THE HOUSEHOLD LABOR ALLOCATION OF FARM-BASED FAMILIES IN WISCONSIN (PART-TIME FARMING, LABOR PROCESS, DIVISION, STRUCTURE OF AGRICULTURE, REPRODUCTION)

The focus of this study is the determinants and consequences of the differential allocation of labor by members of farm-based households, particularly spouses, in the production and reproduction of their existence. Traditionally, the allocation of labor has been based on a sexual division of labor where the husband did farm work and the wife did domestic work. The recent growth in off-farm employment has disrupted this patterning. Friedmann's (1981) theory of the simple commodity form of production in agriculture and the conditions for its reproduction provides a theoretical framework for examining changes taking place. The productive and reproductive relationships are considered on two levels: (1) on the historical level, focusing on the changing relationships of the household as a unit of production and consumption to the social formation; and (2) on the personal, focusing on the strategic allocation of labor among household members in these processes.;Part-time farming is conceived as the expression of dynamic political economic and historical relationships between agricultural and non-agricultural productive activities. As such, the historical development of part-time farming in the United States is investigated and its changing forms described. Emphasis is placed on the structure of agriculture and its relationship to broader changes in the organization of productive activities throughout the economy. A representative sample of Wisconsin farm families provides the basis for the micro-level analysis of the labor processes of an historically-specific set of farm-based households. The conditions and mechanisms of farm entry are related to the current structural position of these households, demonstrating that the macro-level bifurcation in the structure of agriculture is a result of two divergent farm family career patterns: one which is based on substantial initial capitalization; and the other based on non-farm occupations. Furthermore, it is found that the traditional sexual division of labor no longer holds for most farm families, whether they engage in off-farm employment or not. Finally, it is demonstrated that there has been substantial divergence from traditional agrarian values and identities reflecting the changing relationships of farm families to their conditions of reproduction.