Characteristics of traditional small-scale peasant economy

Small-scale peasant economy is the basic production structure of feudal society in China, and its main feature is a self-sufficient natural economy with individual families as the unit and cottage industries.

Small-scale peasant economy is also called natural economy and individual peasant economy. It is a small-scale peasant economy with family as the unit, based on individual ownership of the means of production, and relying entirely or mainly on its own labor to meet its own consumption. Among them, some operate with their own land, some operate with leased land, and some have both.

The main characteristics of small-scale peasant economy are decentralized management on small plots of land, low productivity and weak ability to resist natural disasters; Economic status is unstable, and it is easy to move towards polarization between the rich and the poor in a society dominated by private ownership.

Economic phenomenon:

Small-scale peasant economy is a kind of natural economy, and it can also be said to be a yeoman economy. From the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period to the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the yeoman economy was equivalent to the small-scale peasant economy, and after the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the small-scale peasant economy was mainly tenant farmers.

Therefore, the yeoman economy is no longer equal to the small-scale peasant economy, which is characterized by dispersion (family as a unit), closure (combination of agriculture and cottage industry) and self-sufficiency (the main purpose of production is to meet one's own living needs and pay taxes).

Small-scale peasant economy is not completely equivalent to the natural economy that emphasizes the family as the production and living unit, and the natural economy is mainly opposite to the commodity economy. Small-scale peasant economy came into being under the background of Niu Geng's iron plough during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, while natural economy appeared as early as the primitive society.

Production performance:

The concept of modern small-scale peasant economy has been expanded to include small farms. Individual as a unit, intensive cultivation, male cultivation and female weaving, and self-sufficiency are the production achievements.

In agriculture, the individual economy associated with hand tools and engaged in the management of small plots of land. The yeoman in feudal society and capitalist society is a typical small-scale peasant economy.

Small-scale peasant economy has small scale and simple production conditions, and can survive and multiply under relatively barren natural conditions; Because it takes the family as the production and living unit, it is easy to achieve the balance between production and consumption through thrift, so the small-scale peasant economy has a stable side.