Title: From Arturo Escobar's development theory to Antony Giddens's structuration theory: a social constructionist analysis of rural entrepreneurship and multifunctional agriculture

Authors: Hassan Shahraki; Reza Movahedi; Ahmad Yaghoubi-Farani

Addresses: Department of Agriculture Extension and Education, Agriculture Faculty, University of Zabol, Sistan and Baluchistan, Iran ' Department of Agriculture Extension and Education, Agriculture Faculty, University of Zabol, Sistan and Baluchistan, Iran ' Department of Agriculture Extension and Education, Agriculture Faculty, University of Zabol, Sistan and Baluchistan, Iran

Abstract: Many research papers in the field of entrepreneurship have gained from a positivistic analytical approach, both in epistemology and methodology. Also there are very limited enquires concerning entrepreneurship in rural areas, or rural entrepreneurship in a new way. Through this paper, using social constructionism as a big paradigm, Antony Giddens's Structuration Theory and Arturo Escobar's Three Component Theory in development deployment, we try to present an explanation of rural entrepreneurship and multifunctional agriculture, as two main discourses in rural regions. The main claim is that it is necessary to shift from positivistic and hegemonic discourse of rural entrepreneurship to socially constructed discourse of agriculture's multifunctionality, through an analytical reversion of Escobar's theory, and using Structuration Theory as a theoretical context.

Keywords: agricultural multifunctionality; rural entrepreneurship; Antony Giddens; Arturo Escobar; social constructionism; discourse; hegemony; social science; Iran; development theory; structuration theory; three component theory; multifunctional agriculture; rural areas.

DOI: 10.1504/IJARGE.2016.080899

International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology, 2016 Vol.12 No.4, pp.406 - 426

Received: 13 May 2016
Accepted: 03 Nov 2016
Published online: 10 Dec 2016 *

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