Weapons of the Weak

EVERYDAY FORMS OF
PEASANT RESISTANCE

James C. Scott

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2 • Normal Exploitation,
Normal Resistance
A l m o s t invariably doomed to defeat and eventual massacre, the great insur-
rections were altogether too disorganized to achieve any l a s t i n g result. T h e
patient, silent struggles s t u b b o r n l y carried on by r u r a l c o m m u n i t i e s over the
years w o u l d accomplish more t h a n these flashes i n the pan.
M a r c B l o c h , French Rural
A s the editor o f Field and Garden once w r o t e , great m e n are always u n p o p u l a r
w i t h the c o m m o n people. T h e masses d o n ' t undersrand t h e m , they t h i n k a l l
those things are unnecessary, even heroism. T h e l i t t l e m a n doesn't g i v e a shit
about a great era. A l l he wants is to d r o p into a bar now and then and eat
goulash for supper. N a t u r a l l y a statesman gets r i l e d ar b u m s like t h a t , w h e n
it's his job to get his people i n t o the schoolbooks, the poor bastard. To a
great m a n the c o m m o n people are a ball and c h a i n . It's l i k e offering B a l o u n
here, w i t h his appetite, a small H u n g a r i a n sausage for supper, w h a t g o o d is
t h a t . I w o u l d n ' t w a n t to listen i n w h e n the b i g shots get together and start
g r i p i n g about us.
Schweyk, i n B e r t o l t Brechr, Schweyk in the Second World War, Scene I
T H E U N W R I T T E N HISTORY OF RESISTANCE
T h e idea for this study, its concerns and its methods, o r i g i n a t e d i n a g r o w i n g
dissarisfaction w i t h m u c h recent w o r k — m y o w n as w e l l as that o f o t h e r s — o n
1
the subject o f peasant rebellions a n d r e v o l u t i o n . I t is only too appatent t h a t the
inordinare a t t e n t i o n accorded to large-scale peasant i n s u r r e c t i o n was, i n N o r t h
A m e r i c a at least, s t i m u l a t e d by the V i e t n a m war and s o m e t h i n g o f a l e f t - w i n g
academic romance w i t h wars o f national l i b e r a t i o n . I n t h i s case interest and
source material were m u t u a l l y r e i n f o r c i n g . For the historical and archival records
were richest at precisely those moments w h e n the peasantry came to pose a threat
to the state and to the existing international order. A t other times, w h i c h is to
1. See, for example, Barrington Moore, Jr., Social Origins of Dictatorship and
Democracy (Boston: Beacon, 1966); Jeffrey M . Paige, Agrarian Revolution: Social Move-
ments and Export Agriculture in the Underdeveloped World (New York: Free Press, 1975);
Eric R. Wolf, Peasant Wars of the Twentieth Century (New York: Harper & Row, 1969);
James C. Scott, The Moral Economy of the Peasant (New Haven: Yale Univ. Press,
1976); Samuel L. Popkin, The Rational Peasant (Berkeley: Univ. of California Press,
1979).
28
N O R M A L E X P L O I T A T I O N , N O R M A L RESISTANCE • 29
say most o f the t i m e , the peasantry appeared i n the historical record not so
m u c h as historical actors b u t as more or less anonymous c o n t r i b u t o r s to statistics
on conscription, taxes, labor m i g r a t i o n , land h o l d i n g s , and crop p r o d u c t i o n .
T h e fact is t h a t , for a l l their importance w h e n they do occur, peasant rebel-
lions, let alone peasant "revolutions," are few and far between. N o t only are the
circumstances t h a t favor large-scale peasant uprisings comparatively rare, b u t
w h e n they do appear the revolts that develop are nearly always crushed uncere-
moniously. To be sure, even a failed revolt may achieve s o m e t h i n g : a few conces-
sions f r o m the state or landlords, a brief respite f r o m new and p a i n f u l relations
2
o f p r o d u c t i o n a n d , not least, a m e m o r y o f resistance and courage t h a t may lie
i n w a i t for the f u t u r e . Such gains, however, are uncertain, w h i l e the carnage,
History
the repression, and the demoralization o f defeat are a l l too certain and real. I t
is w o r t h recalling as w e l l that even at those extraordinary historical moments
w h e n a peasant-backed tevolution actually succeeds i n t a k i n g power, the results
are, at the very best, a m i x e d blessing for the peasantry. W h a t e v e r else the
revolution may achieve, i t almost always creates a more coercive and hegemonic
state apparatus—one that is often able to batten itself o n the r u r a l p o p u l a r i o n
like no orher before i t . A l l too frequently the peasantry finds itself i n the ironic
p o s i t i o n o f having helped to power a r u l i n g g r o u p whose plans for i n d u s t r i a l i -
zation, taxation, and collectivization are very m u c h at odds w i t h the goals for
3
w h i c h peasants had i m a g i n e d they were fighting.
For a l l these reasons it occurred to me that the emphasis on peasant tebellion
was misplaced. Instead, i t seemed far more i m p o r t a n t to understand w h a t we
m i g h t call everyday forms o f peasanr resistance—the prosaic b u t constant struggle
between the peasantry and those who seek to extract labor, food, taxes, rents,
and interest from t h e m . M o s t o f the forms this struggle takes stop w e l l short o f
collective o u t r i g h t defiance. Here I have i n m i n d the o r d i n a r y weapons o f rel-
atively powerless groups: foot d r a g g i n g , d i s s i m u l a t i o n , false compliance, pilfer-
i n g , feigned ignorance, slander, arson, sabotage, and so f o r t h . These Brechtian
forms o f class struggle have certain features i n c o m m o n . T h e y require l i t t l e or
no coordination or p l a n n i n g ; they often represent a form o f i n d i v i d u a l self-help;
and they typically avoid any direct symbolic confrontation w i t h a u t h o r i t y or w i t h
elite norms. To understand these commonplace forms o f resistance is to under-
stand w h a t m u c h o f the peasantry does "between revolts" to defend its interests
as best i t can.
I t w o u l d be a grave mistake, as i t is w i t h peasant rebellions, to overly r o -
manticize the "weapons o f the weak." They are u n l i k e l y to do more than mar-
2. For an example of such temporary gains, see the fine study by E. J. Hobs-
bawm and George Rude, Captain Swing (New York: Pantheon, 1968), 2 8 1 - 9 9 .
3. Some of these issues are examined in James C. Scott, "Revolution i n the
Revolution: Peasants and Commissars," Theory and Society 7, nos. 1-2 (1979): 9 7 -
134.
 30 • N O R M A L E X P L O I T A T I O N , N O R M A L RESISTANCE
ginally affect the various forms o f exploitation t h a t peasants confront.
F u r t h e r m o r e , the peasantry has no m o n o p o l y on these weapons, as anyone can
easily attest w h o has observed officials and landlords resisting and d i s r u p t i n g
state policies t h a t are to t h e i r disadvantage.
O n the other h a n d , such Brechtian modes o f resistance are n o t t r i v i a l . D e -
sertion and evasion o f conscription and o f c o r v é e labor have u n d o u b t e d l y l i m i t e d
4
the i m p e r i a l aspirarions o f m a n y a monarch i n Southeast A s i a or, for that matter,
i n Europe. T h e process and its p o t e n t i a l i m p a c t are nowhere better captured
t h a n i n R . C . Cobb's account o f draft resistance and desertion i n postrevolu-
tionary France and under the early E m p i r e :
F r o m the year V to the year V I I , there are increasingly frequent reports,
f r o m a variety o f Departments . . . o f every conscript f r o m a g i v e n canton
h a v i n g r e t u r n e d home a n d l i v i n g rhere unmolested. Better s t i l l , many o f
t h e m d i d not r e t u r n home; they had never left i t i n the first place. . . .
I n the year V I I too the severed fingers o f r i g h t hands—the commonest
form o f s e l f - m u t i l a t i o n — b e g i n to witness statistically to the s t r e n g t h o f
w h a t m i g h t be described as a vast movement o f collective complicity,
i n v o l v i n g the family, the parish, the local authorities, whole cantons.
