Mooney argues that many of these indeterminate class locations, or"contradictory classes" (from Wright 1978), reflect a"new petty bourgeoisie.' Yet I would argue that Mooney's most valuable contribution is his attempt to open a Marxist political economy of agriculture up to account for nonlinearity to be, in other words, explicitly nondeterministic. understanding of subjec- Devoid of any tive experience and human action, Mann and Dickinson paint themselves into a theoretical corner when it comes to explaining historical variability If the omni present logics of capitalism are all we have to explain agriculture, why does it look so very different around the world, even in spaces that share the same so-called natural barriers? Drawing upon Weber's distinction between formal and substantive rationality, Mooney argues that many farmers are motivated by more than just profit(formal rationality). Many are equally(if not more so motivated by substantive rationality, as reflected in, say, a desire to have autonomy over their work, to be stewards of the land, and to provide a certain quality of life(that can't be obtained with money alone) for their family. As evidence of his rejection of linear theorizing, Mooney later moved away from his initial objective of theorizing the"detours" to capitalist development to his later desire to"undermine the notion that capitalist development need flow in any particular direction" (Mooney 1987: 293)