Autonomy as a politico‐economic concept: Peasant practices and nested markets

Abstract

This paper discusses autonomy as a set of practices that result in the production and reproduction of resources that allow for self‐organization. We define autonomy as a social construct that refers to the self‐organizing capacity of people, communities, and movements. Such capacity assumes both resources and agency. In that vein, our conceptualisation implies that autonomy is a relational concept: It can only emerge when and where struggles that aim at going beyond dependency (i.e., nonautonomy) concretely exist. Autonomy is three‐pronged, involving a set of goal‐oriented activities, a distantiation from capital, and the agency of social actors. Intertwined with these levels are peasant movements that have the capacity to develop and implement a political agenda that is not overshadowed and/or dictated by external influences. The paper illustrates this intertwining with the case of the Circuito (O Circuito), a Brazilian peasant movement that has constructed and operates an extended farmers' market and which simultaneously transforms farming practices. The Circuit is the outcome of collective action and shows the potential of multilevel performance of several actors engaged in concerted actions. In the conclusion, we suggest that the Circuit represents autonomy based on commonly pooled resources as well representing a countermovement to the destructive dynamics of food empires.

Between autonomy and heteronomy: Navigating peasant and indigenous organizations in contemporary Bolivia

“…In Polanyi (1992) perspective, they aim at transforming the model of a unique and dominant self‐regulated market towards other of balanced articulation of market, autarky, centrality, and asymmetry. Moreover, as van der Ploeg and Schneider (2022) show with the case of Brazil in this issue, market is understood by these actors as an institution that may vary and transform through collective action, in opposition to a homogeneous free and unregulated market as portrayed by the neoliberal framework. The exceptions here are the CSCIB and the coca growers that, in the economic realm, seek a more classical market integration.…”

Farming without farms? Challenges for organisational behaviour research in an upcoming transformation process

“…Schneider and Niederle, 2010). As farmers always suffer from power asymmetries with their counterparts in wholesaling and the industry (Verdenk, 2019), the sympathy of many scholars rests with what Van der Ploeg and Schneider (2022) call the “self-organising capacity” of farmers, so that there is a continuous desire to strengthen their position. However, such attempts have provoked Stock et al .…”

Nested Markets and the Transition of the Agro-Marketing System towards Sustainability

“…These three types, from self-consumption and self-provisioning that avoid market relation to market integration and to the creation of new markets, are strictly linked to the base of common resources (labour, land, knowledge, capital) and the property rights expressed over them. This article focuses on the creation of new markets or nested markets [29] that take the form of the Fair Trade Network, organic production, local farmers' markets, alternative labelling, and certification schemes, as well as others ( [27], p. 464). It is through these new markets that economic, environmental, and social sustainability is generated through the exchange between producers and consumers bound by common and shared goals and objectives.…”