,TheChanging ontext fanAndeanCommunity,"n Ray fn. 8),20-29.

22 Aninterestingriticismf Banfield'seliance n ethos s madeby SydelF. Silver-man,pointingo structuraliflerencesn southerntalianvillages, Agricultural r-ganization,ocial Structure,nd Values in Italy:AmoralFamilism Reconsidered,"American nthropologist,XX (February968) I-20.



196 WORLD POLITICS

and commitmentsutnotothers.23ere,too, heresa ratherxtensiveliteraturehichdocuments uch casesofsyncretichangeand pointsto theweakness f theculture-contactxplanation.24n exampleof

suchpartial hange s found n the Jaunpur istrictfUttarPradesh,India, whereuniversity-educatedons still have theirmarriages r-rangedbytheir arents,manyof themreturningo live in the ointhousehold. thers ommute o the city owork as doctors r govern-ment lerkswhile theirwivesand children emain n thevillageandthe ointhousehold.n LatinAmerica, ocial scientistsave notedthepersistencefvillage-basedatternsfbehavior, oth ocially nd politi-cally, mong peoplewho have left he village to live in barrios ur-

rounding hecity.25Arethese eople nnovators?o they rdo theynot have empathy?

Do they ave high nformation-processingapacity r not? Whyhavethey ejectedmanyofthemodern atternsheyhave witnessed? hequestions ecome vensharperwhenwe consider hosewho travel o

23 Gusfield,Whitaker,nd othershave begunto argue thatmodernitynd tradi-tionalismrenot mutually xclusive. ut theyhavenot provided n alternativeheoryto explainwhymen accept omechanges nd notothers. ee Joseph . Gusfield, Tra-

dition nd Modernity: isplaced olaritiesn the Study f SocialChange,"AmericanJournalf Sociology,XXII (January967), 35i-62; and C. S. Whitaker,r., A Dys-rhythmicrocess f PoliticalChange,"World Politics, ix (January967), 190-2I7.

24 Whitaker,bid., 9i, has arguedthat"today's tudent f 'modernization'as in-ferred hat neffects a hypothesisbouthow non-Westerneoplegenerally ill reactto thekind ofinstitutionsielded y change n theWest.This hypothesisn essenceis that ltimatelyll non-Westerneopleswilleither ccept r reject hese nstitutions,moreor lesswholesale."He maintains hat mong those heorists ho see change s"eurhythmic"change n one areaoccasioninghangesn all others) re Parsons, evy,Hagen, Sutton, hils, Redfield, iggs,Millikanand Blackmer, inai, the Etzionis,and Apter, nd thatthenumber f empirical tudies mploying hisassumption retoonumerousolist.Whitaker oeson tosaythat here rethosewho have expresseddissatisfactionith thedichotomous octrines f "modernization"nalysis:Bendix,Black,Deutsch,Eisenstadt, oselitz,LaPalombara,W. E. Moore,Pye, Sanger, ndWard and Rustow. n the more recent nthropologicaliteraturesee, for example,theRhodes-Livingstoneapers) a casehas beenmade for"dysrhythmic"r syncreticchangeswhich are directedgainst he culture-contactxplanation. ut no one hasyet onstructedn alternativenclusiveheory. alinowskifn. 6,p. 39), himself ecog-nizestheproblem fsyncretichange: Can we analyzemorefully heproblemwhycertainelementssurvive and othersdisappear . . . ?" He also acknowledges the prob-lem ofreactionsgainst Westernization"n times f "transition,"peaking f com-

patibility,daptability,nd conflict.nfortunately,o satisfactoryolutions avecomeforthrom he iterature.t is notenough osaythat ontact isorganizeshe old cul-ture.Onemust xplainhow andwhy.

25 Urbanmigrantsften eeptheir oliticallyassive rientation,he ontraryssump-tionbysomenotwithstanding.ften,heweaknesshathas causedpolitical nefficacysrepeatedn thecity. ee WayneCornelius,Urbanizations an Agent f LatinAmeri-can Instability:he Case ofMexico,"American olitical cienceReview, XIII (Sep-tember969), 845-54; lso,JoanNelson, The UrbanPoor:Disruption r Politicaln-tegrationn Third WorldCities?"WorldPolitics, xii (April 970), 393-414.




