Wealth, Land, and Labor

Bryan Boyle

It has long been the case that wealthy groups care for and manage large portions of land. Historically, the stewardship role has informed landowners’ status and identity; country sports feature prominently in their lifestyles; and it was this group that established institutions such as the “garden” as key staples of modern culture. While sociological studies of landowners have come to be sidelined in the discipline – overshadowed by studies of industry and culture – society's renewed interest in the human relationship to the earth recasts this group as one of considerable import and influence. As pristine greenspaces become more scarce and different strands of environmentalism emerge, how do landowners protect their heritage and wealth, not only economically, but socially and environmentally too? This project not only seeks to explore this question by interviewing landowners themselves, but through ethnographic observations of the world of work that they employ. From architects and groundskeepers to unfamiliar characters such as that of the “beater,” the complex ecosystems that shape the land for recreational and ecological needs is becoming more societally relevant.