Even the E m p i r e , w i t h a vastly more numerous and reliable r u r a l police,
d i d n o t succeed i n more t h a n temporarily s l o w i n g d o w n the speed o f the
hemorrhage w h i c h . . . f r o m 1812, once more reached catastrophic p r o -
p o r t i o n s . There could have been no more eloquent referendum on the
universal u n p o p u l a r i t y o f an oppressive r e g i m e ; and there is no more en-
c o u r a g i n g spectacle for a h i s t o r i a n t h a n a people that has decided i t w i l l
no longer fight and t h a t , w i t h o u t fuss, returns home . . . the c o m m o n
people, at least, i n this respect, had their fair share i n b r i n g i n g d o w n
5
France's most a p p a l l i n g r e g i m e .
T h e collapse o f the Confederate army and economy i n the course o f the C i v i l
W a r i n the U n i t e d States is a further example o f the decisive role o f silent and
undeclared defections. N e a r l y 2 5 0 , 0 0 0 eligible whites are estimated to have
6
deserted or to have avoided conscription altogether. T h e reasons appear to have
4. See the fine account and analysis by Michael Adas, "From Avoidance to Con-
frontation: Peasant Protest i n Precolonial and Colonial Southeast Asia," Comparative
Studies in Society and History 23, no. 2 ( A p r i l 1981): 2 1 7 - 4 7 .
5. R. C. Cobb, The Police and the People: Trench Popular Protest, 1789-1820 (Ox-
ford: Clarendon, 1970), 9 6 - 9 7 . For a g r i p p i n g account of self-mutilation to avoid
conscription, see Emile Zola, The Earth, trans. Douglas Parmee (Harmondsworth:
Penguin, 1980).
6. See the excellent study by Armstead L. Robinson, "Bitter Fruits of Bondage:
Slavery's Demise and the Collapse of the Confederacy, 1 8 6 1 - 6 5 " (New Haven: Yale
Univ. Press, forthcoming), chaps. 5, 6.
N O R M A L E X P L O I T A T I O N , N O R M A L RESISTANCE • 31
been b o t h m o r a l and m a t e t i a l , as one m i g h t expect. Poor w h i t e s , especially
those f r o m the nonslaveholding h i l l country, were deeply resentful o f fighting
for an i n s t i t u t i o n whose p r i n c i p a l beneficiaries were often excluded f r o m service
7
by law. M i l i t a r y reverses and w h a t was called the "subsistence crisis o f 1 8 6 2 "
p r o m p r e d many to desert and r e t u r n to t h e i r hard-pressed families. O n the
plantations rhemselves, the shortage o f w h i t e overseers and the slaves' natural
affinity w i t h the N o r t h ' s objective, gave rise t o s h i r k i n g and flighr on a massive
scale. A s i n France, one could c l a i m here too that the Confederacy was undone
by a social avalanche o f p e t t y acts o f i n s u b o r d i n a t i o n carried o u t by an u n l i k e l y
c o a l i t i o n o f slaves and yeomen—a coalition w i t h no name, no o r g a n i z a t i o n , no
leadership, and certainly no L e n i n i s t conspiracy b e h i n d i t .
I n a s i m i l a r fashion, flight and evasion o f taxes have classically c u r b e d the
a m b i t i o n and reach o f T h i r d W o r l d states—whether precolonial, colonial, or
independent. A s we shall learn, for example, the official collection o f the Islamic
t i t h e i n paddy is, i n Sedaka, only a small fraction o f w h a t is legally due, thanks
to a n e t w o r k o f c o m p l i c i t y and misrepresentation t h a t eviscerates its i m p a c t .
Small wonder t h a t a large share o f the tax receipts o f T h i r d W o r l d states is
collected i n the form o f levies on i m p o r t s and exports; the p a t t e r n is i n no small
measure a t r i b u t e to the tax resistance capacities o f t h e i r subjects. Even a casual
reading o f the literature o n rural "development" yields a rich harvest o f unpopular
government schemes and programs n i b b l e d to e x t i n c t i o n by the passive resistance
of the peasantry. T h e author o f a rare account d e t a i l i n g how peasants—in this
case i n East Africa—have managed over several decades to undo or evade threat-
ening state p o l i c y concludes i n the f o l l o w i n g tone:
I n this s i t u a t i o n , i t is understandable i f the developmenr equation is often
reduced t o a zero-sum game. A s this study has shown, the winners o f
those games are by no means always the rulers. T h e African peasant is
hardly a hero i n the l i g h t o f current development t h i n k i n g , b u t by u s i n g
8
his deceptive skills he has often defeated the a u t h o r i r i e s .
O n some occasions this resistance has become active, even violent. M o r e often,
however, i t takes the f o r m o f passive noncompliance, subtle sabotage, evasion,
and deception. T h e persistent efforts o f the colonial government i n Malaya to
discourage the peasantry f r o m g r o w i n g and selling rubber that w o u l d compete
7. This issue centered on the much resented "Twenty-Nigger Law," as i t was
known, which provided that a white man of draft age could be excused from m i l i t a r y
service i f he was needed to supervise twenty or more slaves. This law, coupled w i t h
the h i r i n g of substitutes by wealthy families, encouraged the widespread belief that
this was "a rich man's war, but a poor man's fight." I b i d . , chap. 5.
8. Goran Hyden, Beyond Ujamaa in Tanzania (London: Heinemann, 1980), 2 3 1 .
32 • N O R M A L E X P L O I T A T I O N , N O R M A L RESISTANCE
9
w i t h the p l a n t a t i o n sectot for land and markets is a case i n p o i n t . Various
restriction schemes and land use laws were tried f r o m 1922 u n t i l 1928 and
again i n the 1930s w i t h only modest results because o f massive peasant resis-
tance. T h e efforts o f peasants i n self-styled socialist states to prevent and t h e n
to m i t i g a t e or even u n d o u n p o p u l a r forms o f collective agriculture represent a
s t r i k i n g example o f the defensive techniques available to a beleaguered peasantry.
A g a i n the struggle is marked less by massive and defiant confrontations t h a n by
10
a q u i e t evasion that is equally massive and often far more effective.
T h e style o f resistance i n question is perhaps best described by c o n t r a s t i n g ,
paired forms o f resistance, each aimed more or less at the same objective. T h e
first o f each pair is "everyday" resistance, i n our m e a n i n g of the t e r m ; the second
represents the open defiance t h a t dominates the study o f peasant and w o r k i n g -
class p o l i t i c s . I n one sphere, for example, lies the q u i e t , piecemeal process by
w h i c h peasant squatters have often encroached on p l a n t a t i o n and state forest
lands; i n the other a public invasion o f land that openly challenges p r o p e r t y
relations. I n terms o f actual occupation and use, the encroachments by s q u a t t i n g
may accomplish mote than an openly defiant land invasion, t h o u g h the de jure
d i s t r i b u t i o n o f property righrs is never publicly challenged. T u r n i n g to another
example, i n one sphere lies a rash o f m i l i t a r y desertions t h a t incapacitates an
army and, i n the other, an open m u t i n y a i m i n g ar e l i m i n a t i n g or replacing
officers. Desertions may, as we have noted, achieve s o m e t h i n g where m u t i n y may
f a i l , precisely because i t aims at self-help and w i t h d r a w a l rather t h a n i n s t i t u t i o n a l
confrontation. A n d yet, the massive w i t h d r a w a l o f compliance is i n a sense more
radical i n its implications for the army as an i n s t i t u t i o n than the replacement of
officers. A s a final example, i n one sphere lies the p i l f e r i n g o f public or p r i v a t e
g r a i n stores; i n the other an open attack on markets or granaries a i m i n g at an
open r e d i s t r i b u t i o n o f the food supply.
W h a t everyday forms o f resistance share w i t h the more dramaric p u b l i c con-
frontations is o f course that they are inrended to mitigate or deny claims made
by superordinate classes or to advance claims vis-a-vis those superordinate classes.
Such claims have o r d i n a r i l y to do w i t h the material nexus o f class s t r u g g l e —
9- The best, most complete account of this may be found i n L i m Teck Ghee,
Peasants and Their Agricultural Economy in Colonial Malaya, 1874—1941 (Kuala L u m -
pur: Oxford Univ. Press, 1977). See also the persuasive argumenr i n Donald M .
N o n i n i , Paul Diener, and Eugene E. Robkin, "Ecology and Evolution: Population,
Primitive Accumulation, and the Malay Peasantry" (Typescript, 1979).
