Some reflections on late twentieth century agrarian political economy

The 'new rural sociology' arguably represented the most significant watersh ed in the development of rural sociology during the 1970s and 1980s. I argu e, however, that the new rural sociology, especially its dominant tradition s of Chayanovian and neo-leninist Marxism, has now been almost entirely sup erseded as a theoretical position in agrarian political economy by the inte rnational food regimes, commodity chains/systems analysis, regulationist, a nd actor-network traditions. In addition, Wageningen School research on 'fa rming styles' and the 'cultural-turn' within rural sociology and rural stud ies have arisen, in part, as challenges to the more structuralist styles of reasoning within agrarian political economy. Parallel trends in the sociol ogy of development are also discussed. The paper concludes with an appraisa l of the strengths and weaknesses of these new late twentieth century tradi tions in agrarian political economy, particularly in comparison with the ne w rural sociology.