Sociological aspects of the development and current structure of the New Zealand wine industry

Abstract

This thesis analyses the development, and current structure, of the New Zealand wine industry. Theoretically, the thesis is located within the sociology of agriculture, utilising a political economy approach. Against the growing view that we can explain the restructuring of the New Zealand wine industry and the advent of the ‘boutique’ vineyard utilising industrial restructuring literature (notably regulation theory and Fordism/post-Fordism debates on capitalist transition), this thesis argues that we are increasingly witnessing the authentication of capitalist viticulture within the New Zealand industry. It is argued that the development of capitalist viticulture is best understood through a past-present dialectic. Consequently, the first concern of the thesis is to map die historical context, through social-historical analysis, in which the New Zealand wine industry emerged. Analysis of the current state of the industry details the transformation from petty commodity production to capitalist production techniques. Under-girding the main hypothesis concerning the development of capitalist viticulture are the following classic texts: Marx’s Capital (1867; 1885; 1894) and Grundrisse (1857-58); Lenin’s The Development of Capitalism in Russia (1899); and Kautsky’s The Agrarian Question (1899). The analysis realised by these texts strongly suggests their abandonment and neglect by rural sociologists in debates concerning the restructuring of the agro-food industry has been reckless. The thesis concludes that through a flexible usage of theoretical tools grounded in Marxian theory rather than the abstraction of a disembodied, general theory of society or history which can be mechanically applied, we can construct a cogent analysis of the New Zealand wine industry. The thesis argues that two related processes combine in the development of capitalist agriculture. First, the specialisation of production which lead to changes in the social division of labour and the greater use of technology. Second, production is concentrated in fewer and larger enterprises. Concentration leads to greater regional specialisation, and to the geographical dispersal of production units. This is also reflected in the establishment of collaborative arrangements between producers from different countries, and the development of new production locations overseas. These processes are all evident in the New Zealand wine industry. Increasingly, therefore, we are witnessing the authentication of capitalist viticulture in the New Zealand wine industry. However, it is noted that this authentication differs from the rules laid down for industrial development and from other agricultural commodities. Consequently it is necessary to refine and develop theoretical tools capable of dealing with the heterogeneity of agro-food systems rather than drawing uncritically on the industrial restructuring literature.