10. For a careful and fascinating account of the ways i n which China's production
teams and brigades could, u n t i l the changes i n 1978, have some influence on the
definition o f "surplus" grain that had to be sold to the state, see Jean C. O i , State
and Peasant in Contemporary China: The Politics of Grain Procurement f P h . D . diss., Univ.
of M i c h i g a n , 1983). Nearly all of this resistance was called "soft opposition" by
those who practiced i t and who made i t clear that it was successful only i f an "outward
manifestation" of compliance was maintained. I b i d . , 238.
N O R M A L E X P L O I T A T I O N , N O R M A L RESISTANCE • 33
the appropriation o f land, labor, taxes, rents, and so forth. Whete everyday
resistance m o s t s t r i k i n g l y departs from orher forms o f resistance is i n its i m p l i c i t
disavowal o f public and symbolic goals. W h e r e i n s t i t u t i o n a l i z e d p o l i t i c s is for-
mal, overt, concerned w i t h systematic, de jure change, everyday resistance is
informal, often covert, and concerned largely w i t h immediate, de facto g a i n s . 11
I t is reasonably clear that the success o f de facto resistance is often d i r e c t l y
proportional to the symbolic c o n f o r m i t y w i t h w h i c h i t is masked. O p e n insub-
o r d i n a t i o n i n almost any context w i l l provoke a more rapid and ferocious response
t h a n an i n s u b o r d i n a t i o n that may be as pervasive b u t never ventures to contest
the formal definitions o f hierarchy and power. For most subordinate classes,
w h i c h , as a matter o f sheer history, have had l i t t l e prospect o f i m p r o v i n g t h e i r
status, t h i s form o f resistance has been the only o p t i o n . W h a t may be accom-
plished within this symbolic straitjacket is nonetheless s o m e t h i n g o f a testament
to h u m a n persistence and inventiveness, as this account o f lower-caste resistance
i n I n d i a illustrates:
Lifelong i n d e n t u r e d servants most chatacteristically expressed discontent
about t h e i r relationship w i t h their master by p e r f o r m i n g their w o r k care-
lessly and inefficiently. They c o u l d intentionally or unconsciously f e i g n i l l -
ness, ignorance, or incompetence, d r i v i n g their masrers to distraction. Even
t h o u g h the master could retaliate by refusing to give his servant the extra
fringe benefits, he was s t i l l obliged to m a i n t a i n h i m at a subsistence level
i f he d i d not want to lose his investment completely. This method of passive
resistance, provided it was not expressed as open definace, was nearly unbeatable,
i t reinforced the H a v i k s ' stereotype concerning the character o f l o w caste
12
persons, b u t gave t h e m l i t t l e recourse to a c t i o n .
Such forms o f s t u b b o r n resistance are especially w e l l documented i n the vast
literature o n A m e r i c a n slavery, where open defiance was n o r m a l l y foolhardy. T h e
11. There is an interesting parallel here w i t h some of the feminist literature on
peasant society. I n many, but not a l l , peasant societies, men are likely to dominate
every formal, overt exercise of power. Women, it is occasionally argued, can exercise
considerable power to the extent that they do not openly challenge the formal m y t h
of male dominance. "Real" gains are possible, i n other words, so long as the larger
symbolic order is not questioned. I n much the same fashion one m i g h t contend that
the peasantry often finds it both tactically convenient as well as necessary to leave
the formal order intact while directing its attention to political ends that may never
be accorded formal recognition. For a feminist argument along those lines, see Susan
Carol Rogers, "Female Forms of Power and the M y t h of Male Dominance," American
Ethnologist 2, no. 4 (November 1975): 7 2 7 - 5 6 .
12. Edward B . Harper, "Social Consequences of an Unsuccessful Low Caste Move-
ment," Social Mobility in the Caste System in India: An Interdisciplinary Symposium, ed.
James Silverberg, Supplement N o . 3, Comparative Studies in Society and History (The
Hague: M o u t o n , 1968): 4 8 - 4 9 , emphasis added.
34 • N O R M A L E X P L O I T A T I O N , N O R M A L RESISTANCE
history o f resistance to slavery i n the a n t e b e l l u m U . S . South is largely a history
o f foot d r a g g i n g , false compliance, flight, feigned ignorance, sabotage, theft,
and, not least, c u l t u r a l resistance. These practices, w h i c h rarely i f ever called
i n t o question the system o f slavery as such, nevertheless achieved far more i n
t h e i r unannounced, l i m i t e d , and truculent way than the few heroic and brief
armed uprisings about w h i c h so m u c h has been w r i t t e n . T h e slaves themselves
appear to have realized that i n most circumstances their tesistance c o u l d succeed
only to the extent that i t h i d b e h i n d the mask o f p u b l i c compliance.
imagines parents g i v i n g t h e i r c h i l d r e n advice not u n l i k e advice contemporary
wage laborers on plantations i n Indonesia apparently hear from their o w n parents:
I t e l l t h e m [ t h e youngsters] remember, you're selling your labor and the
one w h o buys i t wants to see that he gets s o m e t h i n g for i t , so w o r k w h e n
he's a r o u n d , t h e n you can relax w h e n he goes away, b u t make sure y o u
13
always look like you're w o r k i n g w h e n the inspectors are t h e r e .
T w o specific observations emerge from this perspective. First, the nature o f
resistance is greatly influenced by the e x i s t i n g forms o f labor control and by
beliefs about the p r o b a b i l i t y and severity o f retaliation. W h e r e the consequences
o f an open strike are likely to be catastrophic i n terms o f permanent dismissal
or j a i l , the w o r k force may resort to a s l o w d o w n or to shoddy w o r k on the j o b .
T h e often undeclared and anonymous nature o f such action makes i t p a r t i c u l a r l y
difficulr for the antagonist to assess blame or apply sanctions. I n industry, the
slowdown has come to be called an " I t a l i a n " strike; i t is used particularly w h e n
14
repression is feared, as i n Poland under m a r t i a l law i n 1 9 8 3 . Piece-work has
o f course often been used as a means o f c i r c u m v e n t i n g forms o f resistance open
to workers w h o are paid by the hour or day. W h e r e piece-work prevails, as i t
d i d i n s i l k and cotton weaving i n nineteenth-century Germany, resistance is
likely to find expression not i n slowdowns, w h i c h are self-defeating, b u t i n such
forms as the " s h o r t w e i g h t i n g o f finished c l o t h , defective w o r k m a n s h i p , and the
purloining of materials." 15
Each form o f labor control or payment is thus likely,
other t h i n g s equal, to generate its o w n d i s t i n c t i v e forms o f quiet resistance and
"counterappropriation."
13. A n n Laura Stoler, Capitalism and Confrontation in Sumatra's Plantation Belt,
1870-1979 (New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1985), 184.
14. See, for example, New York Times, A u g . 18, 1983, p. A 6 , "Polish Under-
ground Backs Call for Slowdown," i n which i t is noted that "The tactic of a slow-
down, known i n Poland as an Italian Strike, has been used i n the past by workers
because it reduces the risk of reprisal."
15. Peter Linebaugh, " K a r l Marx, the Theft of Wood, and Working-Class C o m -
position: A Contribution to the Current Debate," Crime and Social Justice (Fall-Winter,
1976): 10. See also the brilliant analysis of piece-work by the Hungarian poet-worker
Miklos Haraszti, A Worker in a Worker's State, trans. Michael W r i g h t (New York:
Universe, 1978).
N O R M A L E X P L O I T A T I O N , N O R M A L RESISTANCE • 35
T h e second observation is that resistance is not necessarily directed at the
i m m e d i a t e source o f appropriation. Inasmuch as the objective o f the resisters is
typically to meet such pressing needs as physical safety, food, l a n d , or income,
and to do so i n relarive safety, they may simply follow the line o f least resistance.
