Flexible Families: Capitalist Development and Crisis in Rural Peru
Author(s)
Vincent, Susan
Abstract
The case I will describe concerns the Peruvian peasant community of Mata Chico whose members have increased their involvement in capitalist economic processes, especially through male migrant proletarianization but also through other activities, throughout the twentieth century. In the 1980s this involvement was disrupted as Peru went through an economic crisis characterized by hyperinflation and high unemployment. By this time, proletarianization had already profoundly changed the community and the households within it. In particular, family relations changed over the period of capitalist involvement as community interests gave way to complementary interests. By “community interests”, I mean that the family engaged in the same activities and with the same goals over the life cycle. Thus, different generations within a family may undertake distinct, mutually supporting activities at any single moment, but the ultimate common goal was to take over the family farm. Gradually this has given way to what I call “complementary interests”, in which different members of the family continue to engage in distinct, mutually supporting activities, but there is much less expectation that younger members will eventually take over the farm. Relations are more flexible and less all-encompassing in this new family form, but they remain strong as they provide needed support in confronting the rigours of economic crisis.
