The professional bifurcation of neopeasants in contemporary France

Abstract

Based on the interviews conducted on the sites, we can affirm that the subjective centrality of work structures the identity of the neopeasants who, through professional bifurcations, sought a profession that was in accordance with their values. We therefore argue that the bifurcations towards peasant life are not a rejection of the work ethic, but rather an affirmation of it. The interviewees were divided into two groups: those who reject the alienation of work and alienated relations with nature that characterised previous work, a rejection that is accentuated by an understanding of the Anthropocene, and, to a lesser extent, those who worked in associations close to the peasant world or in environmental education. In both groups, the construction and consolidation of peasant life is marked by the search for autonomy in work, which is embodied in values and practices from the perspective of subsistence.