Prussian peasants and proletarians i n the 1830s, beleaguered by d w a r f holdings
and wages below subsisrance, responded by e m i g r a t i o n or by poaching w o o d ,
fodder, and game on a large scale. T h e pace o f "forest c r i m e " rose as wages
declined, as provisions became more expensive, and where e m i g r a t i o n was mote
One
d i f f i c u l t ; i n 1836 there were 2 0 7 , 0 0 0 prosecutions i n Prussia, 1 5 0 , 0 0 0 o f w h i c h
16
were for forest offenses. They were supported by a m o o d o f popular c o m p l i c i t y
that o r i g i n a t e d i n earlier traditions o f free access to forests, b u t the poachers
cared l i t t l e whether the rabbits or firewood they t o o k came f r o m the l a n d o f
their p a r t i c u l a t employer or l a n d l o r d . T h u s , the reaction to an a p p r o p r i a t i o n i n
one sphete may lead its v i c t i m s to exploit small openings available elsewhere
that are perhaps more accessible and less dangerous. 17
Such techniques o f resistance are w e l l adapted to the particular characteristics
of the peasantry. B e i n g a diverse class o f " l o w classness," scattered across the
countryside, often l a c k i n g the discipline and leadership that w o u l d encourage
opposition o f a more organized sort, the peasantry is best suited to extended
guerrilla-style campaigns o f a t t r i r i o n that require l i t t l e or no coordination. T h e i r
i n d i v i d u a l acrs o f foot d r a g g i n g and evasion are often reinforced by a venerable
popular c u l t u r e o f resisrance. Seen i n the l i g h t o f a supportive subculture and
the knowledge that the risk to any single resister is generally reduced to the
extent that the whole c o m m u n i t y is involved, i t becomes plausible to speak of
a social movement. Curiously, however, this is a social movement w i t h no formal
organization, no formal leaders, no manifestoes, no dues, no name, and no
banner. By v i r t u e of their i n s t i t u t i o n a l i n v i s i b i l i t y , activities on a n y t h i n g less
than a massive scale are, i f they are noticed at a l l , rarely accorded any social
significance.
M u l t i p l i e d many thousandfold, such p e t t y acts o f resistance by peasants may
i n the end make an utter shambles o f the policies dreamed up by their w o u l d -
16. I b i d . , 13- I n 1842, for Baden, there was one .such conviction for every four
inhabitants. For three centuries poaching was perhaps the most common rural crime
in England and the subject of much repressive legislation. See, for example, the
selections by Douglas Hay and E. P. Thompson in Albion's Fatal Tree: Crime and
Society in Eighteenth-Century England by Douglas Hay, Peter Linebaugh, John G . Rule,
E. P. Thompson, and Cal Winslow (New York: Pantheon, 1975).
17. Apparently the theft of wood i n Germany in this period rarely touched com-
munal forests. I t goes without saying that, when a poor man survives by taking
from others in the same situation, we can no longer speak of resistance. One central
question to ask about any subordinate class is the extent to which i t can, by internal
sanctions, prevent the dog-eat-dog competition among themselves that can only serve
the interests of appropriating classes.
36 • N O R M A L E X P L O I T A T I O N , N O R M A L RESISTANCE
be superiors i n the capital. T h e state may respond i n a variety o f ways. Policies
may be recast i n line w i t h more realistic expectations. They may be retained
b u t reinforced w i t h positive incentives a i m e d at encouraging voluntary c o m p l i -
ance. A n d , o f course, the state may s i m p l y choose t o employ more coercion.
W h a t e v e r the response, we m u s t not miss the fact that the action o f the peasantry
has thus changed or narrowed the policy options available to the state. I t is i n
t h i s fashion, and not t h r o u g h revolts, let alone legal p o l i t i c a l pressure, t h a t the
peasantry has classically made its p o l i t i c a l presence felt. T h u s any h i s t o r y or
theory o f peasant politics that attempts t o do justice to the peasantry as a
historical actor m u s t necessarily come to g r i p s w i t h w h a t I have chosen t o call
everyday forms of resistance. For this reason alone i t is i m p o r t a n t t o b o t h d o c u m e n t
and b r i n g some conceptual order t o this seeming welter o f h u m a n activity.
18
Everyday forms o f resistance make no headlines. Just as m i l l i o n s o f anthozoan
polyps create, w i l l y - n i l l y , a coral reef, so do thousands u p o n thousands o f i n -
d i v i d u a l acts o f i n s u b o r d i n a t i o n and evasion creare a p o l i t i c a l or economic barrier
reef o f their o w n . There is rarely any dramatic confrontation, any m o m e n t that
is p a r t i c u l a r l y newsworthy. A n d whenever, t o pursue the s i m i l e , the ship o f state
runs a g t o u n d on such a reef, attention is typically directed t o the s h i p w t e c k
itself and n o t to the vast aggregation o f p e t t y acts t h a t made i t possible. I t is
only rarely that the perpetrators o f these p e t t y acts seek to call a t t e n t i o n t o
themselves. T h e i r safety lies i n t h e i r anonymity. I t is also extremely rarely t h a t
officials of the state w i s h to publicize the i n s u b o r d i n a t i o n . To do so w o u l d be
to a d m i t that their policy is unpopular, and, above a l l , to expose the tenuousness
o f their a u t h o r i t y i n the countryside—neither o f w h i c h the sovereign srate finds
19
i n its i n t e r e s t . T h e nature o f the acts themselves and the self-interested muteness
o f the antagonists thus conspire to create a k i n d o f complicitous silence that a l l
b u t expunges everyday forms o f resistance f r o m the historical record.
H i s t o r y and social science, because they are w r i t t e n by an intelligentsia u s i n g
w r i t t e n records that are also created largely by literate officials, is s i m p l y not
w e l l equipped to uncover the silent and anonymous forms o f class struggle that
18. As Hobsbawn and Rude point out, i t is not only conservative elites who have
overlooked this form of resistance, but also the urban left: "The historians of social
movements seem to have reacted very much like the rest of the urban left—to which
most of them have traditionally belonged—i.e. they have tended to be unaware of
i t unless and u n t i l i t appeared i n sufficiently dramatic form or on a sufficiently large
scale for the city newspapers to take notice."
19. But not entirely. District-level records are likely to prove rewarding i n this
respect, as district officials attempt to explain the shortfall i n , say, tax receipts or
conscription figures to their superiors in the capital. One imagines also that the
informal, oral record is abundant, for example informal cabinet or ministerial meet-
ings called to deal w i t h policy failures caused by rural insubordination.
N O R M A L E X P L O I T A T I O N , N O R M A L RESISTANCE • 37
t y p i f y the peasantty. 20
Its practitioners i m p l i c i t l y j o i n the conspiracy o f the
participants, w h o are themselves, as i t were, sworn t o secrecy. Collectively, this
u n l i k e l y cabal contributes to a stereotype o f the peasantry, enshrined i n b o t h
literature and i n history, as a class that alternates between l o n g periods o f abject
passivity and brief, violent, and futile explosions o f rage.
H e had centuries o f fear and submission b e h i n d h i m , his shoulders had
become hardened t o blows, his soul so crushed t h a t he d i d not tecognise
his o w n degradation. You could beat h i m and starve h i m and rob h i m o f
e v e r y t h i n g , year i n , year o u t , before he w o u l d abandon his caution and
stupidity, his m i n d filled w i t h a l l sorts o f m u d d l e d ideas w h i c h he could
not properly understand; and t h i s went o n u n t i l a c u l m i n a t i o n o f injustice
and suffering flung h i m at his master's throat like some infuriated domestic
21
a n i m a l w h o had been subjected to too many t h r a s h i n g s .
There is a g r a i n o f t r u t h i n Zola's view, b u t only a g r a i n . I t is true t h a t the
"onstage" behavioi o f peasants d u r i n g times o f quiescence yields a p i c t u r e o f
submission, fear, and caution. By contrast, peasant insurrections seem l i k e vis-
ceral reactions o f b l i n d fury. W h a t is m i s s i n g f r o m the account o f " n o r m a l "
passivity is the slow, g r i n d i n g , q u i e t struggle over rents, crops, labor, and taxes
i n w h i c h submission and s t u p i d i t y are often no more than a pose—a necessaty
tactic. W h a t is m i s s i n g from the picture o f the periodic explosions is the u n -
d e r l y i n g vision o f justice that informs t h e m and their specific goals and targets,
w h i c h are often q u i t e rational i n d e e d . 22
T h e explosions themselves are frequently
a s i g n that the n o r m a l and largely covert forms o f class struggle are f a i l i n g or
have reached a crisis p o i n t . Such declarations o f open war, w i t h t h e i r m o r t a l
risks, n o r m a l l y come only after a prorracted struggle on different terrain.
R E S I S T A N C E AS T H O U G H T A N D S Y M B O L
Thus far, I have treared everyday forms o f peasant resistance as i f they were not
m u c h more t h a n a collection o f i n d i v i d u a l acts or behaviors. To confine the
analysis to behavior alone, however, is to miss m u c h o f the p o i n t . I t teduces the
20. The partial exceptions that come to m i n d are anthropology, because of its
insistence on close observation i n the field, and the history of slavery and Soviet
collectivization.
