ABSTRACT
It is a conventional claim in Argentine history analysis that the agrarian production is economically and politically dominated by large landlords who, on this basis, have the capacity to decisively determine the course of the national economy. This article critically examines the empirical basis and arguments underneath this conception. To this end, this article firstly examines the arguments and main empirical evidence presented in the specialized literature that support the idea of an economically powerful landlord class’ existence. In the second part, it focuses on the political potentiality of what is commonly recognized as the main political organization of the Argentinean land-owning class: Argentine Rural Society. As result of both analyses we conclude that there are neither solid arguments nor empirical evidence to support the existence of an economically and politically powerful landlord class in Argentina.
KEYWORDS: Landlords; Landed property; Political action; Sociedad Rural Argentina