ABSTRACT
Intradependence means "to exist by virtue of necessary relations within a place". Intradependence speaks of dependence within a place, dependence on the land and dependence on the good will and wisdom of the people with whom the land is shared. The greater the intradependence, the greater the sense of community. The life of the medieval peasant was defined by intradependence; that is, it revolved around care and concern for the viability of shared places, something that demanded a communal outlook. The orientation of the peasant was to the past, and this, as alluded to earlier, frequently led to accusations of "backwardness", or as Karl Marx once put it, "rural idiocy". Among peasant cultures, there was a mutual dependence between the place and those who shared it. The high degree of intradependence in the medieval peasant community was achieved through careful attention to the earth itself, to the past, and to the economics of survival.
