Incorporation, dispossession and social transformation in rural Ghana: case study of a forest community

Abstract

This case study examines the social transformation that has occurred in a rural forest community in southern Ghana. It revisits various explanations for societal change or transformation from a Sociological viewpoint and situates change in the community within the context of a radical political economy paradigm. Hence Neo Marxist identification of incorporation of peripheral areas into capitalist production systems through monetization of production systems and alienation of the bases of livelihoods- land and labour have been identified to be crucial in the social transformation that the case community is undergoing. The findings of this study indicate that contrary to beliefs of modernization perspectives, social change is not all progress but can alienate communities further as well as create tensions and cleavages in traditional societies.