EuropeortheUnitedStates o study, etmaintainmanyof their ldpatternsnd commitments.26

Finally, ulture ontact s an explanation f changefailsto takeac-

count f thedifferentiationetween wodistinctoncepts-socialmo-bilization ndmodernization.ocialmobilizations thebreaking ownof old social,economic, nd psychologicalommitments,27hereasmodernizations the actualadoption f new commitmentsnd pat-terns, esultingntheuse ofnewlevels ftechnologynd in structuraldifferentiation.iven the assumption hat culture contactcauseschange, t is easyto seewhy thismerging fthe twoconcepts houldoccur, orwhy abandonthe old (social mobilization) fnot,simul-

taneously,n order o adoptthenew?Ifwe rely n theculture-contactxplanation, e face a difficultyn

understandinghenumerous ases n whichtherehas been a processofabandonmentf traditionalatternsnd commitmentssocial mo-bilization),withoutnecessarilyeadingto the adoptionof thewaysandprocesses ssociatedwithmodernization.28hus, S. N. Eisenstadthas spokenof the "post-traditional"ociety,ne in whichlong-heldpractices nd beliefs re discarded, ut in which new roles are notcharacterizedyspecificityn a settingmarked yrational ierarchicalorganizations,or by theadoption f new levelsoftechnology.29hegrowth fcertainmillenarianmovements aybe an example fsocialmobilization ithoutmodernization.30

26 Richard D. Robinson tellsof Turkish workers in Germanywho revertedto theirold patterns pon returning o Turkey. "A View of Five Decades of Turkish Develop-ment," addresspresentedat Harvard University,November 24, i969. Some literaturecontendsthat the retentionof certainold social patternsmay facilitateacceptance ofmoderneconomic habits.See Gusfield (fn. 23).

27 Karl W. Deutsch, "Social Mobilization and Political Development," American Po-litical cienceReview, v (September i96i), 493-5I4.

28 Even Deutsch's measures of social mobilization,for example, highlightnot onlythe erosion and breakdown of the old, but such changes as urbanization, growth ofthenonagricultural ector, ncreases n literacy, nd growth in GNP-all of which re-flect n adoption, by large numbers,of new patternsassociatedwith modernization.In such cases, it is difficult o differentiate ocial mobilization from modernizationitself.The two seem to be so closely tied that the existence of one presupposes theexistence of the other. Ibid.

29 One scholar writeson Latin America, "The intrusion of the market economyde-

stroyed ncientcivilizations,handicrafts,nd agriculture, ut it did not bringmoderni-zation." Robert . Rhodes, "The Disguised Conservatism n EvolutionaryDevelopmentTheory,"cience ndSociety,xxii (Fall i968), 402.

30 "The persistentvitalityof groups that are neither traditionalnor modern nortransitional oses one of the most stubbornconceptual and practicalproblems of po-litical development." Frances R. Hill, "Millenarian Machines in South Vietnam,"Comparative tudies in Societyand History,xiii (July 971), 325. Mrs. Hill goes on tosay thattribes, astes,or millenarianmovementscannot simplybe considered aberrantvestiges.



198 WORLD POLITICS

UNDERSTANDING CHANGE: AN ALTERNATIVE EXPLANATION

GuyHunterhaswritten hatthepeasantvillagehistorically as a

placethat arboreduppressed inorityeelings-feelingshich,whengiven heproper pportunity,ouldtranslatento ignificantehavioralchanges.3" wo questionsmmediatelyometomind.First,whyandhow werethesefeelingsuppressed?econd,who in thevillagehadsuch eelings? o answer hese uestions,nemust efer o twodistincttypes fhistoricalillages:32 hosenwhich heruleof ords33redomi-nated, nd thefreeholdingillages34nwhich herewasno immediaterule oflocal lords.35

In villageswhere ordswere trong,hewhyand howofsuppressionarefairly lear.A lordputbarriersgainst he nvolvementfpeasantswith ndividualsnd institutionsutside hevillage, ecause twas onthe outside thatthepeasantsmighthave foundalternativeso theservices eprovided. easants,ven fthey esirednew toolsor meth-ods, simply ould not riskgoing against he lord'sdesires.He con-trolled he vitalresources,nd hissanctionsncludedwithholdingheland,water, rserviceshepeasants obadlyneeded.Whetherhrough

the institutionf serfdomn feudalEuropeor labor debtson LatinAmerica's aciendas,36ordsboundpeasants oan existence hich hutoff nypossibilitiesfescapefrom arochialism.he larger hescopeof the ord'sresources,hegreater heprimacy f thoseresourcesothepeasants; nd themoremonopolisticiscontrolver hose esources,the moredifficult as itfor hepeasants orisk eeking lternatives.37

31GuyHunter,Modernizing easantSocieties:A Comparativetudy n Asia and

Africa New York969), 31.

