In most post colonial societies in the post world war
2 period, rural development was
synonymous with ‘modernization;
which centered on achieving economic
growth through technological
and scientific inputs and new
social organizations. The
aim was to transform the non
capitalist and subsistence -
oriented sections and bring them to the
world of the modern and market – oriented capitalist sectors, initially based on a laissez faire ideology, in newly –independent countries
after the 2nd world war, the
process increasingly came to be dependent
on the state and
international funding agencies
In general, rural development programs
may be classified according to two general categories
1.
growth oriented and productivity centered programs,
also known as the technocratic model,
2.
Equity
oriented and redistributive programs, also called the radical strategy,
and
The reformist model
which is a combination of the
first two (Sajogyo 1979:109-138) and inayatullah and Wanasinghe 1979:413:429
1.
The nature of peasant society with respect to
social class structures and
moral communities
2.
The
process of agrarian (or rural)
change and in particular, the
transition from pre – or non
–capitalist societies to capitalist ones including the alleged disappearance of
the peasantry,
3.
The potential
for revolutionary and predication action among the peasantry and their
role in movements for social
change
4.
rural
development strategies and the role of the state, and
5.
social
history and history from below with focus
on life histories, moral economy
and everyday forms of resistance