Eric Wolf

Eric Wolf was an Austrian-American anthropologist whose studies of peasant societies connected local communities to colonialism, state power, and global capitalism.

Peasant: A small-scale agricultural producer who typically depends on household labor and access to land. Wolf made peasant communities central to anthropological analysis rather than treating them as isolated remnants.
Europe and the People Without History: Eric Wolf’s 1982 book tracing how peoples outside Europe shaped and were shaped by global historical processes. It presents his method for linking local histories to the expansion of capitalism.
Julian Steward: An American anthropologist known for cultural ecology and the concept of multilinear evolution. Steward supervised Wolf’s doctoral work and influenced his attention to environment and social change.
Peasant Wars of the Twentieth Century: Eric Wolf’s 1969 comparative study of peasant revolutions in Mexico, Russia, China, Vietnam, and Cuba. The book applies his analysis of peasant communities to revolutionary movements.
People Without History: A phrase for populations excluded from conventional historical narratives that center states and elites. Wolf challenged the idea that colonized and peasant peoples stood outside history.
Political economy: The study of how political institutions and power shape the production and distribution of wealth. Wolf used political economy to connect village life with wider systems of power and exchange.
Modes of production: Organized arrangements through which societies structure labor, production, and control over resources. Wolf used this framework to distinguish social forms while examining their historical interaction.
Robert Redfield: An American anthropologist who studied folk societies and developed the folk-urban continuum. Wolf’s early research engaged Redfield’s account of peasant communities and village life.
The Mexican Revolution: A major armed conflict beginning in 1910 that transformed Mexico’s political order and land relations. Wolf’s work examined peasant participation and the social roots of this revolution.
Ethnohistory: The study of Indigenous and other peoples’ histories using ethnographic, documentary, and oral evidence. His historical approach helped make power and global connections central to such inquiry.

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James C. ScottRelated: Wolf’s political anthropology offers a close scholarly counterpart to Scott’s study of peasants and power.