36

This article aims to give an account of how the dynamics of implementation of environmentally friendly practices by winemakers in two Burgundy villages are conditioned by the structure of the network of communal occupational dialogues in which they are involved. The two networks studied are of the “core–periphery” type and achieve equivalent scores on changes in practices, although some types of practice are preferentially implemented in one village rather than the other. The article attempts to show the step by step workings of the process of adoption of new agricultural practices, the socio-economic environment in which the networks are involved, the forms of capital (economic, social and cultural) which growers have, and the position they occupy in their network. Although different approaches for explaining the changes identified draw a fairly complete picture of the elements involved in the change process, the relational dimension is predominant. Core networks, in particular, prove to be a place of identity defence and of connection of knowledge and socially distributed resources.