32 The twoare dealtypesnd areusedtoindicate spectrumanging rom villageruledby a singlepowerfulord to a village nhabitedntirelyyindependenteasantfamilies.

-' The lord s differentiatedrom hepeasantn thathe did notneed toworktheland butcould ivecompletelyff hework f othershroughents,nterest,ndprofit.

34Freeholding illages ouldconsist ntirelyf smallfarmers n private r com-munal ands,but could also be villages n whichonlya portion f thefamilies adcontrol f or access o cultivableand. In anycase,however, o one person r groupofpersonsn a freeholdingillagehad theextensiveontrol lorddid.

35There s a rough orrelationetweenord-ruledillages nd a patrimonialomain,and freeholdingillages nd a prebendal omain, utcertainlyothtypes f villagesexisted n bothdomains.For a discussion f domains n whichpeasants ived,seeEricR. Wolf, easants EnglewoodCliffs, .J. 966), 50-59.

36"The hacienda s not ustan agriculturalropertywnedbyan individual. hehaciendas a society,nderprivate uspices.t is an entire ocialsystemnd governsthe ifeof those ttached o it from hecradle to thegrave." FrankTannenbaum,TenKeysto LatinAmericaNew York 962), 8o.

37 An importantiterature asbeguntogrow n politicalcience n thequestion fpatron-clientelations.hreeofthebest rticles reReneLemarchandnd KeithLegg,"Political lientelismndDevelopment: Preliminarynalysis,"omparativeolitics,




The questionfwhy ndhow minorityeelings rientedowardchangewere uppressedn a freeholdingillage s somewhat orecomplex.hefact hat herewereno lords irectlyoverninghese

villages oesnotmean hat hepeasants erenot ubject o theruleofclasses bove hem. he state epresentedhese lasses ndruledthroughwhatF. G. Baileyhas called imperium.38HarumiBefuhaswrittenfthehostilityoward ulinglites hatwascommonmongpeasantsnsuch tates.39he state llowed hevillage ogoverntselfinternally,utextractedhighprice hroughaxation.

Peasantsnthese reeholdingillagesufferedrom heir ulnerabil-ity: heir ontact ith utsidenstitutionseant igh axes nd ex-

ploitation,nd, sa result,hepeasantselt hat heworld utsidehevillagewasfraught ith anger nd hostilityor hem. ommunitieslivedwithinheir bamboo edge" ndhad nstitutionso prevent,smuch s they ould, urthernterferencen their ffairs hich hehostile orld utsidemight ring bout y means f alliances ithpeasantsesiringhange.40

Suchfreeholdingommunitiesad variousmechanisms,or xam-ple, oconsumerredistributehe urplus f thewealthiereasants.Fiestas,eremonies,ift rocedures,nd so fortherved opreventheaccumulationy anyone f resourceshat ouldbe usedto formlli-anceswith utsidendividualsr nstitutions.41he fearwas that uchalliancesould orm he asis fan evenmore irectnd severeomi-nationfthepeasants.anctionsuch s gossip, efusalfcooperativelabor, eatings,stracism,ndbanishmentervedo nsureompliancewith hedemands f ocal nstitutions.42

iv (January972), 149-78; John uncan Powell, Peasant ociety nd Clientelistoli-tics," merican olitical cienceReview,XIV (June 970), 4II-25; and James . Scott,"Patron-Clientolitics nd PoliticalChange,"paperpresented t the American o-litical cienceAssociation eetingsLos Angeles970). For a concise iscussionf thelord-peasantelationshipnBrazil, ee thebeginningf BennoGaljart, Class and Fol-lowing'n RuralBrazil,"America atina,vii (July-September964).

