From Theory to the Field and Back Again: Fieldwork-Based Research on Social Differentiation in Agrarian Studies

Fieldwork is the cornerstone of empirical research in agrarian studies. Discussion about methodological options has, however, not kept up with the innovative conceptual developments taking place within the discipline. This is particularly evident in the study of social differentiation, a key concern in agrarian scholarship. Through a review of the empirical literature on agrarian social differentiation in journal articles using field-based research, we identify two approaches: a stratification approach, where respondents are assigned to groups according to common socio-economic characteristics and a relational approach that studies the range of social interactions between and among groups and ensuing distributional implications. Renewed interest for the relational approach to social differentiation raises methodological questions that have not yet been examined. The paper explores implications for data collection and analysis in order to better understand the dynamics underpinning social differentiation. We argue that going beyond measuring attributes of individuals and households to investigating the relationships between them entails developing methodological tools to enquire specifically about the relations in which households participate; exploring these relationships from different ends and embedding them into the analysis of agrarian change.