Max Weber on Argentina: Wheat and Semi-barbarism

Abstract

The paper aims to point out the theoretical significance of Max Weber analyses on the production of wheat in the province of Entre Ríos, Argentina, conducted during his period of specialist in agrarian affairs. Between 1893 and 1894, Weber intensively studied the social relations of that country, particularly those of its rural economy, and its results appeared in four publications. Although his approach to interethnic relations implies a Eurocentric perspective of cultural supremacy, in some cases even using budgets based on blood ties, Weber manages to highlight a significant phenomenon of Argentine capitalist development, which still persists in its form: the grain-exporting agricultural sectors obtain high profits by exerting pressure on exchange rate fluctuations, depreciating the Argentine peso at the expense of the national economy (Volkswirtschaft). And this continues today to play a decisive role in that country’s system of domination.