38F. G. Bailey,Caste and theEconomicFrontier:A Village n HighlandOrissa(Manchester957), 255.

39 HarumiBefu, ThePoliticalRelation ftheVillageto the State,"WorldPolitics,xix (July 967), 60i-20.

40 See, forexample,JohnT. McAlister, r., nd Paul Mus, The VietnamesendTheirRevolutionNew York i970).

41 See,forexample,bid., 33; Eric R. Wolf,"ClosedCorporate easantCommuni-ties n Mesoamerica nd CentralJava," outhwesternournal f Anthropology,III(Spring 957), 4; ManningNash,"PoliticalRelationsn Guatemala,"ocial and Eco-nomic tudies, II (March 958), 69; and Sol Tax, PennyCapitalism: GuatemalanIndianEconomyChicago 963).

42 See MelvinM. Tumin,Caste n a Peasant ociety:A CaseStudy n theDynamicsofCaste Princeton952), 3I; Everett . Hagen,On the Theory f Social Change:



200 WORLD POLITICS

Who werethose n theminority ithsuppressed eelings?Mostprobably,heywerethose easantswhocontributedisproportionatelyto themaintenance f villageinstitutions.43lthoughtheyreceived

honor ndprestige ithin hecommunity,heywereaware ofother,larger eferenceroups utside hevillage.Becauseof their esources,theywere in a much less vulnerable osition hantheirneighbors.Theyrecognizednstancesnwhicheconomicnvestmentas foolishbecause finstabilityutside, ut at other imes hey elt hatoutsideinvestment ould beworth herisk f nternal estraintsid notexist.The severenternalanctionsmeant, owever,hat herewas nocushionin case of failure-rejectionn theoutsideworldwould mean total

isolation.In sum,therewere twinforces t work in traditional easantvil-

lages.44 herewasthe ureofthereferenceroups utside hevillage,45whichwas counteractedy thefunctioningf the community. hepeasantwasnot "free" conomicndividual ho couldchoose etweendifferingife-stylesndopportunities.ather, e operatedwithin setof nstitutions-institutionshat avehimprotectionndother ervices,while at the same timeplacingsevereconstraintsn his behavior.Whether hese nstitutionsentered round ordsorfreeholdingom-munities,heir orporateature utthe ndividualna position f ittleflexibility.ersonal rientationochangematteredmuch ess thantheinstitutionaluards gainst mployinghemeans ochange.

Sincetheorientationo abandon illageways nfavor fthepatternsoutside hevillagewas alwayspresentmongsome,46n explanation

of whenchangeoccurs hould focuson the conditions nderwhichsuch an orientationould express tself.Underwhat conditionswasthis alance nthetension foutward-nd inward-orientedorcesnd

How EconomicGrowth egins Homewood, Ill. i962), 66; and Hunter (fn. 31), 40.Hunter also mentions the use of witchcraft.These sanctions were not always fullyeffective; ome peasantsmanaged to establishoutside links and become mastersovertheir formerpeers.

43See MehmetBeqiraj, Peasantry n Revolution (Cornell ResearchPapers in Interna-tionalStudies, 966, V), chap. I.

44Wilbert E. Moore states that it is most useful to see social systems n termsofintrinsic train.SocialChange Englewood Cliffs,N.J. i963), 67-68.

45 ee Charles Tilly, The Vendee New York i967), 59-65,for a discussionof thegrowth of the influenceof outside norms.

46 Besides Hunter (fn. 31), see Eric R. Wolf, "Aspects of Group Relations in aComplexSociety:Mexico,"AmericanAnthropologist,VIII (December 956), i165;F. G. Bailey, "The PeasantView of the Bad Life," The AdvancementfScience, xiii(December i966), 403-4; and Michael Moerman, Agricultural hange and PeasantChoice n a Thai Village Berkeley i968), 77.




institutionshanged? n otherwords,when werethecosts foutsideparticipationowered?

