The DOI matches its Crossref record.
Agricultural Involution: The Processes of Ecological Change in Indonesia
Abstract
Agricultural Involution: The Processes of Ecological Change in Indonesia is one of the most famous of the early works of Clifford Geertz. It principal thesis is that many centuries of intensifying wet-rice cultivation in Indonesia had produced greater social complexity without significant technological or political change, a process Geertz terms "involution".Written for a US-funded project on the local developments and following the modernization theory of Walt Whitman Rostow, Geertz examines in this book the agricultural system in Indonesia and its two dominant forms of agriculture, swidden and sawah. In addition to researching its agricultural systems, the book turns to an examination of their historical development. Of particular note is Geertz's discussion of what he famously describes as the process of "agricultural involution" in Java, where both the external economic demands of the Dutch rulers and the internal pressures due to population growth led to intensification rather than change.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
““Involution” occurs once technology-driven productivity increases are exhausted, such that only net increases in labor or other costly inputs enable increases in production (43).”
From Used planet: a global history (2013) · cites this paper as [43]
In the citing paper
“Agricultural yields within the most densely populated and productive preindustrial land-use systems compared well with modern yields and were sustained in some regions for centuries to millennia, even though they also tended to require extreme inputs of labor and other socially unsustainable hardships (43–45, 92).”
From Used planet: a global history (2013) · cites this paper as [43]
Citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 601–700 of 1,000
Capitalism, Inequality and Labour in India
Breman, J. (2019) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108687485 · Cited by 5
Wang, X., & Sim, J.-Y. (2025) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su17041606 · Cited by 9
Cultural differences in self-reported empathy in Indonesia
Nila, S., Webb, C. E., Suryobroto, B., & Carter, A. J. (2025) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-025-16075-5 · Cited by 7
Arantes, V. (2024) · International Journal of Politics Culture and Society · doi:10.1007/s10767-024-09491-4 · Cited by 5
Educational Involution During the Social Transition Period
Luyao, X. U. E. (2021) · Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research/Advances in social science, education and humanities research · doi:10.2991/assehr.k.211220.115 · Cited by 5
Understanding urban concentration of complex manufacturing activities in China
Li, L., & Zhao, N. (2023) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0278469 · Cited by 6
Young, K. J. (2024) · Advances in agroforestry · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-54270-1_14 · Cited by 5
Inequality and Informal Economy: The Moderating Role of Financial Technology
Magwedere, M., & Marozva, G. (2024) · Economics · doi:10.2478/eoik-2025-0004 · Cited by 6
Agrarian development, family farms and sugar capital in Colonial Taiwan, 1895–1945
Ka, C. (1991) · The Journal of Peasant Studies · doi:10.1080/03066159108438450 · Cited by 5
The Morbid Nexus: Reciprocity and Sorcery in Rural East Java
Herriman, N. (2014) · The Australian Journal of Anthropology · doi:10.1111/taja.12110 · Cited by 5
The Political Economy of Hong Kong' s iNdustrial Upgrading
Choi, A. H. (1997) · China Information · doi:10.1177/0920203x9701200108 · Cited by 5
Agriculture, Population, and Environment in Late Imperial China
Anderson, E. N. (2016) · Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-137-57231-8_2 · Cited by 5
STRATEGIC PEASANT AND AUTONOMOUS LOCAL MARKET: REVISITING THE RURAL ECONOMY IN MODERN CHINA
Kuroda, A. (2018) · International Journal of Asian Studies · doi:10.1017/s1479591418000049 · Cited by 5
The Intensification of Social Forms: Economy and Culture in the Thought of Clifford Geertz
Isaac, J. (2018) · Critical Historical Studies · doi:10.1086/699685 · Cited by 5
Damanik, E. L. (2020) · SAGE Open · doi:10.1177/2158244020974015 · Cited by 5
Gan, N. (2023) · SHS Web of Conferences · doi:10.1051/shsconf/202316304014 · Cited by 5
OCCUPATIONAL STRUCTURE AND STRUCTURAL CHANGE IN INDONESIA, 1880–2000
Marks, D., Bierman, W., & van Zanden, J. L. (2020) · Asia‐Pacific Economic History Review · doi:10.1111/aehr.12191 · Cited by 5
Q'eqchi' Maya Swidden Agriculture, Settlement History, and Colonial Enterprise in Modern Belize
