ABSTRACT
The adaptation and development of Max Weber's concepts of formal and substantive rationality provide a counterbalance to the formal rationality imposed upon actors by both mainstream economists and traditional Marxist theory. The state's subsidization of the research and development that rendered mechanization cost-effective tells only a portion of its role in the rationalization of the hired labor form. Farmers Union members were likely to operate a larger number of total acres, have lower educational attainment, have lower family income, be supportive of collective bargaining, favor state intervention, and identify with the Democratic Party. In the rationalization of agriculture through the development of formal rationality, the emphasis turns toward the "value form" of one's work and away from the "natural," nonalienated forms of a labor process that is integrated internally, with respect to the division of labor, and externally, with respect to a way of life.