2 1 . Zola, The Earth, 9 1 .
22. I do not by any means wish to suggest that violence born of revenge, hatred,
and fury play no role—only that they do not exhaust the subject, as Zola and others
imply. I t is cerrainly true, as Cobb {Police and the People, 8 9 - 9 0 ) claims, that George
Rude (The Crowd in History, 1730-1848 [New York: Wiley, 1964]) has gone too far
into t u r n i n g rioters into sober, domesticated, bourgeois political actors.
38 • N O R M A L E X P L O I T A T I O N , N O R M A L RESISTANCE
explanation o f h u m a n action to the level one m i g h t use to explain how the water
buffalo resists its driver t o establish a tolerable pace o f w o r k or w h y the d o g
steals scraps f r o m the table. B u t inasmuch as I seek to understand the resistance
of t h i n k i n g , social beings, I can hardly fail to ignore t h e i r consciousness—the
m e a n i n g they g i v e to t h e i r acts. T h e symbols, the norms, the ideological forms
they create constitute the indispensable background to t h e i r behavior. However
p a r t i a l or imperfect their understanding of the s i t u a t i o n , they are g i f t e d w i t h
intentions and values and purposefulness t h a t c o n d i t i o n their acts. T h i s is so
evident t h a t i t w o u l d h a r d l y m e r i t restating were i t not for the lamentable
tendency i n behavioral science to read mass behavior d i r e c t l y f r o m the statistical
abstracts o n income, caloric intake, newspaper c i r c u l a t i o n , or radio ownership.
I seek, t h e n , not only to uncover and describe the patterns o f everyday resistance
as a d i s t i n c t i v e behavior w i t h far-reaching i m p l i c a t i o n s , b u t to g r o u n d that
description i n an analysis o f the conflicts o f m e a n i n g and value i n w h i c h these
patterns arise and to w h i c h they c o n t r i b u t e .
T h e relationship between t h o u g h t and action is, to p u t i t very m i l d l y , a
complicated issue. Here I w i s h to emphasize only t w o fairly s t r a i g h t f o r w a r d
points. F i r s t , neither intentions nor acts are " u n m o v e d movers." Acts b o r n o f
intentions circle back, as i t were, to influence consciousness and hence subsequent
intentions and acts. Thus acts of resistance and thoughts about (or the m e a n i n g
of) resistance are i n constant c o m m u n i c a r i o n — i n constant dialogue. Second,
intentions and consciousness are not t i e d i n q u i t e the same way to the m a t e r i a l
w o r l d as behavior is. I t is possible and c o m m o n for h u m a n actors to conceive o f
a line o f action that is, at the m o m e n t , either impractical or impossible. T h u s
a person may d r e a m o f a revenge or a m i l l e n n i a l k i n g d o m of justice that may
never occur. O n the other h a n d , as circumstances change, i t may become possible
to act on those dreams. T h e realm o f consciousness gives us a k i n d o f p r i v i l e g e d
access to lines o f action t h a t m a y — j u s t may—become plausible at some future
date. H o w , for example, can we give an adequate account o f any peasant r e b e l l i o n
w i r h o u t some knowledge o f the shared values, the "offstage" t a l k , the conscious-
23
ness o f the peasantry prior ro rebellion? H o w , finally, can we understand every-
day forms o f resistance w i t h o u t reference to the intentions, ideas, and language
o f those h u m a n beings w h o practice it?
T h e study o f the social consciousness o f subordinate classes is i m p o r t a n t for
yet another reason. I t may allow us to clarify a major debare i n b o t h the M a r x i s r
and n o n - M a r x i s t l i t e r a t u r e — a debate that centers on the extent to w h i c h elites
23. Lest this seem implicitly and one-sidedly to treat consciousness as prior to
and i n some sense causing behavior, one could just as easily recoil one step and
inquire abour the construction of this consciousness. Such an inquiry would neces-
sarily begin w i t h the social givens of the actor's position i n society. Social being
conditions social consciousness.
N O R M A L E X P L O I T A T I O N , N O R M A L RESISTANCE • 39
are able to impose their o w n image o f a just social order, not s i m p l y o n the
behavior o f non-elites, b u t on their consciousness as w e l l .
T h e p r o b l e m can be stated simply. Let us assume t h a t we can establish t h a t a
g i v e n g r o u p is exploired and rhat, further, this exploitation takes place i n a
context i n w h i c h the coercive force at the disposal o f the elites and/or the state
makes any open expression o f disconrent v i r t u a l l y impossible. A s s u m i n g , for the
sake o f a r g u m e n t , that the only behavior observable is apparently acquiescent,
at least t w o divergent interpretations of this state o f affairs are possible. One
may c l a i m that the exploited g r o u p , because o f a hegemonic religious or social
ideology, actually accepts its s i t u a t i o n as a n o r m a l , even jusrifiable part o f the
social order. T h i s explanation o f passivity assumes at least a fatalistic acceptance
of t h a t social order and perhaps even an active c o m p l i c i t y — b o t h o f w h i c h
M a r x i s t s m i g h t call " m y s t i f i c a t i o n " or "false-consciousness." 24
I t t y p i c a l l y rests
on the assumption that elites d o m i n a t e not o n l y the physical means o f p r o d u c t i o n
2 5
but the symbolic means o f p r o d u c t i o n as w e l l — a n d t h a t this symbolic hege-
mony allows t h e m to c o n t r o l the very srandards by w h i c h their rule is e v a l u a t e d . 26
As G r a m s c i argued, elites control the "ideological sectors" o f s o c i e t y — c u l t u r e ,
r e l i g i o n , education, and m e d i a — a n d can thereby engineer consent for their rule.
By creating and disseminating a universe o f discourse and the concepts t o go
w i t h i t , by d e f i n i n g the standards o f what is true, b e a u t i f u l , m o r a l , fair, and
l e g i t i m a r e , they b u i l d a symbolic climate that prevenrs subordinare classes f r o m
t h i n k i n g their way free. I n fact, for G r a m s c i , the proletariat is more enslaved
at the level o f ideas than at the level o f behavior. The hisroric task o f "the p a r t y "
is therefore less to lead a revolution than to break the symbolic miasma that
blocks tevolutionary t h o u g h t . Such interpretations have been invoked to account
for lower-class quiescence, particularly i n r u r a l societies such as I n d i a , where a
24. See the argument along these lines by Richard Hoggart, The Uses of Literacy
(London: Chatto & W i n d u s , 1954): 7 7 - 7 8 .
25. I n the Marxist tradition one m i g h t cite especially Antonio Gramsci, Selections
from the Prison Notebooks, ed. and trans. Quinten Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell S m i t h
(London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1971), 123-209, and Georg Lukacs, History and
Class Consciousness: Studies in Marxist Dialectics, trans. Rodney Livingston (Cambridge,
Mass.: M I T Press, 1971). Marx, to my knowledge, never used the term "false-
consciousness," although "the fetishism of commodities" may be read this way. But
the fetishism of commodities mystifies especially the bourgeoisie, not merely sub-
ordinate classes. For a critical view of "hegemony" as it m i g h t apply to the peasantry,
see James C. Scott, "Hegemony and the Peasantry," Politics and Society 7, no. 3
(1977): 2 6 7 - 9 6 , and chap. 7 below.
26. For other explanations of the same phenomenon, see, for example, Frank
Parkin, "Class Inequality and Meaning Systems," i n his Class Inequality and Political
Order (New York: Praeger, 1971), 7 9 - 1 0 2 , and Louis D u m o n t , Homo Hierarchies
(London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1970).
40 • N O R M A L E X P L O I T A T I O N , N O R M A L RESISTANCE
venerable system o f r i g i d caste strarification is reinforced by religious sanctions.
Lower castes are said to accept t h e i r fate i n the H i n d u hierarchy i n the hope o f
2 7
b e i n g rewarded i n the next l i f e .
A n alternative intetpretation o f such quiescence m i g h t be that i t is t o be
explained by the relationships o f force i n the countryside and not by peasant
28
values and b e l i e f s . A g r a r i a n peace, i n t h i s view, may w e l l be the peace o f
repression (remembered and/or anticipated) rather t h a n the peace o f consent or
complicity.
