Between morality and rationality: an analysis of interpersonal economics in rural ireland

Abstract

Social scientists interested in peasant societies have tried to make sense of their economies in terms of the "political" and "moral" economy paradigms. I t is the aim of this paper to assess critically the applicability of such models to the informal sector of Irish family farms and, in so doing, to postulate the necessity of a different theoretical approach. The simplistic dichotomy between "rational" and "moral" behaviour is shown to fall short of a satisfactory account of economic relationships in this particular context. The complex intersection of different forms of rationality on an Irish family farm, half-way between peasant and capitalist agricultural producers, calls for newer and less rigid hypotheses.