This article deals with the possible comparisons between farmers and other socio-professional groups. Rather than taking refuge behind the specificity of farming, as it is so often the case, or drawing inconclusive formal parallels between farming, crafts or small trade taken as a whole, it would be better to study general phenomena and the form they take in various specific activities: wether craft, family, firm, or professional association bodies. This research would concern scientifically defined entities instead of socially given sectors and it would be an advantage if it were carried out collectively.