In villages ominated y ords, hechange n conditionsnvolvedhe

inabilityr unwillingnessf the ords ocontinue estrainingeasantsfrommaking llianceswith utsiders. hereweretwo nterrelatedea-sonsfor he oosening f their rip, oth temmingrom heeffectsfstate entralizationnd imperial enetration.he firstwas thatthelords ameunder ignificantompetitionrom hecentralizingnstitu-tions fthe tate.47his de-monopolizationfthe ords'power essenedtheir bility o apply effectiveanctions gainst their clients, incealternativeources f resourcesnd services ereonhand for hepeas-

ants.48he secondreasonalso stems rom his centralization.s thecriteria orprestige nd success hanged n the state, he lords oftenchanged heirbehavior o maintain heir ocial position.49n manycases hismeant moveto thecity, eaving he ands n an administra-tor's ands. easants o longer eceived he ords'personalisticervices,such s fiestas r burial xpenses,utthosewithsufficientesourcesadistinct inority,s we shall ee) found hat henewbusinesslikeela-tionships ith the lords' administratorsllowed them muchgreaterchoice f action.That is, theforces hathad preventedheir doptionofnew tools nd methods ecamemuch ess mposing han theyhadpreviouslyeen. WesleyW. Craig reports uch a case of lowering fbarriers. n thehaciendas n the La ConvencionValleyin Peru,thedecreased igilance f the ords ed to their ranting request y thepeasants o grow coffee. he decisionwas crucial, or coffeewas anexport ropthatput the peasants nto new relationships ith outside

middlemen nd businessfirms. Once engagedin a commercially-orientedgriculture,"raig writes, the campesinos ound hemselvesinvolved n a chainlike equence f needs and demands."50

The answer s to whenand why the balance between he inwardand outward orceswas tipped n freeholding illages s morecom-plicated.G. WilliamSkinner xplores ne historical etofconditions

47 Scott fn. 37), 20.48 See, forexample, the statement y William H. and CharlotteViall Wiser, Behind

Mud Walls930-1960 (Berkeley964), 20.

49 Hagen (fn. 42), i92, sees "withdrawal of status respect" as a key element inprecipitatingocial change.

50 WesleyW. Craig, "Peru: The Peasant Movement of La Convencion," n Henry A.Landsberger,ed., Latin AmericanPeasantMovementsIthaca, N.Y. i969), 293-94.

For a further eference o the stratification nder lords and the abilityto seize op-portunities,ee Charles J.Erasmus, "Agrarianvs Land Reform: Three Latin AmericanCountries,"n Philip K. Bock,ed., Peasants in theModern World (Albuquerque i969).Erasmus writes of the reconsolidation of holdings after the blockage of hacendadosdisappears.



202 WORLD POLITICS

which esultedn the suppressedinority's"recipitationfwide-spreadhange.nChina, long-termtabilizationf utsidenstitutionsledto numerousew alliances etween easantsndoutsiders.uch

stabilizationould educe he nsecurityfoutside articipationnoughto make omepeasantsake herisk f being eftwithouthecom-munity'srotection.5'

Yet,politicaltabilizationf theoutsides a long-termrocesshatby tselfannotxplain heuniversalndrapid rocessf moderniza-tion.ntheast wo enturies,here asbeen neprecipitantf changeof onditionshich asweakenedhe bilityf he reeholdingillageopreventomemembersrommaking ew alliances.his precipitant

was aneconomicrisis hatwas felt ifferentiallyithinhepeasantvillages-someouseholdseing truckery ard nd somenot t all.I believe hattwas this ypefcrisis hich, yundermininghe on-ditions nderwhich ocal institutionsouldeffectivelyestrainheminorityith uppressedeelings,rokehe orporatetrengthf radi-tional nstitutions.

Economic risesn peasant illagesn Latin America nd Asiastemmed,s did thechangen lord-dominatedillages,rom heef-fectsfworldwidemperialismnthe ighteenthndnineteenthen-turies.52na varietyfways,mperialismet naction chain feventsthatmade t ncreasinglyifficultormany illage ouseholdsokeeptheirncomequalto theirxpenses.opulationrowths one of themostmportantauses fthe conomicrisishat an be attributedoimperialism.he exact rocessesnvolvedn the tremendousise n

51 Skinner, ChinesePeasantsand the Closed Community: n Open and Shut

Case," Comparativetudies n SocietyndHistory,iii

(July97I),270-81.

