Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Rural Socio-Economic Transformation: Agrarian, Ecology, Communication and Community Development Perspectives, RUSET 2021, 14-15 September 2021, Bogor, West Java, Indonesia

Research Article

Meaningless ‘Domination’: Workers, Elites and Agrarian Class Dynamics in Agricultural Subsidy Policy

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  • @INPROCEEDINGS{10.4108/eai.14-9-2021.2317179,
        author={Sinergy  Aditya Airlangga},
        title={Meaningless ‘Domination’: Workers, Elites and Agrarian Class Dynamics in Agricultural Subsidy Policy},
        proceedings={Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Rural Socio-Economic Transformation: Agrarian, Ecology, Communication and Community Development Perspectives, RUSET 2021, 14-15 September 2021, Bogor, West Java, Indonesia},
        publisher={EAI},
        proceedings_a={RUSET},
        year={2022},
        month={4},
        keywords={workers elite agrarian class dynamics agricultural subsidy},
        doi={10.4108/eai.14-9-2021.2317179}
    }
    
  • Sinergy Aditya Airlangga
    Year: 2022
    Meaningless ‘Domination’: Workers, Elites and Agrarian Class Dynamics in Agricultural Subsidy Policy
    RUSET
    EAI
    DOI: 10.4108/eai.14-9-2021.2317179
Sinergy Aditya Airlangga1,*
  • 1: Research Assistant at Department of Public Policy & Management, FISIPOL - Universitas Gadjah Mada
*Contact email: sinergyadityaa@gmail.com

Abstract

In the midst of the development of agricultural capitalism, social inequality has become a common phenomenon in rural areas. The social class differentiation that occurs is one of the features of the capitalistic agricultural system. This study aims to explain that the dominance of the number of farm-workers in rural areas does not guarantee socio-economic welfare and control of agrarian resources. The agricultural subsidy policy is used as a complementary variable to see the benefits obtained by only one class of farmers. This article uses a mixed research approach to examine the survey quantitative dominance of agricultural social classes in rural areas, and explores its dynamics with in-depth interviews. This article concludes that the dominant number of farm workers today is not a guarantee of strong political-economic power, because agrarian resources are controlled by the elite in the countryside.