Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 1969 The ubs sistence to commercial transition in agricultural development Elisha Walter Coward Jr. Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of the Sociology Commons Recommended Citation Coward, Elisha Walter Jr., "The ubsis stence to commercial transition in agricultural development" (1969). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 3566. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/3566 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Retrospective Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This dissertation has been microfilmed exactly as received 69-20,632 COWARD, Jr., Elisha Walter, 1937- THE SUBSISTENCE TO COMMERCIAL TRANSITION IN AGRICULTURAL DEVELOP­ MENT. Iowa State University, Ph.D., 1969 Sociology, general University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan THE SUBSISTENCE TO COMMERCIAL TRANSITION # A i m /\ ; rMr»#rri/> # M r*\ui\iwwi wi>r\b. L/w w lu j.w i I'tw i by Elisha Walter Coward, Jr. A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Major Subject: Sociology Approved: Signature was redacted for privacy. In Charge of Major Work Signature was redacted for privacy. Head of Major Department Signature was redacted for privacy. Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 1969 i i TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PROLOGUE X CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION I Social Change in the Agricultural Sector 1 Incidence of Subsistence Agriculture 3 Definitions of subsistence agriculture 3 Characteristics of subsistence agriculture 4 Extent of subsistence agriculture 4 Dissertation Topic and Objectives 6 CHAPTER TWO: THE THEORETICAL COMPONENTS OF COMMERCIALIZATION 9 Definitions of Subsistence Production 9 Introduction 9 Clarification of terms: subsistence production 9 The Commercialization Process 11 Degrees of commercialization 11 The dimensions of commercialization 13 InnovâtIveness and the dimensions of commercialization 14 CHAPTER THREE: CONCEPTS FROM ECONOMIC ANTHROPOLOGY 17 Introduction 17 The Focus of Economic Anthropology 17 Peasants and Peasant Society 22 Peasant values and attitudes 25 Market Behavior in Peasant Communities 26 Page Markets and market places 31 Marketing and market systems in Guatemala 36 CHAPTER FOUR: THE PERSPECTIVE OF SUBSISTENCE ECONOMICS 39 Introduction 39 Models of Subsistence Production 43 Model 1: isolated subsistence production 44 Model 2: Supplementary cash production 4/ Model 3: Partial sale of subsistence crop 5% Model 4: Production of subsistence crop and market crop 56 Model 5: Production of market crop and partial sale of subsistence crop 59 Summary of implications from the models 62 CHAPTER FIVE: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYSIS 66 Introduction 66 A Sociological View of Behavior 66 The General Theory of Action 68 The actor 68 The situation of action 69 Orientation to the situation 71 Orientations to Specific Situational Objects 72 Identification of situational objects 73 Summary of the Chapter 82 CHAPTER SIX: RESEARCH SETTING AND MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES 84 The Empirical Setting of the Study 84 Field procedures 85 Sampling 86 iv Page Measuring the Dependent Variajsle 86 Measuring the adoption of goal innovations 86 Measuring the adoption of means innovations 92 Measures of the Independent Variables 9^ Orientation to the market system 94 Orientation to the credit system 96 Orientation to the information system 96 Orientation to societal norms 98 Age 101 Surplus capacity of the production unit 101 CHAPTER SEVEN: STATEMENT OF HYPOTHESES 102 Introduction 102 Statement of the Two-Variable Hypotheses 102 General hypotheses (Set I) 103 Statement of Multivariable Hypotheses 105 Three-variable analysis 105 General hypotheses (Set 11) 106' Multivariable analysis 109 Complex Network Relationships 110 CHAPTER EIGHT: FINDINGS: TWO VARIABLE ANALYSES 112 introduction 112 Tests of Empirical Hypotheses 112 Results of the statistical analyses 112 Summary of findings 115 V Page Comparative strength of independent variables 116 CHAPTER NINE: FINDINGS: MULTIVAR|ABLE ANALYSIS 118 Introduction 118 Tests of Empirical Hypotheses 118 Results of the statistical analysis 118 Comparison of variance explained 118 Multiple Regression Model Building 123 Introduction 123 The all variables model 123 The stepwise regression model 129 Comparison of the two solutions 136 CHAPTER TEN: FINDINGS: NETWORK ANALYSIS 140 Introduction 140 Path models, path coefficients and path diagrams 141 Preliminary Steps for Path Analysis 142 Selecting the variables 142 Assumptions regarding the variables 143 Ordering the variables 144 