Beyond Post-Productivism: From Rural Policy Discourse To Rural Diversity

Almstedt Åsa (), Brouder Patrick (), Karlsson Svante () and Lundmark Linda ()
Additional contact information
Almstedt Åsa: Department of Geography and Economic History, Umeå University, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden
Brouder Patrick: School of Tourism and Hospitality, University of Johannesburg, South Africa
Karlsson Svante: Department of Geography and Economic History, Umeå University, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden
Lundmark Linda: Department of Geography and Economic History, Umeå University, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden

European Countryside, 2014, vol. 6, issue 4, 297-306

Abstract: There has been a strong discourse in public policy aimed at transforming rural places from venues of primary production into truly diverse socioeconomic landscapes. Yet conceptualisations of the rural as envisioned in the policy and politics of the ‘new economy’ often prove to be elusive on the ground. However, post-productive activity in rural areas has become a major focus for rural studies scholars. This paper investigates the ideas of post-productivism in the existing literature, and argues for a holistic understanding of post-productivism as an idea and political ambition rather than an imperative and irreversible change of rural economic activity. The purpose of the study is to make clear the division between post-productivism and the related concepts of post-production and post-productive activities in order to better understand processes of rural change in relation to different geographical contexts. It is argued that post-productivism as a concept stands apart from de facto post-production and alternative concepts such as multifunctionality and should be regarded as part of broader regional development discourses. The paper outlines several important fields in which post-productivism is a necessary component for rural transformation and development. While it is not always easily captured in indicators or empirical studies in rural locations, postproductivism exists at the level of discourse and planning and thus has real effects on the ground. The paper concludes by offering suggestions on how to apply the concepts of post-productivism, post-production and multifunctionality in future studies.

Keywords: change; multifunctionality; policy; post-productivism; production; rural (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.2478/euco-2014-0016 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:vrs:eurcou:v:6:y:2014:i:4:p:297-306:n:2

DOI: 10.2478/euco-2014-0016

Access Statistics for this article

European Countryside is currently edited by Milada Šťastná

More articles in European Countryside from Sciendo
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Peter Golla ().