Social Sciences and Farmers in Switzerland

The Story of a Strange Absence

Bibliographic Data

ID5697404
AuthorsJérémie Forney (0000-0001-8918-1757, Bern University of Applied Sciences, corresponding author)
Year2013
Volume7
Issue12
Pages843-852
Publication date2013-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGeography Compass (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1749-8198 • E-ISSN: 1749-8198
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/gec3.12084
OpenAlexW1616141773
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited20

Switzerland is known to offer substantial support to its national agriculture. However and despite the political importance of agriculture, very few social science research programmes on farming and agriculture exist. Indeed, Switzerland has never had an institutionalized and established "rural sociology". In a national context where the viability of agriculture depends largely on public money, discussions and criticism of the agricultural policy take different shapes, mainly addressing environmental and economic effectiveness. This paper reviews what work the social sciences have produced on agriculture and farming populations in Switzerland, with the aim of understanding better what should be done now, in a context of deep changes within the political and economic frames of agriculture. These concerns are not limited to Switzerland and have strong echoes in other national contexts. They are related to the understanding of farmers' role in production and consumption networks, in a context of multifunctionality and neoliberalism. In conclusion, it will be argued that because of some of its characteristics, Switzerland may prove to be an interesting case study for some of the debates in the wider rural social sciences

Consumption · Neoliberalism (international relations · Agricultural Economics and Policy · Organic Food and Agriculture · Rural development and sustainability

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