52 The imperialism f the eighteenthnd nineteenth enturies ame primarilythroughhemechanism f colonialism. have used the word imperialism,owever,to conveyhe deaof a transferf wealth rom herural reastooutside enters. hisneednotcomeonly hroughhedominance foccupation.t is also importanto notethat, s Galtung oints ut, mperialisms notmerelyn internationalelationshiputa combinationf intra- nd inter-nationalelations.he center f thecolony, orex-ample, erved s a bridgeheador he olonialists.ohanGaltung,A Structuralheoryof Imperialism,"ournal fPeace Research, iII, No. 2 (1971), 8i-iI7. One can alsothink f a case of such transferrom heperipherieso the center s beingalmostwhollynternalJapan)without he nternationallement o fit t into the rubric f

imperialism. evertheless,have used the wordimperialismecauseof its effectnunitinghevarious eripheriesalbeit n whatGaltung allsa feudal nteraction)ndcausing uch rises niversallyndsimultaneously.ora collectionf nterestingrticleson the effects f imperialism,ee Robert . Rhodes, d., Imperialismnd Underde-velopment: Reader New York 970). Also see Theotonio os Santos, The Struc-tureof Dependence,"American conomicReview, X (May I970), 23I-36. For anopposing iew on theroleof mperialism,ee Carol AnnCosgrove,ColonialLegaciesand Developmentrospectsn the ThirdWorld Part I)," International elations,v(May 972), 52-77.




naturalncreaserecomplex nd notyetfully nderstood,ut theeffectastoburdenmanybutnot ll) families ithmoremembersthan hey ould upport. notherause f such rises,s bureaucratic

centralizationroceeded,as anincreasefdemandsnthepeasants.Manywerenowforcedo find herare ommodityf cash topaytaxesatherhanhe hare f he rop hey adalways iven.Moreover,the axeswere emandedromndividualsndnotfromhevillagesa whole, reventingnternaledistributionrior o paying axes.53Finally, he ndustrialroductsf theimperialistsften estroyedmarketsor easant andicraft,hich adbeen n importantourceof ncome.54

Allthreeactors-populationrowth,ncreasedtate emands,nderosionf hehandicraftarket-placedumerousreeholdingouse-holds n severe inancialtraits. he solutionhey oughtwas verymuch long raditionalines.Withouties ooutsidenstitutionsandfearinghat uch ieswouldmeanonly ncreasedxploitation),heneedyurnedorhelp toothersn thevillagewhohadescaped hecrisis.

In thepast, pward nddownwardmobility ithinhevillage'sstatusystemadbeen haped y he llfortunefonefamilynd thegoodfortunef another.elling and and givingoans from nehouseholdo another aised hestatus fsome ndloweredhat fothers.hepersistence,everity,nd cope fthe conomicrisestem-ming romhe hreeactorsescribedere adthe ffectf ontinuallystrengtheninghepositionfthosewhohadnotbeen ffected,ndofwideninghegapbetweenhemndthose nneed.The social truc-turewas no

longermarked

ythefluidityfthepast;55nstead,tbecame olarized-anncreasingroportionf thevillage's esourcescomingnto hehands f thefewwhohadescapedhecrisis.Whilesomeold and ndwent eeplynto ebt,thersuilt heirower osi-tion o thepointwhere hey o longer adtofear he anctionsfthe ommunity.heeffectivenessf anctionsadpreviouslyependedonfairlyqualreciprocity;ow,those n controlfmanyvitalre-sourcesidnotneed ofear hose hoseurvivalependednthese e-

53McAlister nd Mus (fn. 0), 36, I, 73-74, ote hedevastatingffecthese hangesin taxpolicy ythe Frenchhad in Vietnam.

54See,for xample, ekijeEglar,A PunjabiVillage n PakistanNew York i960);HenryOrenstein,aon: Conflictnd Cohesion n an IndianVillage Princeton965);PeterJ.Wilson,A MalayVillage ndMalaysia: ocial Values nd RuralDevelopment(New Haven 967); andShu-chingee, "Agrarianismnd SocialUpheaval n China,"TheAmerican ournalfSociology,VI (May I951), 5I7-i8.

