| Abstract: | The significance of biotechnology in agriculture during the late twentieth century has been as much in the realm of symbol and ideology as in its political economy. The ideological roots of biotechnology are long historical ones. The ideology of  productivism, which was codified during mid-century out of a coincidence of interest among experiment stations, USDA, Congress, agribusiness, and agricultural commodity groups, has encountered numerous challenges since the 1970s. One of the major responses to the crisis of productionism was to forge a social definition of biotechnology as being a revolutionary technology. I conclude by discussing whether biotechnology, as both symbol and substance, is likely to be a basis for attempts to resuscitate productivism in the 1990s now that biotechnology is being demystified, its limits being appreciated, and its opposition still considerable.Frederick H. Buttel is Professor of Rural Sociology and Director of the Agricultural Technology and Family Farm Institute at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. His major areas of interest are the sociology of science, sociology of agriculture, and environmental sociology. Prior to joining the University of Wisconsin faculty, he was Professor of Rural Sociology and Science and Technology Studies at Cornell University. In 1987 he was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. During 1990–91 he served as President of the Rural Sociological Society, and from 1989–92 he served as a member of the Council of the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society. |
