Toward a Civic Agriculture - Civic Agriculture: Reconnecting Farm, Food, and Community - page 47

Operational Model
Production model:

Development model:

Concerned with economic Concerned with social and

efficiency and productivity economic equity

Emphasis on business growth Emphasis on household and

and profits community welfare

Global mass production and Local craft production serving

mass consumption local markets

Organizational Model
Corporate model: Community model:

large vertically or horizontally integrated
multinational corporations competing in a
global market

Smaller, locally controlled enterprises organized into in-
dustrial districts, regional trade associations, producer
cooperatives

Ideal form is the large firm Ideal form is the small firm

Class Positions
Corporate middle class: Independent middle class:

Positions in corporate hierarchies (e.g., pro-
fessional, managerial, administrative occu-
pations)

Independent middle class composed of small-business
owners, farmers, self-employed professional workers

Political Processes
Not communism

Democracy

Food consumers Food citizens

Power
Economic and political power are concentrated Economic and political power are dispersed
Motors for Change
Human capital Civic engagement

Social capital Social movements

Individual actions

Neoclassical Economics versus Pragmatism

The terms “neoclassical economics” and “pragmatism” reference bodies of social science
theory. Neoclassical economics is concerned with finding the most efficient and “econom-
ical” solution to problems. Pragmatism, on the other hand, is guided by the question “what
works?” Where neoclassical economics seeks the most efficient solution to a problem regard-
less of historical context or place, pragmatism advocates seeking the optimal solution that
takes into account the historical, cultural, and environmental conditions that frame problems.