# Who is and who isn't a "peasant"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 22, 2021, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-and-who-isnt-a-peasant/933451 "2021-02-22T11:42:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2021, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-and-who-isnt-a-peasant/933451/21 "2021-02-23T00:28:30Z")
Usage of the term “peasant” as an insult illustrates the low regard English speakers (mostly American?) have for their agricultural workers (mostly non-American?). The UN certainly wasn’t being insulting when they adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Peasants in 2018. > **[United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Declaration_on_the_Rights_of_Peasants)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > The Declaration on the Rights of Peasants (UNDROP), officially United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas, is an UNGA resolution on Human rights with "universal understanding", adopted by the United Nations in 2018. > In 2008, the Declaration of Rights of Peasants – Women and Men was launched by la Via Campesina which, with support from other civil society organisations, presented it to the United... ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2021, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-and-who-isnt-a-peasant/933451/22 "2021-02-23T00:30:02Z")
If you call someone a peasant it says more about you than them. ---
**Author:** ![Bootb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2021, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-and-who-isnt-a-peasant/933451/23 "2021-02-23T01:07:45Z")
I’ve always been suspicious of the UN, and I would strongly prefer for America to withdraw from it, and expel it from our shores… But their use of “peasant” is a non-issue for me. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2021, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-and-who-isnt-a-peasant/933451/24 "2021-02-23T01:37:17Z")
> [@Bootb](#): > > I’ve always been suspicious of the UN, and I would strongly prefer for America to withdraw from it, and expel it from our shores… Let’s avoid political comments in GQ. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2021, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-and-who-isnt-a-peasant/933451/25 "2021-02-23T19:35:20Z")
Regardless of what you think about the UN, it’s clear that they were not attempting to insult the people they were calling peasants. So peasant is not automatically a derogatory word. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2021, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-and-who-isnt-a-peasant/933451/26 "2021-02-24T02:49:04Z")
> [@themapleleaf](#): > > but it seems to be exclusively used by English speakers in a manner looking outward. Namely, I have never seen the word applied to a British or North American farmer or agricultural worker England didn’t ever have a European or Eastern European peasantry. The society was _always_ more mobile than that. The same is true at the other end of the scale: when you look at how incredibly class-bound England is/was, it’s amazing to realize that France and Russia are the result of revolutions in societies that were even more stratified. Marx was partly responsible for inventing modern ideas of ‘class’, and, as I recall, his original idea was that ‘peasants’ were incapable of revolution, almost as a kind of definition: the peasants were the ones who by reason of culture/class were incapable of revolution: their political stance is defensive and local. So calling someone a ‘peasant’ has, at least since Marx, been equivalent to calling them ignorant and politically naive. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2021, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-and-who-isnt-a-peasant/933451/27 "2021-02-24T07:04:34Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > Marx was partly responsible for inventing modern ideas of ‘class’, and, as I recall, his original idea was that ‘peasants’ were incapable of revolution, almost as a kind of definition: the peasants were the ones who by reason of culture/class were incapable of revolution: their political stance is defensive and local. Except that there’s a long history of [peasant revolts.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_peasant_revolts) ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2021, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-and-who-isnt-a-peasant/933451/28 "2021-02-24T10:42:46Z")
“Peasant Food”, that’s the term the lady chef character spits out in the film “Ratatouille”. There was a television cooking show in Canada titled “The Urban Peasant”. So at least Canadian Broadcasting Corporation didn’t have a problem with it. I was able to find a posting of collected Canadian broadcasting, that includes one Urban Peasant episode (towards the end):[VHS Tape - 1997.12.12 - KOMO - 20/20 - CBC - Let It Snow, The Best of Canadian Gardener, The Urban Peasant with James Barber : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/vhs-tape-1997.12.12-komo-2020-cbc-let-it-snow-the-best-of-canadian-gardener-the-) ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2021, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-and-who-isnt-a-peasant/933451/29 "2021-02-24T13:01:09Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > You were free to go to someplace like a city and seek your fortune. In much of medieval history, at least in Germany, the opposite occurred in many cases: Peasants would go to the city precisely because they were unfree and sought freedom. Medieval Europe had a legal principle known as “[urban air will make you free](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stadtluft_macht_frei)”: A peasant who was tied to a landlord as a fief would gain freedom if he stayed in a city that was independent from feudal rule for a year and a day. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2021, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-and-who-isnt-a-peasant/933451/30 "2021-02-24T13:14:30Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > In much of medieval history, at least in Germany, the opposite occurred in many cases: Peasants would go to the city precisely because they were unfree and sought freedom. Medieval Europe had a legal principle known as “[urban air will make you free](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stadtluft_macht_frei)”: A peasant who was tied to a landlord as a fief would gain freedom if he stayed in a city that was independent from feudal rule for a year and a day. In English, a person bound to the land is called a “serf”. They cannot be removed, but cannot leave. A “peasant” is free to leave, but can be forced out. Of course in reality there was often not much difference, but those are the connotations in the English language. Does German have words with similar distinctions? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2021, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-and-who-isnt-a-peasant/933451/31 "2021-02-24T14:56:29Z")
