Agricultural Restructuring and Rural Social Change in Australia

Rural social change in Australia has not been considered a priority area for investigation by researchers or policy analysts. Fuelled by government policies of deregulation, industry trends towards rationalization, and with the continued reliance of agriculture upon new and more productive (labour-saving) technologies, the underdevelopment of rural Australia is one of the most obvious outcomes of economic restructuring. This chapter seeks to identify the structural changes occurring in Australia, including the ways technological change and deregulation have combined to force a reduction in the number of rural producers, and more indirectly, to cause the erosion of the economies of many smaller country towns. It attempts to link theoretically the technological dynamic of Australian agriculture, the activities of international corporate capital, the changing role of the state, and the social impact of economic changes occurring in rural Australia. As a result of its allotted position in the global economy, Australia has increased its dependence upon new technologies supplied from abroad.