Abstract

ROSAS, Mara  and  BARKIN, David. Racionalidades alternas en la teoría económica. Econ: teor. práct [online]. 2009, n.31, pp.73-96. ISSN 2448-7481.

Since the period when neoliberal policies were implemented, economists no longer focused on social and productive processes of a large segment of peasants. Recent research on local development and rural economies lacks a theoretical framework. Much economic theory adopts some predictions of the theory of the peasant economy that predicates the disappearance of peasants. However, recent studies about sustainability evidence many productive projects structured around techniques for the sustainable management of natural resources; as a result, neoinstitutional economists are reconsidering the logic of economic activities by peasants. This contribution suggests the need for considering that peasant societies organize their activities on the basis of non capitalist rationalities; we review various theoretical currents that are questioning the existence of a single economic rationality, and examine the factors that contribute to explain the existence and dynamics of alternative rationalities.

Keywords : alternate rationality; peasant activities; sustainability; ecological economics.

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