A new book by Maryam Aslany, titled "Peasants," challenges the long-held belief that the decline of the peasantry is a necessary condition for a society to become "modern." Aslany's work, which combines anthropology and history, argues that this notion originated in Britain and subsequently spread globally.
Aslany's research, based on four years spent with peasant families in India, Cambodia, Peru, and Ghana, contends that peasant civilisations have historically thrived and endured. She notes that agrarian empires, sustained by the peasantry, were the common form of large-scale human society from 3000BC until industrial-era Britain.
Despite historical and ongoing pressures, including collectivisation in the Soviet Union and market discipline in decolonised countries, Aslany highlights that there are more peasants today than at any point in history. Peasant households currently account for approximately 2 billion people, or a quarter of the global population. The book suggests that their way of life is more resilient than factory work and remains crucial for sustaining large populations, particularly in the absence of universal industrialisation.