Layers and meanings of self-exploitation

The nexus between horticulture, spatial and social mobility in the story of a woman living on a small farm

Abstract

This paper analyses the family and life history of an old single woman who lives in a traditional farmhouse, and seeks to understand under what circumstances and to what extent vegetable growing can be considered as a way of social mobility or advancement. This individual story is interpreted firstly in a broader social context considering vegetable growing as a channel of collective mobility (Szelényi 1992: 150), secondly in the context of gender inequalities, since cooperation within a partnership strongly influences the chances of prosperity among agricultural producers. The fine dynamics of structural constraints and individual ambitions, which ultimately define the chances of social advancement, are interpreted through the lens of the Bourdieusian habitus concept which allows scrutiny of elements of know-how and social experience “written in the body” (Bourdieu 2000). The notion of self-exploitation allows examination of structural constraints, gender inequalities and the relationship to one’s own body, while it also links and explains the traditional peasant lifestyle and local patterns of social and spatial mobility. Although this analysis draws on the notion of selfexploitation, there is a tension between the two interpretative positions: the researcher’s analytical stance and the perspective of the interviewee who represents her own lived experiences and their meanings in her story. This tension complicates the analysis but also helps to establish limitations regarding the use of this notion and the scope of interpretation.