| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立臺北大學 === 社會學系 === 93 === This study examines the history and development of Taiwan’s agriculture, with special reference to tea industry. Through rapidly industrialization, Taiwan has become an industrial capitalist society where agriculture has largely been marginalized, with tea industry as a possible exception that may help illuminate the rule in agriculture development. This thesis includes four sections.
“The Agrarian Transformation in Industrial Capitalist Society” explores agrarian transformation in industrial capitalist society in general and the case of Taiwan. In sociology and economics there has been debates regarding persistence or disappearance of small farm in industrial capitalist society. These debates usually emphasize the importance of industrialization to agrarian transformation, yet without fully realizing that ‘the degree of industrialization’ is what decides the different form of agrarian production. This thesis proposes that, according to the degree of industrialization, agrarian transformation in industrial capitalist society can be divided into five stages. Taiwan’s agrarian development approximately corresponds to this five-stages sequence, with three unique exceptions: small-holding and part-time farmers still predominate, agricultural machinery has not led to farm consolidation, and the primary agricultural workers seldom switch their job until retirement despite low income from farming.
“The Transformation of Taiwan’s Tea Industry” explores the cause that changes Taiwan’s tea industry. With industrialization, Taiwan’s tea production switched from scattered small-scale in-farm-processing to centralized large-scale factory for specialized processing in 1930s, then reserved back to scattered small-scale in-farm-processing in 1980s. It becomes an exception to ‘capital centralization trend in industrial society. The study found the market-change from low price export market to high-price domestic market is the primary factor in making this exception.
“Taiwanese Tea: A Case of Monopoly Rent by Social Construction” explores the building process of ‘Taiwan Tea’. Through the selected history and the claim of special quality, ‘Taiwanese Tea’ and ‘High-Altitude Tea’ were able to claim monopoly rent in domestic market since 1980s. This story illustrates the survival possibility of Taiwan’s agriculture.
“The Different Forms of Tea Production in Taiwan: the Contrast Between MingChien and LuGu” compares the survival strategy of two low-altitude tea districts after the arising of ‘High-Altitude Tea’ in 1990s. The tea production in MingChien was similar to LuGu in 1980s, with scattered small-scale in farm-processing. Due to the difference in natural and social conditions of the two districts, the tea production in MingChien has switched to centralized large-scale factory and specialized processing while in LuGu persists scattered small-scale in-farm-processing with selling high-altitude tea as an important sideline to tea farmers.
By exploring the four topics of Taiwan’s agriculture and tea industry, the study found ‘capital centralized’ in agriculture is not constant tendency. The form of agricultural production in industrial capitalist society still varies according to the natural and social conditions of districts.
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