Definition of

Peasant

rural worker

A peasant is someone who works in the field.

Peasant is an adjective used to refer to someone linked to the countryside : the land that is outside a city and that, in general, is workable. The concept usually refers to the individual who resides and carries out activities in a field .

For example: "The government announced that it will provide scholarships to young farmers who wish to pursue higher education," "A group of farmers has blocked the road to demand that the mining company withdraw from the region," "My grandfather was born in a small town." of peasants .

Characteristics of the peasants

Peasants are those who make up a rural community . They may be owners of the land who work or workers hired by the owner of the land to carry out farming , livestock, etc. tasks.

While city dwellers are dedicated to industrial or service -related activities, farmers generally work in direct contact with raw materials . They can plant and harvest vegetables or fruits, raise livestock or have farm animals, to name a few possibilities.

The urbanization of lands that were previously rural and the introduction of technology that replaces human labor mean that many farmers are forced to move to cities to survive. When they arrive in large urban centers, however, it is common for them to encounter problems integrating and getting well-paid jobs.

Beyond referring to people, the term peasant can also refer to other issues typical of rural life : "I have lived in the capital for many years, but I still maintain some peasant customs," "Peasant work is very sacrificial," "The peasant scenes seem picturesque to me."

Crop

Peasants carry out different agricultural tasks.

Negative connotations

The term peasant usually has certain negative connotations in everyday speech, not only of people raised in the city but even of some who were born in the countryside.

Unfortunately, the media feeds the idea that peasants are inferior beings, either because of their academic training or their interests, and leads us to believe that they are slaves who are at the service of the inhabitants of big cities. .

In this way, society breaks into two parts with unequal rights: one is more powerful than the other, it is more worthy, more valuable. All of this results in the discomfort of those who receive the contempt, but it also negatively affects those who express it, although in a less direct way. When we invest our breath and saliva in unfairly diminishing someone, we deprive ourselves of truly knowing them and, by default, of knowing ourselves more.

Other considerations on the concept of peasant

Can the profile of the peasant be defined? Well, to answer this question we can well propose the corresponding one to the citizen , understanding this term as "natural individual of a city" . This also extends to the characteristics of life in each area, since it is not the same for everyone. The individuality of each person gives rise to variety, to diversity , and it is thanks to this that the best of each species emerges.

One of the issues that is usually associated with life in the countryside is peace . There is nothing like waking up every morning in an area far from urban centers, in the middle of hectares of unpaved land, where many of the trees have not been planted by man.

This goes hand in hand with the impact it has on health: rural air is unfailingly cleaner than urban air, since the level of environmental pollution is considerably lower. This does not mean that life in the city cannot be healthy for human beings, but that it offers us other benefits, generally related to access to certain work or academic opportunities that society keeps away from rural areas.