This study argues that conventional social movement theories, such as Resource Mobilisation Theory and New Social Movement Theory, are limited in their perspective on social change-oriented actors. Confined by the world view and truth regime of modern industrial societies, conventional theories have failed to assess the impact of the green movement outside and independent of the framework of modern industrial societies. As a result, these approaches provide an inadequate account of the strategies and outcome of both the environmental and the ecology movement. In effect, the account provided by conventional theories on these agents of social change serves as an instrument to status quo-maintenance rather than to those who wish to harmonise human relations with Nature.
In an attempt to re-adjust the balance and to provide an account of social movements that serves the interests of those who seek to bring about change, this thesis proposes a new approach to the study of social movements. Central to this approach is its focus (a) on the role of knowledge in the study of the politics of social change and status quo-maintenance; and (b) on Gandhian forms of political activism, such as non co-operation and self-reliance. The new perspective is then applied to the case of the UK agriculture, and the struggle between the proponents of a modern industrial and an alternative ecological agriculture paradigm in particular, to explore the dynamics and processes that lead to reform or real change. The study concludes that conventional approaches are ill equipped to evaluate green movement activism because they fail to take into account the role of knowledge systems in both the study and the practice of social change.

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Summary                                   ii
Acknowledgements                    v
List of Figures                            viii

1. INTRODUCTION    1
2. KNOWLEDGE AND THE CONDUCT OF SOCIAL RELATIONS         28
2.1. SOCIAL FRAMEWORKS OF KNOWLEDGE    29
2.1.1. Knowledge Hierarchies    29
2.1.2. Science and Technology    32
2.1.3. The Relationship between Micro and Macro Social Frameworks    38
2.2. REALITY-MAINTENANCE    44
2.2.1. Research Programmes    44
2.2.2. The Negative Heuristic of Social Frameworks    46
2.2.3. The Positive Heuristic of Social Frameworks    51
2.3. SOCIAL CHANGE    56
2.3.1. Evolutionary Change    56
2.3.2. The Pursuit of Gandhian Forms of Political Activism    60
2.3.3. Structural or Revolutionary Change    65
2.4. CONCLUSION    71
3. TRUTH REGIMES AND ACADEMIC INQUIRIES INTO SOCIAL MOVEMENTS    74
3.1. THE CONVENTIONAL LITERATURE ON SOCIAL MOVEMENTS    75
3.1.1. Social Movements and the Formal Political Framework    78
3.1.2. Social Movements as Social or Cultural Phenomena    88
3.1.3. Conventional Approaches and the Study of Societal Insiders    99
3.2. A NEW APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS    107
 4. THE MAKING OF MODERN INDUSTRIAL AGRICULTURE IN THE UK    117
4.1. THE MODERN INDUSTRIAL AGRICULTURE PARADIGM    117
4.1.1. Its Knowledge System    118
4.1.2. Its Practices and Values    126
4.1.3. Conclusion    136
4.2. ADMINISTRATING THE PARADIGM CHANGE    136
4.2.1. Agricultural Education and Research    137
4.2.2. Agricultural Policy    142
4.2.3. Conclusion    150
4.3. THE EFFECTS OF THE MODERN AGRICULTURAL SYSTEM    151
4.3.1. Its Impact on the Environment    151
4.3.2. Its Socio-economic Effects    155
4.4. CONCLUSION    161
5. LOCATING RESISTANCE: ECOLOGICAL AGRICULTURE    165
5.1. ECOLOGICAL AGRICULTURE    165
5.1.1. Its Knowledge System    165
5.1.2. Its Practices    170
5.1.2.1. Permaculture    170
5.1.2.2. Organic Farming    173
5.1.2.3. Other Alternative Agricultural Approaches    176
5.1.3. Its Effects    179
5.2. ITS STRATEGIES FOR CHANGE    185
5.2.1. Life-style Changes    185
5.2.2. Eco-Communities    188
5.2.3. Developing Local Food Economies    191
5.3. CONCLUSION    194
6. REALITY-MAINTENANCE AND THE POLITICS OF SOCIAL CHANGE    198
6.1. SETTING THE AGENDA FOR AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT:
        THE CASE OF BIOTECHNOLOGY    199
6.2. THE INTEGRATION OF GREEN IDEAS INTO MODERN INDUSTRIAL AGRICULTURE: THE CASE OF AGRI-ENVIRONMENTAL SCHEMES    215
6.3. THE APPROPRIATION OF ECOLOGICAL CONCEPTS    231
6.3.1. The Case of Organic Production    231
6.3.2. The Case of Sustainable Agriculture    240
6.4. CONCLUSION    246
7. CONCLUSION    251
Bibliography                                261
 LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Roundhouse at Brithdir Mawr              8
Figure 2: The Hockerton Housing Project              9
Figure 3: Logo, Wholesome Food Association         10
Figure 4: Moss’s Pond Model             25
Figure 5: Social Frameworks of Knowledge             38
Figure 6: Social-change Oriented Actors             66
Figure 7: Alternative Societal Types             69
Figure 8:Linear Processes in Modern Industrial Agriculture        127
Figure 9: Holistic Interrelationships in Ecological Agriculture    166
 
The tractors came over the roads and into the fields ... The man sitting in the iron seat did not look like a man; gloved, goggled, rubber dust-mask over nose and mouth, he was a part of the monster, a robot in the seat … He could not see the land as it was, he could not smell the land as it smelled, his feet did not stamp the clods or feel the warmth and power of the earth. He sat in an iron seat and stepped on iron pedals … He did not know or own or trust or beseech the land. If a seed dropped did not germinate, it was nothing. If the young thrusting plant withered in drought or drowned in a flood of rain, it was no more to the driver than to the tractor … And when that crop grew, and was harvested, no man had crumbled a hot clod in his fingers and let the earth sift past his finger-tips. No man had touched the seed, or lusted for the growth. Men ate what they had not raised, had no connection with the bread. The land bore under iron, and under iron gradually died; for it was not loved or hated, it had no prayers or curses.

John Steinbeck, "The Grapes of Wrath"