Modernization and Development

The Role of Regional Elites and Noncorporate Groups in the European Mediterranean

Datos Bibliográficos

ID8048809
AutoresPeter Schneider (0000-0002-1920-0438), Jane Schneider (City University of New York), Edward C Hansen (0000-0003-2035-0043, City University of New York), Edward Hansen
Año1972
Volumen14
Número3
Páginas328-350
Fecha de publicación1972-06-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaComparative Studies in Society and History (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0010-4175 • E-ISSN: 1475-2999
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s001041750000671x
OpenAlexW2155814048
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas45
Referencias citadas26

This paper is about social change in underdeveloped areas. It is based on field work in the European Mediterranean between 1965 and 1967. Hansen worked in the wine and champagne district of Villafranca del Panadés, roughly 30 miles from Barcelona, in Catalonia. The Schneiders were in the wheat and pastoral latifundium zone of Western Sicily. The two regions exhibit quite different patterns of land use and tenure, social stratification and settlement. We were struck, however, by two characteristics which they shared. First, we found a plethora of noncorporate social structures (for the most part coalitions) which organized fundamental economic and political activities of a quite modern sort. In rural Catalonia, coalitions of businessmen, skilled workers and government functionaries are formed within the context of an emergent bar culture, centered in major towns like Villafranca. In Western Sicily, until quite recently, the locus of similar coalitions was the latifundium. As yet, no clearly defined urban tradition has replaced this predominantly rural one

Historical and Environmental Studies · Historical and socio-economic studies of Spain and related regions · Rural development and sustainability