In spite of episodes of severe stress, rural areas in Indonesia have always
shown resilience by absorbing redundant labor, as well as new entrants
to the labor force. Processes of shared poverty and specific redistributive
mechanisms levelled out shortages and surpluses in times of
severe livelihood stress (Geertz 1963; O’Malley 1977; Lont & White
2002; Touwen 2000). There is much evidence, however, that decades
of agricultural commercialization have altered these functions of rural
areas, as notions of shared poverty and other safety net functions appear
to have gradually fallen into disuse (Missen 1970; Kahn 1980; Hinderink
& Sterkenburg 1987). The mainly redistributive mechanisms
underlying or dominating livelihoods based on a subsistence-oriented
system of wet rice cultivation have been transformed into more individualized
and adapted forms of resilience