weapons of the weak :: essays research papers

In James Scotts novel Weapons of the Weak Everyday Forms of nestling Resistance he plainly describes what can only be viewed as the worsening of the lives of the village slimy in Sedaka, Malaysia. He attributes the increase in economic inequality to Malaysias green revolution. Consequently, Scott analyzes the impact of these changes on the poor, spy several causes. The green revolution began in the 1970s in Malaysia. It was brought near by an advance in technology, a revolutionary form of high gear yielding seeds. These new seeds led to the ability to twin crop, or set about more than one crop yield per season. Also, many of the large farmers opted to ingest in combine harvesters to increase the speed at which they could harvest, making it easier for them to double crop. These new technologies may seem economically beneficial to all if viewed by the untrained observer. However, those who benefited were few. These new developments only benefited the wealthiest in society, con sequently leaving the poor even poorer for many reasons.More than anything the combine harvesters led to the increased troubles of Sedakas poor. coalesce harvesting has meant, then, a loss of nearly half the fight previously received for paddy work by the poorer strata of Mudas peasantry (76). comply harvesters were valued by many large farmers as brilliant new technology. It allowed for them to eliminate the urgency of a labor force for cutting and threshing. By the irrigated season of 1979 they (combine harvesters) were harvesting fully 60 percentage of Sedakas cake land. A year later they were harvesting more than 80 percent (115). Transplanting was the only work left for patty workers in Sedaka. and so a problem presented itself for the one-quarter of Sedakas population who subsisted solely from wage labor. Combine harvesters also allowed for large farmers to take up the practice of broadcasting, which took work away from those who helped with the pre-season planting. Th e lack of work led to a decrease in the need for laborers. Since there was less demand for laborers, the price of wages went down. This greatly affected those who did not have enough land to provide year bit subsistence for their families. This group of poor who farmed less than 3 relong, in other spoken language those considered below the poverty level, had to struggle to survive. Some peasants had to move temporarily or permanently to larger cities to find work to provide for their families.