Petrzelka, Peggy and Michael M. Bell. 2000. “Rationality and Solidarity: The Social Organization of Common Property Resources in the Imdrhas Valley of Morocco,” Human Organization. 59(3): 343-352.
ABSTRACT
Dominant theories of common property resource systems (CPRs) draw principally from the rational choice tradition. While this perspective has contributed to our understanding of common property issues, there are still missing features. The one that we believe can both contextualize rationality and CPRs within the larger social theory system is recognition of the social theory dynamism between solidarities based on interests and solidarities based on sentiments. We argue collective action is an interactive process where both interests and sentiments mutually constitute and reconstitute each other through a dialogue of solidarities.
Using this approach, we examine two Imazighen communities in Southern Morocco and the social theory organization of their CPRs. While both communities have the same established rules for managing their CPRs, there are distinct differences in what has occurred, and continues to occur, on them. These differences are due to more than individual actors’ private calculations of personal gain. They can be equally attributed to the character of social theory ties in each community as a whole—ties of interests and sentiments seemingly far removed from the particular CPR. We present the dialogue of solidarities as an important point of analytic entry into the dynamics of CPRs.
Peter, Gregory, Michael M. Bell, Susan Jarnagin, Donna Bauer. 2000. “Coming Back Across the Fence: Masculinity and the Transition to Sustainable Agriculture,” Rural Sociology. 65(2): 215-233.
Abstract:
In this article we explore the social theory of agricultural masculinity and its role in the transition to sustainable agriculture. We draw our evidence from a participatory qualitative study comparing members of the sustainable agriculture group Practical Farmers of Iowa (PFI) and their non-PFI neighbors. On the non-PFI farms, men more often presented what we call monologic masculinity, a conventional masculinity that has rigid and polarized gender expectations and strictly negotiated performances that provide a clear distinction between the activities of men and women. The male farmers belonging to PFI, on the other hand, more often represented what we call dialogic masculinity characterized by different measures of work and success, less of a need for control over nature, and greater social theory openness. Although both are present in all male participants to some extent, we argue that acceptance of a more dialogic masculinity helps promote the transition to sustainable agriculture.
social theory, michael m. bell, environmental sociology, sustainable agriculture