The Myth of the Urban Peasant
本文通过分析官方和调查数据，驳斥了俄罗斯城市居民依靠自给农业应对就业和收入崩溃的普遍看法，发现低收入家庭反而最少从事自给生产，且自给农业是高收入者的休闲活动而非穷人的生存策略。
This paper explores, the ‘myth of the urban peasant’, the widespread belief that urban Russian households are surviving the collapse of employment and money incomes by turning to subsistence agriculture. On the basis of the analysis of official and survey data the paper shows that although many urban households grow food in their garden plots, those with low money incomes are the least likely to do so, while subsistence production is a complement rather than an alternative to paid employment. Moreover, those who do grow their own food work long hours for very little return, spending no less of their money income on buying food than do those who grow nothing. The implication is that dacha use is a leisure activity of the better-off rather than a survival strategy of the poor. Regional data suggests that urban agricultural production persists in those regions in which commercial agriculture and monetised relations are least developed which, it is surmised, retain memories of past shortages.