ABSTRACT
The ‘good farmer’ concept is not a theory in itself, but a concept that enables theoretical inquiry into culture and identity in farming. This chapter offers an overview and synthesis of these theorisations and usages of the term to date. In historic literature, the ‘good farmer’ term is not theorised: rather, the cultural dimension of farming is hidden under a veil of scientific rationality. Contemporary usage of the term, in social research, emphasizes the symbolism behind farming practices, moving the concept of the ‘good farmer’ towards the representation of a cultural repertoire of normative and strategic ideas about what constitutes good farming practice. Early conceptualisations relate the concept to symbolic interactionist perspectives, in the terms of social scripting (Blumer, Mead) and of a social structuralist ‘identity theory’ (Stryker). Approaches inspired by the work of Pierre Bourdieu are the most developed and discussed in the literature, often addressing related concepts of symbolic/cultural capital and the habitus. Other, more marginal, contributions build on the concept of social representation, on practice theory, or on a rhetoric-culture approach. These different theorisations relate to diverse understanding of the cultural dimension of farming, with diverging consequences on how to address questions of change and ‘resistance’.
