La force de l’esprit entrepreneurial, émergence des territoires ruraux et rôle du capital social

The main objective of this work is to highlight the strength of the entrepreneurial spirit in the emergence of rural territories. This is verified through the analysis of the evolution of the trajectories of two territories belonging to the same municipality, located in the mountainous region of the wilaya of Médéa (northern Algeria). The situation of the two territories is contrasted. In one, agricultural producers experience a social and economic rise, essentially reflected in the accumulation of goods and factors of production. In the other, the signs of regression can be seen in the abandonment or partial exploitation of useful agricultural land and the lack of material and infrastructural endowments. The factors at the origin of this differentiated evolution stem from the degree of attractiveness developed in each of the regions, where the historical dimension takes on its full meaning (succession of agrarian reforms, black decade, etc.). In the attractive territory, agricultural activity has succeeded in maintaining itself and attracting the wealthiest farmers who maintain sufficiently effective relational networks to guarantee secure access to factors of production and to be part of strategic actions. Conversely, the fellahs of the depressed territory find themselves today negotiating the transfer of their land to the financially and socially upstarts of the first category. The latter claim, in a totally capitalist logic, the right to access "unworked" land.