Class positions: Lyson holds that conventional agricultural development involves
individuals who represent the corporate middle class, i.e. professional, managerial, and
administrative occupations. Rather than fall into a corporate hierarchy, individuals
practicing civic agriculture represent the independent middle class, or small business
owners, farmers, and self employed professionals (Lyson 2004). The latter is what would
be referred to by Marxist social theorists as the petite bourgeoisie, or the class of small
business proprietors who control the means of production while remaining members of
the working class