T h e issues posed by these divergent interpretations are centtal to the analysis
of peasant politics a n d , beyond t h a t , to the study o f class relationships i n general.
M u c h o f the debate on these issues has taken place as i f the choice o f i n t e t p r e t a t i o n
were m o t e a matter o f rhe ideological preferences o f the analyst t h a n o f actual
tesearch. W i t h o u t u n d e r e s t i m a t i n g the problems involved, I believe there are a
n u m b e r o f ways i n w h i c h the question can be empirically addressed. I t is possible,
i n other words, t o say s o m e t h i n g m e a n i n g f u l about the telative w e i g h t o f con-
sciousness, on the one h a n d , and repression ( i n fact, memory, or potential) on
the other, i n restraining acts o f resistance.
T h e a t g u m e n t for false-consciousness, after all, depends on the symbolic a l i g n -
m e n t o f elite and subotdinate class values—that is, o n the assumption t h a t the
peasantry (proletariat) actually accepts m o s t o f the elite vision o f the social otder.
W h a t does mystification mean, i f not a group's assent to the social ideology that
justifies its exploitation? To the extent t h a t an exploited group's o u t l o o k is i n
substantial symbolic a l i g n m e n t w i t h elite values, the case for mysrificarion is
strengthened; to the extent that i t holds deviant or contradictory values, rhe case
is weakened. A close study o f the s u b c u l t u r e o f a subordinare g r o u p and its
relation to d o m i n a n t elite values should thus give us p a r t o f the answer we seek.
T h e evidence w i l l seldom be cut and d r i e d , for any group's social o u t l o o k w i l l
contain a n u m b e r o f diverse and even contradictory currents. I t is not the mere
existence o f devianr s u b c u l t u r a l themes t h a t is notable, for they are w e l l - n i g h
universal, b u t rather the forms they may take, the values they embody, and the
e m o t i o n a l attachment they inspire. T h u s , even i n the absence o f resistance, we
are not w i t h o u t tesources to address the question o f false-consciousness.
To relieve the somewhat abstract nature o f the argument thus far, i t may be
helpful to illustrate the k i n d of evidence t h a t m i g h t bear d i r e c t l y on t h i s issue.
Suppose, for example, that the "onstage" l i n g u i s t i c t e r m for sharecropping or
for tenancy is one that emphasizes its fairness and justice. Suppose, further, that
the t e r m used by tenants b e h i n d the backs o f landlords to describe t h i s rela-
27. But note the efforts of lower castes to raise their ritual status and, more
recently, the tendency for harijans to leave H i n d u i s m altogether and convert to Islam,
which makes no caste distinctions among believers.
28. See, for example, Gerrit Huizer, Peasant Mobilization and Land Reform in In-
donesia (The Hague: Institute of Social Studies, 1972).
N O R M A L E X P L O I T A T I O N , N O R M A L RESISTANCE • 41
2 9
t i o n s h i p is q u i t e different—cynical and m o c k i n g . Is this not plausible evidence
t h a t the tenant's view o f the relationship is largely d e m y s t i f i e d — t h a t he does
not accept the elite's definition o f tenancy at face value? W h e n H a j i A y u b and
H a j i K a d i r are called Haji "Broom," Haji Kedikut, or Bak Ceti b e h i n d their backs,
is i t not plausible evidence that t h e i r c l a i m to l a n d , to interest, to rents, and to
respect is at least contested at the level o f consciousness, i f n o t at the level o f
"onstage" acts? W h a t are we to make o f lower-class religious sects (the Quakers
i n seventeenth-century E n g l a n d , Saminists i n t w e n t i e t h - c e n t u r y Java, to name
only t w o o f many) t h a t abandon the use o f honorifics to address their social
betters and insist instead on l o w forms o f address or o n u s i n g words like "friend"
or " b r o t h e r " t o describe everyone. Is t h i s not t e l l i n g evidence that the elite's
l i b r e t t o for the hierarchy o f n o b i l i r y and respect is, at the very leasr, not sung
w o r d for w o r d by its subjects?
By reference to the c u l t u r e that peasants fashion f r o m their experience—their
"offstage" comments and conversation, t h e i r proverbs, folksongs, and history,
legends, jokes, language, r i t u a l , and r e l i g i o n — i t should be possible to determine
to w h a t degree, and i n w h a t ways, peasants actually accept the social order
propagated by elites. Some elements o f lower-class culrure are o f course more
relevant to this issue t h a n others. For any agrarian sysrem, one can identify a
set o f key values that justify the r i g h t o f an elite to the deference, l a n d , taxes,
and rent i t claims. I t is, i n large part, an e m p i r i c a l marter whether such key
values find support or opposirion w i t h i n the subculture o f subordinate classes.
I f bandits and poachers are made i n t o folkheroes, we can infer t h a t transgressions
of elite codes evoke a vicarious a d m i r a r i o n . I f the forms o f o u t w a r d deference are
privately m o c k e d , i t may suggest that peasants are hardly i n the t h r a l l o f a
naturally ordained social order. I f those w h o t r y to c u r r y the personal favor o f
elites are shunned and ostracized by orhers o f rheir class, we have evidence that
there is a lower-class subculture w i t h sanctioning power. Rejection o f elite values,
however, is seldom an across-the-board p r o p o s i t i o n , and only a close study o f
peasant values can define the major points o f friction and correspondence. I n this
sense, points o f friction become diagnostic only w h e n they center on key values
i n the social order, grow, and harden.
THE E X P E R I E N C E A N D CONSCIOUSNESS OF H U M A N AGENTS
I t was w i t h such issues i n m i n d t h a t I spent more t h a n a year and a h a l f i n the
village o f Sedaka l i s t e n i n g , asking questions, and t r y i n g to understand the issues
that animated villagers d u r i n g m y stay a m o n g t h e m . T h e result is, I hope, a
close-to-the-ground, fine-grained account o f class relations i n a very s m a l l place
(seventy families, 360 people) experiencing very large changes (the "green rev-
29- Tenancy i n Central Luzon, the Philippines, is a striking case in point. Com-
munication from Benedick Kerkvliet, Universiry of Hawaii.
42 • N O R M A L E X P L O I T A T I O N , N O R M A L RESISTANCE
o l u t i o n " : i n this case, the d o u b l e - c r o p p i n g o f rice). M u c h o f that account, t h o u g h
not a l l o f i t , is an account o f w h a t appears to be a losing class struggle against
capitalist a g r i c u l t u r a l development and its h u m a n agents. I t goes w i t h o u t saying
that I have t h o u g h t i t i m p o r t a n t to listen carefully to the h u m a n agents I was
s t u d y i n g , t o their experience, ro their categories, ro t h e i r values, to t h e i r under-
s t a n d i n g o f the s i t u a t i o n . There are several reasons for b u i l d i n g t h i s k i n d o f
phenomenological approach i n t o the study.
The first reason has to do w i t h h o w social science can and o u g h t to be
conducted. I t is fashionable i n some o f the more structuralist variants o f neo-
M a r x i s m to assume that one can infer the nature o f class relations i n any
nonsocialist T h i r d W o r l d c o u n t r y d i r e c t l y f r o m a few diagnostic features—the
d o m i n a n t m o d e o f p r o d u c t i o n , the mode and t i m i n g o f insertion i n t o the w o r l d
economy, or the m o d e o f surplus appropriation. T h i s procedure entails a h i g h l y
reductionist leap straight f r o m one or a very few economic givens to the class
s i t u a t i o n t h a t is presumed to follow f r o m these givens. There are no h u m a n
actors here, only mechanisms and puppets. To be sure, the economic givens are
crucial; they define m u c h , b u t not a l l , o f the s i t u a t i o n that h u m a n actors face;
rhey place l i m i t s o n the responses that are possible, imaginable. B u t those l i m i t s
are wide and, w i t h i n t h e m , h u m a n actors fashion t h e i r o w n response, t h e i r o w n
experience o f class, their o w n history. A s E. P. T h o m p s o n notes i n his polemic
against Althusser:
nor is i t [ t h e epistemological refusal o f experience] pardonable i n a M a r x i s t ,
since experience is a necessary m i d d l e t e r m berween social being and social
consciousness: ir is experience (often class experience) w h i c h gives a color-
ation to c u l t u r e , to values, and to t h o u g h t ; i t is by means o f experience
that the mode o f p r o d u c t i o n exerts a d e t e r m i n i n g pressure u p o n other
activities. . . . classes arise because m e n and w o m e n , i n determinate p r o -
ductive relations, identify t h e i r antagonistic interests, and come to s t r u g g l e ,
to t h i n k , and to value i n class ways: thus the process o f class f o r m a t i o n is
3 0
a process o f s e l f - m a k i n g , a l t h o u g h under conditions w h i c h are g i v e n .
