Study of Life, Work and Health Conditions of Farmers: the Contribution Made by Michèle Salmona

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to present aspects of the contribution made by Michèle Salmona, a researcher in work psychology (retired) who, since the 1960’s, has analyzed the modernization of French agriculture and its social and human costs. The author criticizes the development and rural extension policy which prevailed. Based on many action-research projects, she describes life, work and health conditions among small farmers and rural workers, and shows how the agricultural modernization imposed on them presented the negative effects of: increase in social suffering, significance loss of traditional occupations, household indebtedness, work overload for women, breach in family relations and, finally, depression crises and suicide. As a construction method for this work we chose a qualitative selection of the major works from the author, which were analyzed and interpreted regarding a theme chosen based on the relevance of the problems approached (agriculture modernization, rural extension conception, depression crises, women’s condition, violence and animal discomfort, etc.). I nsufficiently disclosed, Michèle Salmona’s works constitute an original source to renew social and psychological researches on life, work and health conditions in rural areas. The results obtained shows the analytical richness of Michèle Salmona’s work, which have possible rich applications in Brazilian context, however, this latest aspect will not be detaile within the limitations of this article.