5 A Chinese roverbtates,Nobody tays ichforthree enerations;obody tayspoorthree enerations." cAlister ndMus (fn.40), 33.



204 WORLD POLITICS

sources.imultaneouso theweakeningf anctions,hose easantswhohad not been affectedy the economiccrisisfound that theirnewwealth,achieved hrough he misfortunef others, ave themthe

means oform utside lliances.56nce involvedn a significantum-ber ofoutside nstitutions,heyhad an evenstrongerasefromwhichtofortifyheir ositionsn thevillage.57xternal ieswere now usedmorethaneverbefore o shapethe village's nternal ower structure.

CONCLUSIONS

The processes escribed ereto explainchange emphasize he his-toricalweakening f institutionshat had suppressedhefeelings fpeasantswho were oriented owardmobilityn the world outside hevillage.Theyalsohelpus to understandt least two differentetsofreasonsfor abandoning raditional atterns nd commitments.hefirst as the desire, n the partofthosewithsufficientesourcesndwealth, o achieve ecognitionnd successn a system iderthanthatofthevillage.When therestraintsgainst ewmodesofbehaviorwereno longer s formidables theyhad been n the past, heymadetheir

move.Their desireforupwardmobilityn the wider status ystem,andtheir ossessionf sufficientesourceso playthegame outside,edthem o adopt hepatterns fbehavior fthe outside. or them, ocialmobilization,he abandonmentf the old, meant the simultaneousadoption f thenewways ssociated ithmodernity.

A second etofreasons or bandoning he old concerns hatgroupofpeoplewhohad relied n thefunctioningf the traditionalnstitu-tions oprotectnd serve hem, nd who lackedthe resources o ad-

vance nthewider tatusystem. fter he and consolidationnd theeconomic entralization y the fortunate ew, theyfound that theywere eftnotonlywithout esources utalsowithout ommunity ro-tection. he sanctions nd customs hathad called for redistributionwithin hevillagewere no longer perative. he barriers gainst ut-side lliances, hich ould eadto ncreased conomic xploitation,adfallen. uttheir kills or dvancementnthewider ystem erenegli-gible.

56 In Thyagasamathiram,adrasState,ndia, s restrictionsmposed y theBrahmincaste ased,those n thenon-Brahminasteswho had moreresourcesncreased heirwealth. heir and accumulationeduced pportunitiesfothers o acquiremore and.Dagfin ivertsen, hen CasteBarriersall: A StudyofSocial and EconomicChangein a South ndianVillage New York 963), IOI-2.

57See,for xample, . S. Epstein's iscussionfthevillage fWangala, ndia,as anillustrationfhow thosewho arebetter ff se outside iesto solidifynd strengthentheir osition. conomic evelopmentnd SocialChange n South ndia (ManchesterI962).




Thesepeasants ecame he andlessaborers homakeup an in-creasingortionfrural ociety;58any f them repart f thevastworldwide igrationrom ountrysideocities nd owns.59heyhave

undergoneocialmobilization,utthey renotpreparedoabandontheirong-heldatterns.heyhaveneitherhe esourcesor he rien-tation o change. orthem, ocialmobilizationas notbeen at allcoincidentalithmodernization.henthey an,they o utilize s-pects f themodern orld.60ome earn herules f thegame andadapt heir conomicehavioro therealitieshey ace.However,heworld utsidehevillage emains hostile rena o

them. heyfeelweakandvulnerable,nd, as a result,maintains

many f their ldinstitutionss they an for heir rotection.6"e-spite hedecline fthe orporateillage nd the ord,many easantscontinueo use smallkinship ndneighborhoodroupss a meanstoprotecthendividualgainstutsidexploitationnd asa corporatemeans o move pward n thewider tatus ystem.

58"For example, in India between i91I and I93I, there was an increase of 53.4% inagriculturalaborers-from 2I.7% to 33.3% of the total agriculturalpopulation.M. C.Dantivala, "Problems in Countries with Heavy Pressure of Population on Land: The

Case of India," in Kenneth H. Parsons, Raymond J. Penn, and Philip M. Raup, eds.,Land Tenure (Madison, Wis. I956), I36. The green revolution in the i960's seemsonlyto have acceleratedtheprocessof land consolidation at the expense of the weakest.In the Indian Punjab, they seem to have suffered n absolute economic decline. Fran-cine R. Frankel and Karl von Vorys,"The Political Challenge of the Green Revolution:Shifting atterns fPeasant Participation n India and Pakistan," (Policy MemorandumNo. 38, Center of InternationalStudies, Princeton I972). In the Sahiwal District ofPakistan, the income of the 70% of the population hovering near subsistence has de-clined relatively n the i960's, and a good portion has declined absolutely as well.Carl H. Gotsch,"The Distributivempact ofAgriculturalGrowth:Low Income Farmersand the System' A Case Study of Sahiwal District,West Pakistan)," paper presentedto the Seminar on Small Farmer

Development Strategies,The AgriculturalDevelop-mentCouncil nd The Ohio StateUniversityColumbus, eptember3-I5, I971), 52.