How else can a m o d e o f p r o d u c t i o n affect the nature o f class relations except as
i t is m e d i a t e d by h u m a n experience and intetpretation? O n l y by c a p t u r i n g t h a t
experience i n s o m e t h i n g l i k e its fullness w i l l we be able to say a n y t h i n g m e a n -
i n g f u l about h o w a g i v e n economic system influences those who constitute i t
and m a i n t a i n i t or supersede i t . A n d , o f course, i f this is true for the peasantry
or the proletariat, i t is surely true for the bourgeoisie, the petite bourgeoisie,
31
and even the l u m p e n p r o l e t a r i a r . To o m i t the experience o f h u m a n agents f r o m
the analysis o f class relarions is to have theory swallow its o w n t a i l .
30. The Poverty of Theory and Other Essays (New York: Monthly Review Press,
1978), 98, 106-07.
31. I t is also true for the regular pattern of human activities that we call i n s t i -
tutions. For example—note w e l l , structuralists—the state.
N O R M A L E X P L O I T A T I O N , N O R M A L RESISTANCE • 43
A second reason for p u r r i n g the experience o f h u m a n agenrs at the center o f
the analysis concerns the concept o f class itself. I t is a l l very w e l l to identify a
collection o f i n d i v i d u a l s w h o a l l occupy a comparable p o s i t i o n i n relation t o the
means o f p r o d u c t i o n — a class-in-itself. B u t w h a t i f such objective, s t r u c t u r a l
determinations find l i t t l e echo i n the consciousness and m e a n i n g f u l a c t i v i t y o f
32
those w h o are thus i d e n t i f i e d ? I n place o f s i m p l y assuming a one-to-one cor-
respondence between "objective" class strucrure and consciousness, is i t not far
preferable to undersrand h o w those structures are apprehended by flesh-and-blood
h u m a n actors? Class, after a l l , does not exhaust the t o t a l explanatory space o f
social actions. N o w h e r e is t h i s more true t h a n w i t h i n the peasant village, where
class may compere w i t h k i n s h i p , n e i g h b o t h o o d , faction, and r i t u a l l i n k s as foci
of h u m a n i d e n t i t y and solidarity. Beyond the village level, i t may also compete
w i t h ethnicity, language g r o u p , r e l i g i o n , and region as a focus o f loyalty. Class
may be applicable to some situations b u t not to others; i t may be reinforced or
crosscut by other ties; i t may be far more i m p o r t a n t for the experience o f some
than o f others. Those w h o are t e m p t e d to dismiss a l l principles o f h u m a n action
that contend w i t h class i d e n t i t y as "false-consciousness" and to w a i t for A l t h u s -
ser's " d e t e r m i n a t i o n i n the last instance" are likely ro w a i t i n v a i n . I n t h e
m e a n t i m e , the messy reality o f m u l t i p l e identities w i l l continue to be the ex-
perience o u t o f w h i c h social relations are conducted. N e i t h e r peasanrs nor p r o -
lerarians deduce t h e i r identities d i r e c r l y or solely from the mode o f p r o d u c t i o n ,
and the sooner we attend to the concrere experience o f class as ir is l i v e d , the
sooner we w i l l appreciare b o t h the obstacles t o , and the possibilities for, class
formation.
A further justification for a close analysis o f class relations is t h a t i n the
village, and not only there, classes travel under srrange and deceptive banners.
They are nor apprehended as ghostly, abstract concepts b u t i n the a l l - t o o - h u m a n
form o f specific i n d i v i d u a l s and groups, specific conflicts and struggles. P i v e n
and C l o w a r d capture the specificity o f this experience for rhe w o r k i n g class:
First, people experience deprivarion and oppression w i t h i n a concrete set-
t i n g , n o t as the end p r o d u c t o f large and abstract processes, and i t is the
concrete experience that molds t h e i r discontent into specific grievances
against specific targets. Workers-experience the factory, the speeding
r h y t h m o f the assembly l i n e , the foremen, the spies, the guards, the owner,
33
and the pay check. They do not experience monopoly capitalism.
I n the same fashion the M a l a y peasant experiences increasing land rents, s t i n g y
32. See the persuasive argument along these lines by James Brow, "Some Problems
in the Analysis of Agrarian Classes in South Asia," Peasant Studies 9, no. 1 (Fall
1981): 15-33.
33. Frances Fox Piven and Richard A . Cloward, Poor People's Movements: Why They
Succeed, How They Pail (New York: Vintage, 1977), 20, emphasis added.
44 • N O R M A L E X P L O I T A T I O N , N O R M A L RESISTANCE
landlords, ruinous interest tates f r o m moneylenders, combine-harvesters that
replace h i m , and p e t t y bureaucrars w h o treat h i m shabbily. H e does not experience
the cash nexus or the capitalist p y r a m i d o f finance that makes o f those landlords,
combine-harvester owners, moneylenders, and bureaucrats only the p e n u l t i m a t e
l i n k i n a complex process. Small wonder, t h e n , that the language o f class i n the
village should bear the b i t t h m a r k s o f its d i s t i n c t i v e o r i g i n . Villagers do not call
Pak H a j i K a d i r an agent o f finance c a p i t a l ; they call h i m K a d i r Ceti because i r
was t h r o u g h the Chertiar m o n e y l e n d i n g caste, w h i c h d o m i n a t e d rural c r e d i t
f r o m about 1910 u n t i l W o r l d W a r I I , that the Malay peasant most forcibly
experienced finance capital. T h e fact that the w o r d Cbettiar has s i m i l a r conno-
tations for m i l l i o n s o f peasants i n V i e t n a m and B u r m a as w e l l is a t r i b u t e t o
the homogenization o f experience w h i c h the capitalist penetration o f Southeast
Asia b r o u g h t i n its wake. N o r is i t s i m p l y a question o f r e c o g n i z i n g a disguise
and uncovering rhe real relationship t h a t lies b e h i n d i t . For the disguise, the
metaphor, is part o f the real relationship. T h e Malays historically experienced
the moneylender as a moneylender and as a C h e t t i a r — t h a t is, as a foreigner and
a n o n - M u s l i m . Similarly, the Malay typically experiences the shopkeeper and the
rice buyer not only as a crediror and wholesaler b u t as a person o f another race
and another r e l i g i o n . Thus rhe concept o f class as i t is l i v e d is nearly always an
alloy c o n t a i n i n g base metals; its concrete properties, its uses, are those o f the
alloy and not o f the pure metals ir may contain. Either we take i t as we find i t
or we abandon the empirical study o f class altogether.
T h a t the experienced concept of class should be found embedded i n a partic-
ular history o f social relations is hardly to be deplored. I t is this rootedness o f
the experience that gives i t its power and its m e a n i n g . W h e n the experience is
widely shared, the symbols that e m b o d y class relations can come to have an
extraordinary evocative power. One can i m a g i n e , i n this context, h o w i n d i v i d u a l
grievances become collective grievances and h o w collective grievances may rake
on the character o f a class-based m y t h t i e d , as always, t o local experience. T h u s ,
a particular peasant may be a tenant o f a l a n d l o r d w h o m he regards as p a r t i c u l a r l y
oppressive. H e may g r u m b l e ; he may even have fantasies about t e l l i n g the
landlord w h a t he t h i n k s o f h i m or even darker thoughts o f arson or homicide.
I f this is an isolated, personal grievance, the affair is l i k e l y to stop there—at
fantasy. I f , however, many tenants find themselves i n the same boat, either
because they share the same l a n d l o r d or because their landlords treat t h e m i n
comparable ways, there arises the basis for a collective grievance, collective fan-
tasy, and even collective acts. Peasants are then likely to find themselves t r a d i n g
stories about bad landlords and, since some landlords are likely to be more
nororious than others, they become the focus o f elaborate stories, the reposirory
o f the collective grievances o f m u c h o f the c o m m u n i t y against t h a t k i n d o f
landlord i n general. T h u s , we have the legend o f H a j i B r o o m , w h i c h has become
a k i n d o f metaphorical shorthand for large-scale l a n d l o r d i s m i n the region. T h u s ,
N O R M A L E X P L O I T A T I O N , N O R M A L RESISTANCE • 45
we have poems about H a j i K e d i k u t , w h i c h are not so m u c h stories about
individuals as a s y m b o l for an entire class o f H a j i landlords.