Downey, S. S. (2015) · Ethnohistory · doi:10.1215/00141801-3135338 · Cited by 5
Ishmael, B. M. K., Wouter, T. D. G., Ansley, K., et al. (2016) · Journal of Ecology and the Natural Environment · doi:10.5897/jene2016.0578 · Cited by 5
Yodda, S., & Rambo, A. T. (2018) · Land Degradation and Development · doi:10.1002/ldr.3166 · Cited by 5
Chakroun, L. (2020) · Développement durable et territoires · doi:10.4000/developpementdurable.14784 · Cited by 5
Clifford Geertz: Die Ambivalenz kultureller Formen
Kumoll, K. (2007) · VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-531-90017-9_7 · Cited by 5
Rethinking Tenancy: Explaining Spatial and Temporal Variation in Late Imperial and Republican China
Shepherd, J. R. (1988) · Comparative Studies in Society and History · doi:10.1017/s0010417500015310 · Cited by 5
Bernstein, H. T. (1972) · The Journal of Development Studies · doi:10.1080/00220387208421405 · Cited by 5
Establishment Fund, Population Increase And Changing Class Structures In Central Luzon
Fegan, B. (1978) · The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology · doi:10.1080/03149097809508644 · Cited by 5
Landscape patterns of local social organization and their importance for land use planning
Berger, J. (1981) · Landscape and Planning · doi:10.1016/0304-3924(81)90034-4 · Cited by 5
Environment, Market, and Peasant Choice
Zhang, J. (2005) · Modern China · doi:10.1177/0097700405282284 · Cited by 5
Economics and Barbarism: An Anthropological Comment on Pearson's“Homo Economicus”
Ferguson, J. (2000) · History of Political Economy · doi:10.1215/00182702-32-4-991 · Cited by 5
Utiliscation du concept d'odoptation en anthropologie culturelle
Robson, E. (1978) · Social Science Information · doi:10.1177/053901847801700204 · Cited by 5
Land Ownership and Economic Prospects of Malayan Peasants
Ho, R. (1970) · Modern Asian Studies · doi:10.1017/s0026749x00010994 · Cited by 5
Social, political and spatial dimensions of Korean industrial transformation
Douglass, M. (1993) · Journal of Contemporary Asia · doi:10.1080/00472339380000101 · Cited by 5
Economic Myth and Geographical Reality in Indonesia
Fisher, C. A. (1967) · Modern Asian Studies · doi:10.1017/s0026749x00000196 · Cited by 5
The Paradoxical Anthropology of Leslie White
Barrett, R. A. (1989) · American Anthropologist · doi:10.1525/aa.1989.91.4.02a00100 · Cited by 5
Performers and Professionalization in Java
Hughes‐Freeland, F. (2001) · South East Asia Research · doi:10.5367/000000001101297388 · Cited by 5
Berkes, F., Colding, J., & Folke, C. (2001) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511541957.004 · Cited by 5
Labour, Industry and the State in India and Pakistan
Candland, C. (1999) · Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-349-27063-7_11 · Cited by 5
Epilogue: Capitalist Rationalities and Religious Moralities—An Agonistic Plurality
Hefner, R. W. (2017) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-981-10-2969-1_12 · Cited by 5
Java entre Hindouisme et Islam
Sevin, O. (1992) · Géographie et cultures · doi:10.4000/gc.6965 · Cited by 5
Wijaya, H. B., Rudiarto, I., & Kurniawati, H. (2020) · The urban book series · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-50363-5_7 · Cited by 5
Intensification and Protohistoric Agropastoral Systems in East Africa
Kusimba, S., & Kusimba, C. M. (2006) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-0-387-32762-4_10 · Cited by 5
Innovative supply: A weak point in economic development theory
Edel, M. (1970) · Social Science Information · doi:10.1177/053901847000900301 · Cited by 5
The Hazleton ecological land planning study
Berger, J. (1976) · Landscape and Planning · doi:10.1016/0304-3924(76)90072-1 · Cited by 5
Conroy, J. D. (2012) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.2031291 · Cited by 5
Development economics and the underdevelopment of sub‐Saharan Africa
Mosley, P. (1995) · Journal of International Development · doi:10.1002/jid.3380070502 · Cited by 5
Cycle écologique et cycle rituel: le cas d'un village andin
Vallée, L. (1972) · Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue canadienne de sociologie · doi:10.1111/j.1755-618x.1972.tb02394.x · Cited by 5
Sex Role Equality, Wet Rice Cultivation, and the State in Southeast Asia
Winzeler, R. L. (1974) · American Anthropologist · doi:10.1525/aa.1974.76.3.02a00050 · Cited by 5
Restructuring of Post-Crisis GPNs: Tourism in IndonesiaPreprint
Nanda, G., & Hargreaves, K. (2013) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.2323425 · Cited by 5
Population Growth and Natural Resource Use: Do We Need to Despair of Africa?