One studyon Pakistan has shown that,between i959 and i969, those with less thanIo acres and those with IO to 25 acres lost I2.2% and 6.9% of their and respectively.Shahid JavedBurki, "Development of West Pakistan Agriculture:An InterdisciplinaryExplanation,"paper read at the Workshop on Rural Development in Pakistan, Michi-gan StateUniversity East Lansing, July 6, I971), 28.

59On this phenomenon, see, for example, James P. Grant, "Marginal Men: TheGlobal UnemploymentCrisis,"ForeignAflairs, (October I970), II2-24.

60 An interestingxample of such syncretism ccurs in an Africantribal dance. Here,low-statusurban workers seek to express their traditional tribal solidarity but useprestige-creatinguropean clothes-a sign of theirrecognitionof the new rules in thestatus ystem. Those who by virtueof theirposition in the community an commandlittleprestige n everyday ife, on Sundays don thesymbols nd outward marks of rankand display these in front of the admiring spectators at the dance arena." J. ClydeMitchell, The Kalela Dance: Aspects of Social Relationshipsamong Urban Africansin NorthernRhodesia, Rhodes-Livingstone aper No. 27 (Manchester i956), i5. Alsosee his discussionof worker-management elations and tribalism,33-34.

61 "What appears to the outsider as backwardness can thus be seen as a rationalresponse to an erraticmarket and exploitative redit and market mechanisms."Rhodes(fn. 29), 403.



206 WORLD POLITICS

Culture ontact lone snota sufficientondition f culturehange.62In thepeasantvillages f Asia and LatinAmerica,whereeconomiccriseshave hitdiflerentially,he old institutionsave weakened uffi-

cientlyoallow the utward-orientedorcesotriumph.nce that ointhasbeenreached, heresponse f villagers epends n their conomicpositionwithin hevillage.

The focus, n social science, n the individual n the processofchangerather hanon traditionalnstitutionsnd people'srelation othem,has led to a tendency o over-aggregaten studies f change.63Dependingon their osition n thevillage, herewere some whowel-comedthe breakdown f the old and readily ccepted he new pat-

terns. ut therewerealsosomewho wereforced ntopatterns nd in-stitutions here heywould remainweak and vulnerable. or them,syncretichangemeant alvaging rom heold institutionsvery it ofprotection hat they ould.

621Basedon the explanation presented n this article,one can speculate on the dif-ferentreactions,by the peasants of Hualcan and Recuayhuanca, to their working ex-perience on Peru's agricultural-industriallantations.For those with resourcesto makeoutside alliances, there must have been a lessening of internal restraints s well as asufficientlyecure "outside" in which to risk participation.Two elements seem to be

important. First, lacking highland grazing pastures, Recuayhuanca had much lessagriculturalpotential than Hualcan. Second, Peru's caste systemmade upward mobilityfor ndians into creole or even mestizo society mpossible.Thus, in the case of Hualcan,even with a high degree of culturecontact those with adequate resourcesdid not finda sufficientlyospitable and secure outside environment n which to invest and makealliances. The continuing viabilityof the Hualcan economy and prestigesystemmayhave made it the best place for an Indian to invest forprestige.Recuayhuanca's povertyand lack of agriculturalpotential,however, may have made investmentfor prestigethereeven less invitingthan trying o break the larger societal caste barrier. There areinteresting toriesof how Indians in such cases adopt a mestizo self-identity,ress, etc.,but are still considered ower-caste ndians by the mestizos themselves. evere poverty,

and a lack of viabilityof community nstitutions temming from that poverty,maymake even an inhospitableenvironmentmore attractivefor those with resources toinvest.

63 See Burki's charges against sociologists and economists who studiedPakistan (fn.58), 24 and passim.

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