Editing Agrarianism (section)

== Philosophy ==
Some scholars suggest that agrarianism espouses the superiority of rural society to urban society and the independent farmer as superior to the paid worker, and sees farming as a way of life that can shape the ideal social values.<ref>Thompson, Paul. 2010. "Interview Eighteen" in Sustainability Ethics: 5 Questions Ed. Ryne Raffaelle, Wade Robinson, and Evan Selinger. United States: Automatic Press</ref> It stresses the superiority of a simpler rural life in comparison to the complexity of urban life. For example, [[M. Thomas Inge]] defines agrarianism by the following basic tenets:<ref>M. Thomas Inge, ed. ''Agrarianism in American Literature'' (1969), introduction; [http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/HNS/Yoeman/agri1.html paraphrased] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170717203649/http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/HNS/Yoeman/agri1.html |date=17 July 2017 }}</ref>
* Farming is the sole occupation that offers total [[independence]] and [[Self-sustainability|self-sufficiency]].
* Urban life, [[fascism]], [[capitalism]], and technology destroy independence and dignity and foster vice and weakness.
* The agricultural community, with its fellowship of labor and co-operation, is the model society.
* The farmer has a solid, stable position in the world order. They have "a sense of identity, a sense of historical and [[Religion|religious]] tradition, a feeling of belonging to a concrete [[Family values|family]], place, and region, which are psychologically and culturally beneficial." The harmony of their life checks the encroachments of a fragmented, alienated modern society.
* Cultivation of the soil "has within it a positive [[Spirituality|spiritual]] good" and from it the cultivator acquires the virtues of "honor, manliness, self-reliance, courage, moral integrity, and hospitality." They result from a direct contact with [[nature]] and, through nature, a closer relationship to [[God]]. The agrarian is blessed in that they follow the example of God in creating order out of chaos.