I f there had ever been (and there has not) a large-scale movemenr o f rebellion
againsr landlords i n K e d a h , we can be certain that s o m e t h i n g o f the s p i r i t o f
those legends w o u l d have been reflected i n action. T h e way was already s y m -
bolically prepared. B u t the central p o i n t to be emphasized is simply t h a t the
concept o f class, i f i t is to be found at a l l , is to be found encoded i n concrete,
shared experience that reflects b o t h the c u l t u r a l material and hisrorical givens
o f its carriers. I n the West, the concept of food is expressed most often by bread.
I n most o f Asia, i t means rice, 34
T h e shorthand for capitalist i n A m e r i c a may be
Rockefeller, w i t h a l l the historical connotations o f that name; the shorthand for
bad landlord i n Sedaka is Haji Broom, w i t h a l l the historical connotations o f that
name.
For a l l these reasons, the study o f class relarions i n Sedaka, as elsewhere, m u s t
of necessity be as m u c h a study o f meaning and experience as i t is o f behavior
considered narrowly. N o other procedure is possible inasmuch as behavior is never
self-explanatory. One need cite only the famous example o f a r a p i d closing and
opening o f a single eyelid, used by G i l b e r t Ryle and elaborated on by Clifford
3 5
Geertz, to illustrate the p r o b l e m . Is i t a t w i t c h or a w i n k ? Mere observation
of the physical act gives no clue. I f i t is a w i n k , w h a t k i n d o f w i n k is i t : one
o f conspiracy, o f ridicule, o f seduction? O n l y a knowledge o f the c u l t u r e , the
shared understandings, o f the actor and his or her observers and confederates can
b e g i n to t e l l us; and even then we m u s t allow for possible misunderstandings.
I t is one t h i n g to k n o w t h a t landlords have raised cash renrs for rice l a n d ; i t is
another to k n o w whar t h i s behavior means for those affected. Perhaps, just
perhaps, tenants regard the tise i n renrs as reasonable and long overdue. Perhaps
they regard the rise as oppressive and intended to d r i v e t h e m off the l a n d .
Perhaps o p i n i o n is d i v i d e d . O n l y an i n q u i r y i n t o the experience o f tenants, the
m e a n i n g they attach to the event, can offer us the possibility o f an answer. I
say "the possibility o f an answer" because i t may be i n the interest o f tenants
34. " M a n does not live by bread alone." B u t "bread" may come to mean more
than just food; ir may mean the wherewithal for living or cash, as i n "Can you loan
me some bread, man?" I n Malay sociery, the proverb Jangan pecah periok nasi orang
(Don't break someone else's rice pot) means "don't threaten someone else's source of
livelihood."
35. Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures (New York: Basic, 1973), 6—9.
A n excellent summary of this intellectual position may be found in Richard J . Bern-
srein, The Restructuring of Social and Political Theory (Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsyl-
vania Press, 1978), 173-236. As Bernstein notes, "These intentional descriptions,
meanings, and interpretations are not merely subjective states of m i n d which can be
correlated w i t h external behavior; they are constitutive of the activities and practices
of our social and political lives" ( 2 2 9 - 3 0 ) .
46 • N O R M A L E X P L O I T A T I O N , N O R M A L RESISTANCE N O R M A L E X P L O I T A T I O N , N O R M A L RESISTANCE • 47

to misrepresent t h e i r o p i n i o n , and thus interpreration may be tricky. B u t w i t h o u t W h a t is attempted here, then, is a plausible account o f class relations i n
t h a t i n f o r m a t i o n we are u t t e r l y at sea. A theft o f g r a i n , an apparent snub, an Sedaka t h a t telies as m u c h as possible on the evidence, experience, and descrip-
apparent g i f t — t h e i t i m p o r t is inaccessible to us unless we can construct i t f r o m tions o f action w h i c h the participants have themselves p r o v i d e d . A t numerous
the meanings only h u m a n actors can provide. I n t h i s sense, we concentrate at poinrs I have supplemenred that description w i t h interpretations o f m y o w n , for
least as m u c h on the experience o f behavior as on behavior itself, as m u c h o n I a m w e l l aware o f how ideology, the rationalization o f personal interesr, day-to-
56
history as carried i n people's heads as on "the flow o f events," as m u c h on h o w day social tactics, or even politeness may affect a participant's account. B u t never,
class is perceived and understood as o n "objective class relations." I hope, have I replaced t h e i t account w i t h m y o w n . Instead I have t r i e d to validate
T h e approach raken here certainly relies heavily on whar is k n o w n as phe- m y i n t e r p r e t a t i o n by showing h o w i t "removes anomalies w i t h i n , or adds infor-
37
nomenology or e t h n o m e t h o d o l o g y . B u t i t is not confined to that approach, for m a t i o n t o , the best description w h i c h the p a r t i c i p a n t is able to offer." For, as
i t is only s l i g h t l y more true that people speak for themselves than t h a t behavior D u n n argues,
speaks for itself. Pure phenomenology has its o w n pitfalls. A g o o d deal o f
W h a t we cannot ptopetly do is ro c l a i m to know t h a t we understand h i m
behavior, i n c l u d i n g speech, is automatic and unreflective, based o n understand-
or h i s action bettet than he does h i m s e l f w i t h o u t access to the best de-
ings that are seldom i f ever raised to the level o f consciousness. A careful observer
s c r i p t i o n w h i c h he is able to offer. . . . T h e criterion o f p r o o f for the
m u s t provide an interpreration o f such behavior t h a t is more than just a r e p e t i t i o n
v a l i d i t y o f a descriprion or interpretation o f an action is the economy a n d
o f the "commonsense" knowledge o f participants. A s an interpretation, i t has to
accuracy w i t h w h i c h i t handles the f u l l text o f the agent's description.
be judged by the standards o f its logic, its economy, and its consistency w i t h
other k n o w n social facts. H u m a n agents may also provide contradictory accounts
o f their o w n behavior, or they may w i s h to conceal their understanding from
the observer or f r o m one another. Hence, the same standards o f i n t e r p r e t a t i o n
apply, a l t h o u g h the g r o u n d is a d m i t t e d l y treacherous. Beyond this, there s i m p l y
are facrors i n any s i t u a t i o n t h a t shed l i g h t on the action o f h u m a n agents, b u t
o f w h i c h they can scarcely be expected to be aware. A n international c r e d i t crisis,
changes i n w o r l d w i d e d e m a n d for food grains, a q u i e t factional struggle i n the
cabinet that affects agrarian policy, small changes i n the genetic m a k e u p o f seed
g r a i n , for example, may each have a decided i m p a c t on local social relations
whether or not they are k n o w n to the actors involved. Such knowledge is w h a t
an outside observer can often add to a description o f the situation as a supplement
to, not a substitute for, the description that h u m a n agents themselves p r o v i d e . For
however p a r t i a l or even m i s t a k e n the experienced reality o f the h u m a n agents,
i t is that experienced reality t h a t provides the basis for their understanding a n d
their action. Finally, there is no such t h i n g as a complete account o f experienced
38
reality, no " f u l l verbal Transcript o f the conscious experience." T h e fullness o f
the transcript is l i m i t e d b o t h by the e m p i r i c a l and analytical interests o f the
t t a n s c r i b e r — i n t h i s case, class relations broadly construed—and by the practical
l i m i t s o f t i m e and space.

36. Clifford Geertz, "Blurred Genres: The Refigurarion of Social T h o u g h t , " Amer-
ican Scholar 49, no. 2 (Spring 1980): 175.
37. See, for example, Roy Turner, ed., Ethnomethodology: Selected Readings (Har-
mondsworth: Penguin, 1974).
38. John D u n n , "Practising History and Social Science on 'Realist' Assumptions,"
in Action and Interpretation: Studies in the Philosophy of the Social Sciences, ed.
C. Hookway and P. Pettit (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1979), 160.