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Moderate prosperity, an adaptation of the middle class concept to a Malagasy rural area: the case of Itasy

2016; Routledge; Volume: 75; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00346764.2016.1171384

1470-1162

Tsiry Andrianampiarivo,

Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy

In order to adapt the controversial sociological concept of 'Middle Class' to an African agriculture-based economy, exemplified by Madagascar, we propose the concept of Moderate Prosperity. As a case study, we use detailed data from 508 households in the 2008 Itasy Observatory. We stratify them using four distinguishing socio-economic factors: household income quintile, head of household's education level, income structure and land tenure. We describe four Moderate Prosperity clusters that reflect the agro-economic diversity of the Itasy region: a vulnerable group of agriculturally diversified households in the third income quintile with locally issued land title; an emerging group of skilled, polyculture farmers belonging to both the lowest and highest quintiles; a traditional group of uneducated rice farmers in the fourth quintile with traditional land ownership; and an upper group of educated livestock farmers, non-agricultural independents and workers, belonging to the top income quintile with locally issued land title.