Model Building with Path Analysis 146 Recursive set of equations 146 Determining path coefficient values 148 Determination of residual paths 152 Interpretation of the model 152 CHAPTER ELEVEN: DISCUSSION AND SUMMARY 159 Objectives of the Dissertation 159 V i Page Findings Related to the Generalizations 160 Generalizations from economic anthropology l60 Generalizations from subsistence economics 164 Findings Related to the Hypothesized Relationships I67 Two-variable hypotheses I67 Three-variable hypotheses 168 Multiple regression models 172 Path model analysis 17^ Conceptual Interpretations 178 Risk preference and commercialization 179 Surplus capacity of the production unit I83 Final statement 184 LITERATURE CITED 186 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 193 V i i LIST OF TABLES D-> o Estimates of imputed value of subsistence production as percentage of total value of agricultural production 5 Distribution of marketing scores 89 Distribution of marketing patterns within each marketing score level 90 Relationship of marketing categories and trends in average crop value and average cuerdas of wheat planted 91 Empirical hypotheses associated with the three-variable analysis: additive and interaction forms 108 Statistical results of two-variable analysis: linear and curvilinear forms 117 Tests of empirical hypotheses: additive and interaction relationships 119 Comparison of variance explained by additive and inter­ action forms involving two independent variables 122 Independent variables and dependent variable by number 125 Backward solution: partial regression coefficients 128a Backward solution: changes in characteristics of the regression equations 129 Backward solution: standard beta coefficients 130 Stepwise solution: partial regression coefficients 133a Stepwise solution; changes in characteristics of the regression equations 134 Stepwise solution: standard beta coefficients 135 Comparison of backward solution and stepwise solution mode1 s 137 Partial regression coefficients associated with regression equations in the recursive set 151 Regular and standard partial regression coefficients 153 VIII 1 ^ lO ? J.,—.1 —* — ^ Table 19. Total, direct and indirect effects of variables in the path model Table 20. Summary of findings for two-variable analysis Table 21. Summary of findings for three-variable analysis Table 22. Summary of variables included in both the backward solution and stepwise solution models Table 23. Distribution of risk preference scores ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1; Market places and market principle 32 Figure 2: Model 1: Isolated subsistence production 45 Figure 3: Factors related to supplementary cash production 49 Figure 4; Model 2: Supplementary cash production 51 Figure 5: Model 3: Partial sale of subsistence crop 55 Figure 6; Model 4; Production of subsistence crop and market crop 57 Figure 7: Model 5: Production of market crop and partial sale of subsistence crop 60 Figure 8: Path diagram 1 147 Figure 9: Path diagram 2 150 Figure 10: Path diagram 2 176 X PROLOGUE Song of the Tribal Economist The primitive farmer says Cash Is unsatisfactory trash; It won't keep off rain And it gives me a pain If I use it to flavor my hash. So why should I work out my guts At the whim of those government mutts. My 1iquor comes free From the coconut tree And my Mary makes cups from the nuts. Should I walk for three days into town. Sell a sack of my spuds for a crown. Buy a bottle of beer And fall flat on my ear? No, I'd rather stay here and lie down. If I act in a rational way I'll just sit on my backside today. When I want a good feed I've got all that| need Piping hot, and there's nothing to pay. Cash cropping is all very well If you've got to have something to sell; But tell me sir, why If there's nothing to buy Should I bother? You can all go to hell. Quoted in Fisk (1964:166) I CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION Social Change in the Agricultural Sector A major social process affecting the so-called "developing nations" is the process of modernization (Levy, 1966). The modernization process may have differential impact on the various sectors of society: family, government, economy, community, religion, education. Within the economy a major sub-sector which is subject to the modernization process is agri­ culture. For many areas of the world the modernization of agriculture, or the process of agricultural development, is synomous, at least initially, with the transition from subsistence production to market, or commercial production. It is this transition, which can be referred to as commercialization, with which this research is concerned. The transition may be initiated