''The Moral Economy of the Peasant: Rebellion and Subsistence in Southeast Asia'' is a 1976 book by
James C. Scott
James C. Scott (born December 2, 1936) is an American political scientist and anthropologist specializing in comparative politics. He is a comparative scholar of agrarian society, agrarian and non-state societies, Subaltern (postcolonialism), ...
on the nature of subsistence ethics in peasant cultures. He asserts that peasants prefer the stability of state or landlord protection of minimal subsistence over the risky instability of self-subsistence, producing a
feudal
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a wa ...
moral economy
Moral economy refers to economic activities viewed through a moral, not just a material, lens. The definition of moral economy is constantly revisited depending on its usage in differing social, economic, ecological, and geographic situations and ...
. Where
colonialism
Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their relig ...
and introductions of
market economies
A market economy is an economic system in which the decisions regarding investment, production and distribution to the consumers are guided by the price signals created by the forces of supply and demand, where all suppliers and consumers are ...
interfere with this arrangement, peasants will rebel, separate from concerns about fluctuating quality of life. Scott cites three 1930s rebellions as examples:
Cochinchina
Cochinchina or Cochin-China (, ; vi, Đàng Trong (17th century - 18th century, Việt Nam (1802-1831), Đại Nam (1831-1862), Nam Kỳ (1862-1945); km, កូសាំងស៊ីន, Kosăngsin; french: Cochinchine; ) is a historical exony ...
, the Burmese
Saya San Rebellion
Saya San also spelled Hsaya (original name Yar Kyaw, my, ဆရာစံ, ; 24 October 1876 – 28 November 1931) was a physician, former monk and the leader of the Saya San Rebellion of 1930-1932 in British Burma. The series of uprisings ...
, and the Vietnamese
Nghệ-Tĩnh Soviets
The uprising of the Nghệ-Tĩnh soviets ( vi, Phong trào Xô Viết Nghệ-Tĩnh) was the series of uprisings, strikes and demonstrations in 1930 and 1931 by Vietnamese peasants, workers, and intellectuals against the colonial French regime, t ...
.
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External links
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1976 non-fiction books
English-language books
Books about Asia
American non-fiction books
Books by James C. Scott
Yale University Press books
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