William H. Friedland

The emergence of a truly global economy in the 1970s and the need to understand the subsequent changes in economic structure provided the impetus for this synthesis of the sociology of agriculture. The book offers the first formulations of a political economy theory that explains the transnational social and production relations of food and agriculture. Drawing upon studies of labour, technology, the state and gender, the contributors put forward a basis for reassessing and restating the intellectual framework of agriculture.

The emergence of a truly global economy in the 1970s and the need to understand the subsequent changes in economic structure provided the impetus for this synthesis of the sociology of agriculture. The book offers the first formulations of a political economy theory that explains the transnational social and production relations of food and agriculture. Drawing upon studies of labour, technology, the state and gender, the contributors put forward a basis for reassessing and restating the intellectual framework of agriculture.

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Originally published in 1981, this book examines the ways in which social groups interact in the making of a common food in American society: iceberg lettuce. The major questions posed by the research, however, extend beyond the features of one agricultural product, as the authors analyse the organization of industrial production. The goal of the text is the integration of the analysis of social systems involving agricultural production with a broader body of theory and research concerned with production. The major theoretical categories and concepts used by the authors are primarily Marxian. Although this study could be integrated with rural and industrial sociology, it addresses a number of issues neglected by both fields.