ABSTRACT
In the author's study of "The Transition from Subsistence to Commercial Family Farming in North Sumatra", Indonesia, he has interrelated technological, economic, and social changes to measure the extent to which farmers have become active participants in the development process. An index of economic mindedness was constructed to show the nature and extent of differences in the willingness and ability of farmers to participate in the development process. In some, the peasants have already become commercial farmers, in others they have begun to change, while in yet others no aspect of the social system— not farming methods or attitudes to work and to learning or life goals—shows any appreciable sign of change. The chapter explains the construction and use of the index of economic-mindedness. It discusses the sequence in which changes have occurred, and the reasons for the observed differences in farmer behavior are then given.
