中欧社会论坛 - China Europa Forum

Authors: Eduardo Moyano-Estrada

Published by IESA-CSIC. Cordoba. Spain

The aim of this paper is to analyse the way in which social and economic changes are perceived within the Southern EU rural societies (in particular, regions like Andalusia in Spain, Alentejo in Portugal or Mezzogiorno in Italy). To do this we shall take as our starting point the thesis that the perception of change is not homogeneous, but is differentiated according to the different groups that comprise the current rural society at the Southern countries. Some, including most farmers workers, see it as a traumatic crisis, the end of an era and the loss of their rights and their identities, while others - people living in rural areas but not involved in farming activities and more forward-looking farmers - see the change as an opportunity to take advantage of endogenous resources in different ways, and as the beginning of a new era, in which the countryside can be managed in harmony with the plurality of interests coexisting within it. We shall analyse the present process of change, paying particular attention to those factors (economic, social, political and cultural) that affect agriculture and rural areas in the Southern European countries most directly, and which explain the new expectations and the emergence of new interest groups. From a sociological perspective, these changes represent a new opportunity structure for the different players that comprise rural society in these countries. This structure offers resources to be exploited by the interest groups according to particular perceptions or interpretations of the process of change. Besides, we shall look at how this opportunity structure is perceived by those concerned, both farmers and non-farmers, and analyse their individual and collective responses to the problems they face.

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