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Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2024

The social life of farmers in France. A structural analysis of agricultural personal networks and sociabilities.

Résumé

When it comes to the farmers’ economic difficulties, social isolation, the weakening of traditional collective action or the issue of suicide often focus the media attention (Deffontaines, 2020). However, few studies specifically describe agricultural sociability, and, above all, their peculiarities compared to other social contexts. Are farmers really more isolated? And if so, are their networks more local, more professional and more focused on their colleagues, or friends, or family – assuming these groups aren’t actually the same ? The professional category of farmers is splitting, which calls into question the historical model of farming: the break-up of family structures, diversification of forms of capital ownership, changes in the legal forms of farms and professional hyper-specialisation. Certainly, the most significant trend is the demographic disappearance of this category. In 2000, the farmers represented less than 2% of the French working population, undermining their opportunities for collective action while only few farms remain same in some geographical areas. Overall, the farming population suffers from an ageing population, later entrants to the profession, fewer famer managers and earlier retirements. The way farmers “become a minority” (Hervieu and Purseigle, 2013) and traditional organization weakens in the profit of private actors raise the question of this professional group’s renewal, how it relates with the territory and, by extension, the future of agricultural sociability (Candau and Rémy, 2009; Champagne, 2002) - especially in a time of digitization (Mailfert, 2007). Rooted in personal networks analysis, we formulate several hypotheses. It is known that rural networks tend to be denser and closer than urban networks, which tend to be heterogeneous (especially as regards age) and centred on family and neighbourhood (Beggs et al., 1996; Fischer, 1982). Nevertheless, trends over the last 20 years show that rural networks in France are tending to resemble the networks of people living in peri-urban areas as a result of changing lifestyles and geographical mobility (Favre and Grossetti, 2021). Communication technologies also have impact the democratisation of communication technologies, mainly for weak ties renewal at the periphery of networks (Vriens and van Ingen, 2018), which would reinforce forms of entre-soi (Figeac et al., 2022). Geographical proximity remains one of the determining factors for creating and maintaining relationships (Hipp and Perrin, 2009). In spite of the emergence of short-circuiting, the marketing of products through associations and the tendency of young farmers to be geographically mobile (Chiffoleau, 2012; Coquard, 2019; Giraud, 2013; Purseigle and Hervieu, 2022; Renahy, 2010), we also hypothesize that farmers' networks continue to be peer and family oriented. We aim to study sociability networks in agricultural circles by identifying their specific features in relation to other population categories. We studied the personal networks of 65 farm managers in Occitanie (a region in the south-west of France, rich in farmers diversity) and we compared it to the personal networks of a representative sample of 709 people in the Toulouse conurbation (RESTIC survey) in terms of network size, density and composition. By comparison, we will characterize farmers’ sociability beyond the usual preconceptions of isolation and loneliness. We use the method network’s generation and structural analysis by mass survey (McCallister and Fischer, 1978) which is based on specific contexts (family, work, neighborhood, sporting activities or associations) and alters’ characteristics (level of education, place of residence, etc.). We will present and discuss the hypothesis, data and results of the RESAGRI project. Regarding the diversification of farming populations and networks in rural areas, we xill discuss the assessment that farmers' networks tend to maintain their density and cohesion in contrast to other rural populations, despite the experience of similar changes to the rest of the population (longer study periods, diversification of rural populations, greater geographical mobility, etc.).

Domaines

Sociologie
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Dates et versions

hal-04543782 , version 1 (12-04-2024)

Identifiants

  • HAL Id : hal-04543782 , version 1

Citer

Edgar Perrin, Victor Potier, Guillaume Favre, Julien Brailly, Julien Figeac. The social life of farmers in France. A structural analysis of agricultural personal networks and sociabilities.. INSNA Sunbelt 2024, International Network for Social Network Analysis, Jun 2024, Edinburgh (Ecosse), United Kingdom. ⟨hal-04543782⟩
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