The etymology is that the word “pagus” in Latin means “outlying agricultural district”. Then the word “pais” in French came to mean “country”. From this is derived the word “paisant” in the fifteenth century. It could mean any kind of agricultural worker - slave, serf, or free tenant. From this was derived the English word “peasant”. In the Middle Ages, 85% of the population were agricultural workers, so most people then were peasants. Read the Wikipedia entry for “peasant”. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2021, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-and-who-isnt-a-peasant/933451/32 "2021-02-24T15:35:17Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > In English, a person bound to the land is called a “serf”. They cannot be removed, but cannot leave. A “peasant” is free to leave, but can be forced out. Of course in reality there was often not much difference, but those are the connotations in the English language. > > Does German have words with similar distinctions? Yes, the equivalent to “serf” is _Leibeigener_, the term implying that the body of the person is owned by someone. The status of being a serf is _Leibeigenschaft_. For the non-serf peasants, the word would be _Bauer_, which is the generic term (still today, and with no particular derogatory connotation) in German for a farmer. If you’re talking in an historical context that makes you want to emphasise the non-serf status of that person, you might combine that word with the adjective “free” (_frei_). Incidentally, Hayek’s libertarian classic “The Road to Serfdom” was translated into German as _Der Weg zur Knechtschaft_. It’s not a very fortunate translation, as _Knechtschaft_ simply describes a person (_Knecht_) who provides menial services for someone else, without implying a particular legal status - you can be a free wage-earning _Knecht_. The status _Knechtschaft_ carries a connotation of slavery, but I think it doesn’t quite capture the associations of “serfdom” in English that Hayek wanted to convey. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2021, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-and-who-isnt-a-peasant/933451/33 "2021-02-24T15:46:02Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > For the non-serf peasants, the word would be _Bauer_ , which is the generic term (still today, and with no particular derogatory connotation) in German for a farmer. Interestingly the English word [“boor”](https://www.etymonline.com/word/boor) once meant peasant or farmer, but now means a rude and unmannered person. It apparently is derived from the Old French _bovier_, “herdsman,” although influenced by the Dutch _boer_, which is related to _Bauer._ ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2021, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-and-who-isnt-a-peasant/933451/34 "2021-02-24T17:59:59Z")
> [@Bonum\_Legatum](#): > > lady chef character spits out in the film “Ratatouille”. Her name is ‘Colette’. She is a protagonist. The main human character in the movie falls in love with her, his name is Linguini. All in all a fun movie for any age. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2021, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-and-who-isnt-a-peasant/933451/35 "2021-02-25T01:01:52Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Except that there’s a long history of [peasant revolts.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_peasant_revolts) Even Marx developed his ideas of ‘peasants’ from his starting position, and it was further modified by his successors in the Marxist tradition. ---
**Author:** ![Iamnotgrumpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8797f3/32.png) [@Iamnotgrumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iamnotgrumpy)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2021, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-and-who-isnt-a-peasant/933451/36 "2021-02-25T02:11:27Z")
Are Chinese “peasants” the same thing as European peasants? Conversation seems euro centric. While China has grown by leaps and bounds there are still many millions which I would call “peasants”. Not sure what the Chinese word for it would be. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2021, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-and-who-isnt-a-peasant/933451/37 "2021-02-25T02:27:11Z")
In China there were land-bound agricultural workers. However, the Wiki article on [peasant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peasant) contends that it’s not accurate to refer to these workers as peasants. > [@](#): > > Farmers in China have been sometimes referred to as “peasants” in English-language sources. However, the traditional term for farmer, _nongfu_ (农夫), simply refers to “farmer” or “agricultural worker”. In the 19th century, Japanese intellectuals reinvented the Chinese terms _fengjian_ (封建) for “feudalism” and _nongmin_ (农民), or “farming people”, terms used in the description of [feudal Japanese](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feudal_Japan) society.[[25]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peasant#cite_note-Myron_Cohen_2005._p._64-25) These terms created a negative image of Chinese farmers by making a class distinction where one had not previously existed.[[25]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peasant#cite_note-Myron_Cohen_2005._p._64-25) [Anthropologist](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropology) Myron Cohen considers these terms to be [neologisms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neologism) that represented a cultural and political invention. It’s interesting who gets called a peasant. It’s applied historically to Europeans, and more recently to Latin Americans and East Asians. I have rarely if ever heard Africans or South Asians referred to as peasants. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2021, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-and-who-isnt-a-peasant/933451/38 "2021-02-25T02:35:50Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I have rarely if ever heard Africans or South Asians referred to as peasants. The Wikipedia article for [Peasant movement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peasant_movement) includes both India and Zimbabwe. ---
**Author:** ![Iamnotgrumpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8797f3/32.png) [@Iamnotgrumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iamnotgrumpy)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2021, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-and-who-isnt-a-peasant/933451/39 "2021-02-25T02:38:50Z")
Informative. Not sure if my curiosity was based on anti communist propaganda or Maoist propaganda but I do recall chinese peasants being a thing ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2021, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-and-who-isnt-a-peasant/933451/40 "2021-02-25T02:43:42Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > Even Marx developed his ideas of ‘peasants’ from his starting position, and it was further modified by his successors in the Marxist tradition. My understanding is that the problem Marx had with peasants was that he felt they were too socially isolated to function as a class. Urban workers lived and worked in large groups; they were constantly surrounded by people like themselves and this made them more aware of their collective membership in a class. It also meant that ideas could far more easily be disseminated among urban workers than they could among rural peasants. Lenin strongly pushed the idea that it was urban factory workers, not rural peasants, who were the heart of a communist revolution. (Not surprisingly, as Lenin and the Russian communists had their main strength among the urban workers rather than the rural peasants.) Mao later reversed this and claimed that it was the rural peasants who were the heart of a communist revolution. (And again, Mao’s supporters were rural peasants rather than urban workers.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-and-who-isnt-a-peasant/933451.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-and-who-isnt-a-peasant/933451.md?page=3)