Skip Navigation


Cambridge Journal of Economics Advance Access originally published online on March 18, 2008
Cambridge Journal of Economics 2009 33(6):1187-1203; doi:10.1093/cje/ben005
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
33/6/1187    most recent
ben005v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Kayatekin, S. A.
Related Collections
Right arrow B50 - General
Right arrow N51 - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
Right arrow N52 - U.S.; Canada: 1913-
Right arrow Q10 - General
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Cambridge Political Economy Society. All rights reserved.

Ambivalence of class subjectivity: the sharecroppers of the post-bellum southern USA

Serap A. Kayatekin*

* The American College of Thessaloniki

Address for correspondence: The School of Art, Science and Technology, Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, The American College of Thessaloniki, Pylea, Thessaloniki, Greece; email: skayatekin{at}gmail.com

The paper argues that the economic literature on sharecropping uses a modernist notion of subjectivity that fails to explain the complexity of economic behaviour or the social context in which agency is formed. I look at the case of economic subjectivity of southern sharecropping tenants in the post-bellum USA, using non-determinist Marxist class analysis together with the concept of subjectivity drawing from postcolonial theory, in particular the work of Homi Bhabha. I argue that this alternative approach to economic subjectivity, which posits an ambivalent, or contradictory subjectivity provides us with a better analytical grasp of economic agency and a better explanation of the perpetuation or demise of a productive form such as sharecropping.

Key Words: Sharecropping • Economic subjectivity • Marxian class analysis • Postcolonial theory • Homi Bhabha

JEL classifications: B5, N51, N52, Q1

Manuscript received July 10, 2006; final version received November 12, 2007.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Cambridge J EconHome page
S. A. Kayatekin
Between political economy and postcolonial theory: first encounters
Camb. J. Econ., November 1, 2009; 33(6): 1113 - 1118.
[Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.