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Based on data for 126 village studies, this monograph provides a typology of village socio-economic systems, and examines how far this typology provides a dynamic theory of rural labour utilization. The study shows how, under prevailing socio-political conditions in most Third World countries, commercialization of agriculture would be likely to lead to concentration of land, a shift from 'family-based' to 'hired labour' based farming, withdrawal of a large proportion of the village population (particularly women and children) from the work force and increased proletarization of the peasantry. It also considers those village socio-economic and ecological factors which influence the pattern of labour utilization, e.g. the allocation of labour time between work in family farms, hired work, non-agricultural work, work outside the village, and non-work. A detailed survey of literature on labour utilization, covering many Asian …