Culture and Political Economy in Western Sicily

Culture and Political Economy in Western Sicily presents the relationship between the early colonial period, a time when Sicily exported wheat and animal products, and a later neocolonial period, during which manpower is the principal energy loss. The book discusses the rise and development of the Mafia; cultural codes that are important to contemporary social Sicilian organization; and the origins of these codes in early adaptations of the Sicilian people to externally generated political and economic forces. The text will be of value to sociologists, economists, historians, and people who want a deeper understanding of the Mafia.

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1

Introduction

World Forces of the Present

The Myth of Tradition

The Rise of Mafia

Broker Capitalism

Villamaura

Part I Preindustrial World-Systems

Chapter 1 Land Use and Settlement in Historical and Geographical Perspective

Sicily's Roles in Historical World-Systems

The Relationship of Animals to Agriculture in Sicily

Colonial Pressures and Settlement Patterns

Causes: The Role of Environment in Latifundism

Chapter 3 Political Structure under the Spanish Empire and the Emergence of Broker Capitalism Diarchy, Not Monarchy

Feudalism and Isolation: Misleading Issues

Royal Bureaucracies Outwitted

Relations among Settlements

Insecurity in the Countryside

Broker Capitalism and Political Structure

Chapter 4 Peasants, Herdsmen, and Rural Entrepreneurs

The Mezzadria System—Different from Slavery, Serfdom, and Free Labor

Latifundism and Peasant Insecurity

The Problem of Fragmentation

The Position of Herdsmen Compared to That of Peasants

Rural Places and Rural Entrepreneurs

Rural Enterprise and Kinship

Chapter 5 Cultural Codes

Furberia

Onore

Amicizia

Part II Sicily in a Postindustrial World-System

Chapter 6 From the Export of Wheat to the Export of Labor

New Types of Pressure

The Bourbon Bonifica: A Formula for Confronting the New World-System

1860-1880: The Pattern Repeated Again

1880-1900: A Closed Economy Phase of Italian Development

Land Reform in the Twentieth Century

The Postwar Land Reform: A Type of Welfare

Industrial Development

The Causes of Underdevelopment

Chapter 7 Displaced Herdsmen

Agrarian Reform and the Fate of Herdsmen

The Herdsmen's Response to Displacement

Chapter 8 The Civile Class and the Persistence of Broker Capitalism

Rivalry among Civil

The Civile Class and the North Italian Industrial Bourgeoisie

Bossism under Giolitti

Bossism in Villamaura

How the Political Structure That Favored Broker Capitalism Was Preserved

Administration by Prebendal Concession Since 1860

Public and Private Interests in Postwar Sicily

The Structure of Commodity Markets in Postwar Sicily

Tricks of the Trade

Broker Capitalism and the Export of Labor

Chapter 9 Mafia

The Foundation of the Political Shield

Recruitment to Mafia

The Evolution of Mafia Domain

Some Secrets of Mafia's Success

The Core of Mafia Organization: The Cosca

Omertà: Mafia and Ideology

Explaining Mafia

Mafia and the World-System

Chapter 10 Modernization without Development

Evidence of Change

Modernization at a Price

Underemployment and Fragmentation in Agriculture

Underemployment and Fragmentation in Nonagricultural Sectors

Educational Involution

Modernization and Cultural Codes

Chapter 11

Culture and Underdevelopment

Alternative Cultural Codes

A Look to the Future

References

Index