Strategii de subzistenţă într-o localitate de lângă Târnava Mică
Subsistence strategies in a settlement situated along the Kis-Küküllő (Târnava Mică) Rive

Author(s): Lehel Peti
Subject(s): Agriculture, Labor relations, Rural and urban sociology, Socio-Economic Research
Published by: ISPMN Institutul pentru Studierea Problemelor Minorităţilor Naţionale
Keywords: Subsistence strategies; Economic and social changes; social stratifications; Farms; Horticultures; Day-labourers; Quasi-agricultural enterprise experiments;
Summary/Abstract: The study attempts to present the economic strategies of a settlement, in which employment in state companies built upon a specific environmental resource (natural gas extraction) as well as the success of an independent enterprise has significantly transformed the livelihood strategies based on agriculture, resulting in a change in lifestyle as well. The studied settlement represents the opposite model of the villages re-peasantised after the regime change, described in the Transylvanian scholarly literature. The study analyses the economic behaviour modes, as well as the changes in the livelihood strategies observed in a settlement along the Kis-Küküllő (Târnava Mică) River, aiming to present the stratification of the rural society based on economic strategies. The author outlines the way in which in this multiethnic (inhabited by Hungarians, Romanians and Romani) small settlement, the bakery which used to function as a cooperative during socialism became a well-established company employing a significant part of the village's population, being present in important segments of the national markets, connecting the previously isolated small settlement with new regional and national networks. He also presents the significance of the natural gas extraction activities from the point of view of livelihood strategies, after which he presents the economic strategies built upon agricultural activities.

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