Plantocracy
Farm or plantation owner based socio-economic system; land-owning producers are dominant in economy, politics and culture.
“. . . the development of a plantocracy in the South with a segmented social order and ideals of interdependence, stability, and hierarchy.” (Ira Berlin, “Time Space and the Evolution of Afro-American Society of British Mainland North America”. The American Historical Review, Vol. 85, No. 1 (Feb. 1980). p 44)
- Theoretically, this would be wonderful if the land was distributed equally, and the workers were not enslaved people or indentured servants.
- Important to note how the law and social norms are created to enforce an extreme hierarchy with major property owners controlling people and their rights to freedom and labor; laws established to protect property owners instead of individuals.
- Different types of plantocracies exist depending upon historical moment (17th vs. 18th c.), location (North vs. South and Chesapeake vs. lowcountry), type of slave trade (domestic vs. agricultural and African vs. British colonies), relationship b/w Blacks and Whites; type of “colonial economy” (port city vs. breadbasket vs. plantation vs. rugged/swampy terrains) p. 45