Tiffen, M., & Mortimore, M. J. (1993) · Outlook on Agriculture · doi:10.1177/003072709302200406 · Cited by 5
Plantation and Petani: Problems of the Javanese Sugar Industry
Anderson, A. G. (1972) · Asia Pacific Viewpoint · doi:10.1111/apv.132001 · Cited by 5
‘Burnt out by all the exploitation’: Involuted labour in creative fields
Scott, M., & Woods, C. (2024) · Journal of Sociology · doi:10.1177/14407833241282096 · Cited by 4
Caple, Z., & Løvschal, M. (2025) · Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute · doi:10.1111/1467-9655.14260 · Cited by 3
Campbell, S. (2023) · Anthropological Theory · doi:10.1177/14634996231160522 · Cited by 4
Bringing imperialism back in: for an anthropology against empire in the twenty-first century
Campbell, S., & Aung, G. R. (2024) · Dialectical Anthropology · doi:10.1007/s10624-024-09724-0 · Cited by 6
New Perspectives on Organism-Environment Interactions in Anthropology
Schultz, E. A. (2013) · History, philosophy and theory of the life sciences · doi:10.1007/978-94-007-7067-6_5 · Cited by 4
The women of Kano: internalized stress and the conditions of reproduction, Northern Nigeria
Rain, D. R. (1997) · GeoJournal · doi:10.1023/a:1006815632077 · Cited by 4
On the prehistory of intellectual property
Pottage, A., & Sherman, B. (2013) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9781107300880.003 · Cited by 4
Ventriss, C. L. (2010) · Administrative Theory & Praxis · doi:10.2753/atp1084-1806320307 · Cited by 4
Collective action and the traditional village
Little, D. (1988) · Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics · doi:10.1007/bf02014461 · Cited by 4
Brondízio, E. S., & Chowdhury, R. R. (2010) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511760242.014 · Cited by 4
Beyond ‘Exotic Groceries’: Tapioca/Cassava/Manioc, a Hidden Commodity of Empires and Globalisation
O’Connor, K. (2013) · Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks · doi:10.1057/9781137283603_12 · Cited by 4
Early agriculture in Southeast Asia and the Pacific
Barton, H. (2015) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511978807.017 · Cited by 5
An Observer of 65 Years of Socio-Economic Change in Indonesia: Egbert De Vries
van der Eng, P. (1991) · Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies · doi:10.1080/00074919112331335928 · Cited by 4
Zhang, C. (2021) · Culture Medicine and Psychiatry · doi:10.1007/s11013-021-09724-7 · Cited by 4
Factor endowments, vent for surplus and involutionary process in rural developing economies
Jerez, M. L. (2021) · Economic History of Developing Regions · doi:10.1080/20780389.2021.1957825 · Cited by 4
Batak Foraging Camps Today: A Window to the History of a Hunting-Gathering Economy
Eder, J. F. (1996) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-4757-9584-4_4 · Cited by 4
Wicaksono, A. (2022) · BHUMI Jurnal Agraria dan Pertanahan · doi:10.31292/bhumi.v8i1.515 · Cited by 4
Infrastruktura migracyjna w Polsce i jej wielowymiarowość na przykładzie filipińskiego vloga YouTube
Wanicka, O. (2024) · Studia Migracyjne – Przegląd Polonijny · doi:10.4467/25444972smpp.24.004.19602 · Cited by 4
Sex Ratio Imbalances in Asia: An Ongoing Conversation Between Anthropologists and Demographers
Guilmoto, C. Z. (2017) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-63275-9_8 · Cited by 5
Ecology, Culture and Development
Nagla, B. K. (2021) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-981-33-6248-2_2 · Cited by 4
The transformation of China's grain production since reform and opening-up and its prospects
Ge, D., Long, H., & Qiao, W. (2019) · 自然资源学报 · doi:10.31497/zrzyxb.20190318 · Cited by 4
Szirmai, A. (2018) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9781107054158.008 · Cited by 4
Coastal-marine resource use in human ecological context: the scale and modes of integration
Ruddle, K. (2011) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511920943.017 · Cited by 4
Engineering Entrepreneurial Ethics: Islam after Development in Indonesia
Rudnyckyj, D. (2013) · Moussons · doi:10.4000/moussons.2103 · Cited by 4
Ecological Sensitivity and Resistance of Cultures in Asia
Westermeyer, J. J. (1978) · Cross-Cultural Research · doi:10.1177/106939717801300202 · Cited by 4
Net Income Per Capita in Rural Wuxi, 1840s-1940s
Zhang, L. (2014) · Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient · doi:10.1163/15685209-12341350 · Cited by 4
Changing dryland agriculture in eastern Bali
Poffenberger, M. (1983) · Human Ecology · doi:10.1007/bf00891740 · Cited by 4
Changing Kinship in North Malaya1
