Abstract
What can we, as sociologists, do with radical political criticism? The publication of the book Reprendre la terre aux machines (Reclaiming the land from the machines) by the cooperative L’Atelier Paysan (2021) offers a particular answer to this age-old question. The starting point of this “manifesto for peasant and food autonomy” is the authors’ dissatisfaction with the results of their own efforts. The aim of this paper is then to address the following question: are hedgerows, and with them all those who defend their greater consideration in agricultural policies, the “useful idiots” of the dominant agricultural model? The discussion is therefore organised in two stages. Firstly, it presents the arguments showing that hedgerows can support consensual ecologisation that marginalises a more profound transformation of the agricultural economy. Secondly, however, it then explores the limitations of this position by arguing that if greening via hedgerows is indeed marginal, it is not reduced to being a useful idiot but participates in ecologisation from the margins. The main lesson of this paper is to highlight the benefits for sociology to take seriously the political analyses of stakeholders, not only as objects of study but also as sparks to inspire the sociological imagination.
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For a review, see (Meyer 2022).
For a review, see (Magnin 2021a).
See his speech in the Ministry of Agriculture’s video “Plantons des haies”, 8 April 2021.
“Les chantiers que le ministre doit boucler avant l'élection présidentielle”, Terre-Net, 30 September 2021.
At least since the massive disappearance of subsistence practices that took from hedges blackberries for jam or hazelnuts for oil (Lizet 1984).
https://www.elysee.fr/emmanuel-macron/2021/10/12/presentation-du-plan-france-2030, consulted 25 October 2022.
However, it cannot be said either that hedgerows are a gateway that, once pushed open, naturally leads to farms’ total transformation. The consequences of reclassifying hedgerows as an integral part of the farm on the rest of its components is an avenue of research that future empirical studies could address.
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Magnin, L. The hedgerow: industrial farming’s “useful idiot”?. Rev Agric Food Environ Stud 104, 77–86 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41130-022-00186-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41130-022-00186-y