Concepts of “Peasants” and “Small-scale Agricultural Society” in Vietnam: The Foundations for the Study on Rural Development(1

Tóm tắt

    Many studies on social science have so far captured a deeply diverse picture of Vietnam's agriculture and its rural society since the Đổi Mới (Renovation) period until the first decades of the 21^st century. On the one hand, we have witnessed the process of land accumulation and social differentiation; on the other hand, still seen the highlights of today agriculture and agrarian relations: the small scale agriculture production and hence the small scale agricultural society (Bùi Minh et al. 2012). It can be said that Vietnamese agricultural and rural development largely depends on the level and possibility to change of these agrarian relationships. No matter how the phenomenon of land exchanges in each region take place, finally, land accumulating in this group of population will create landlessness in other groups. The accumulation of land will support Vietnam's policy towards commodity-based agriculture; however, it will also deepen the concerns about poverty and social inequality, whilst non-farm employment opportunities as well as the qualification of the labor force stay low in the rural areas. This article analyzes the current situation of studies on agrarian relationship and rural society conducted by domestic and foreign scholars in the past few years. Besides analyzing and identifying some related concepts, the article also seeks to discuss aspects of rural development strategies in Vietnam today.