Banks, D. J. (1972) · American Anthropologist · doi:10.1525/aa.1972.74.5.02a00180 · Cited by 4
Agricultural practices and household organization in a Japanese pioneer community of lowland Bolivia
Kashiwazaki, H. (1983) · Human Ecology · doi:10.1007/bf00891377 · Cited by 4
Swedberg, R. (1987) · Current Sociology · doi:10.1177/001139287035001011 · Cited by 4
Southeast Asia: Essays in the Political Economy of Structural Change
King, V. T. (1986) · Journal of Contemporary Asia · doi:10.1080/00472338685390251 · Cited by 4
‘Will The Storm Soon Be Over?’ Winners and Losers in the 1997 Crisis in Rural Java
Nooteboom, G., & Kutanegara, P. M. (2002) · Moussons · doi:10.4000/moussons.2559 · Cited by 4
What happened to the Miracle Eight? Looking East in the twenty-first century
Pieterse, J. N. (2015) · Canadian Journal of Development Studies/Revue canadienne d études du développement · doi:10.1080/02255189.2015.1069178 · Cited by 4
Network Ties and Labor Flexibility in Brazil and Mexico: A Tale of Two Automobile Factories
Martin, S. B. (2001) · doi:10.1093/0199241147.003.0004 · Cited by 4
Globalization and the Paradigm Shift in Japanese Industrial Relations
Weathers, C. (2001) · doi:10.1093/0199241147.003.0006 · Cited by 4
Sen, A. K. (1983) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/0198284632.003.0006 · Cited by 10
Land's End: Response by Tania M. Li
Li, T. M. (2016) · The Journal of Peasant Studies · doi:10.1080/03066150.2016.1237097 · Cited by 4
Transforming peasantries in India and China: comparative investigations of institutional dimensions
Saith, A. (2016) · Indian Journal of Labour Economics · doi:10.1007/s41027-016-0051-2 · Cited by 4
Dove, M. R. (2016) · American Anthropologist · doi:10.1111/aman.12805 · Cited by 4
Nord-Süd-Beziehungen: Theorien über die Nord-Süd-Konfliktformation und ihre Bearbeitung
Elsenhans, H. (1990) · Politische Vierteljahresschrift. Sonderheft · doi:10.1007/978-3-322-88719-1_15 · Cited by 4
Rahmato, D. (1991) · Sociologia Ruralis · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9523.1991.tb00899.x · Cited by 4
Energy and the Structuring of Society
Klausner, S. Ζ. (1977) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-4684-0808-9_6 · Cited by 4
Cane-Burning in the Pasuruan Area: An Expression of Social Discontent
Elson, R. E. (1979) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-94-009-8846-0_15 · Cited by 4
Southeast Asia: Sociocultural Aspects
Evers, H. (2001) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b0-08-043076-7/00804-4 · Cited by 4
Bringing Culture Back In: Overcoming the Economic-Cultural Split in Development Studies
Agnew, J. A. (1987) · Journal of Geography · doi:10.1080/00221348708979057 · Cited by 4
Cultural evolution: A return to the basics
Marks, J., Staski, E., & Schiffer, M. B. (1983) · Nature · doi:10.1038/302015a0 · Cited by 4
Frankel, F. R. (1978) · World Politics · doi:10.2307/2009959 · Cited by 4
Mercantilism and the Emergence of Servile Labour in Colonial Indonesia
Kahn, J. S. (1981) · doi:10.1007/978-1-349-16632-9_7 · Cited by 4
“Invalid busyness” behaviors of a few grassroots cadres: Evidence from normative explanation
Duan, C., Zeng, Y., Zhou, Y., & Li, Y. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1027427 · Cited by 5
Labour and Land in Indonesia: An Introduction
White, B., & Taylor, M. (2025) · Journal of Agrarian Change · doi:10.1111/joac.70034 · Cited by 3
Metadata
- Authors
- Geertz, C.
- Corresponding author
- Geertz, Clifford
- Venue
- University of California Press eBooks
- Publisher
- University of California Press
- Published
- 1963-12-31
- OpenAlex
- W4246147691
- Cited by
- 1,297
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 69 · 2025: 49 · 2024: 55 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 30 · 2021: 60 · 2020: 34 · 2019: 37 · 2018: 64 · 2017: 29 · 2016: 34 · 2015: 36 · 2014: 31 · 2013: 21 · 2012: 17
- FWCI
- 83.18
- Type
- book
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- University of California Press eBooks (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Development › Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Asian Studies and History
- Social Sciences › Anthropology › Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies
- Keywords
- agricultural involution, Clifford Geertz, wet rice cultivation, swidden agriculture, agricultural intensification, social complexity, modernization theory, Rostow, Dutch colonialism, population growth, ecological change, Java, Indonesia
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review