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Lifestyles signify who people are and who people want to be. They contain one's value orientation toward the world. The speeding urbanization over the globe has made the urban lifestyle mainstream, and so does it in China. The overwhelming range of options in cities represents a consumerist society, but meanwhile, there is an emergent underground alternative, especially from the younger generations who are pursuing a "more meaningful life." This paper does an ethnographic study on young Chinese urbanites' engagement in a village as an essential example of this trend. It argues that young people's choice for rural life is a reaction and a resistance to the social forces of consumerism and urbanization. By reflecting on the reimagination of modernity and life politics in the changing process, the research implies that accompanied by opportunities for social change, young people's promotion of rural lifestyles could be linked to the government's development agenda, and this might potentially cause new forms of inequalities in rural development. By drawing on practical experience, the paper brings narratives about young Chinese urbanites' life choices in rural places into the discussion of modernity and life politics, hopefully exemplifying a broader sociological contribution around the topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social science and popular media have described political polarization as a threat to democracy and effective policy. Scholars connect right/left political divides to macro‐level social divisions, such as those between rural and urban residents, environmentalists and farmers, and pro‐versus anti‐government sentiments. While previous scholars have complicated these dichotomies, political polarization scholarship often seeks out evidence of polarization without considering these complications. In addition, we know little about how polarization is affecting community responses to social problems. This paper explores the rhetoric of political and social polarization as it appears in community responses to a particular social problem, the decline of small and mid‐sized dairy farms in southern Wisconsin. During interviews, farmers, municipal leaders, and community members indeed used polarizing rhetoric and identified polarization as a problem in their communities. We argue, though, that the connections between commonly bifurcated identities, including a common attachment to the land and relationships across the rural–urban continuum, are equally important. We conclude by encouraging policy responses meant to address the fallout of the loss of mid‐sized dairy farms to draw on these connections to avoid inadvertently reinforcing political divisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social science and popular media have described political polarization as a threat to democracy and effective policy. Scholars connect right/left political divides to macro‐level social divisions, such as those between rural and urban residents, environmentalists and farmers, and pro‐versus anti‐government sentiments. While previous scholars have complicated these dichotomies, political polarization scholarship often seeks out evidence of polarization without considering these complications. In addition, we know little about how polarization is affecting community responses to social problems. This paper explores the rhetoric of political and social polarization as it appears in community responses to a particular social problem, the decline of small and mid‐sized dairy farms in southern Wisconsin. During interviews, farmers, municipal leaders, and community members indeed used polarizing rhetoric and identified polarization as a problem in their communities. We argue, though, that the connections between commonly bifurcated identities, including a common attachment to the land and relationships across the rural–urban continuum, are equally important. We conclude by encouraging policy responses meant to address the fallout of the loss of mid‐sized dairy farms to draw on these connections to avoid inadvertently reinforcing political divisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper challenges the widely accepted notions that peasants are more distrustful than urbanites by suggesting that the literature has been flawed by a lack of rural-urban comparisons, by the failure to utilize reliable measures of trust and to distinguish between political and interpersonal trust, and by the lack of convincing empirical evidence for the existence of distrust among peasants. The paper employs two samples. (N rural = 531, N urban = 202) from Costa Rica and finds higher levels of interpersonal trust in the peasant sample and lower levels of interpersonal trust among urbanites. In contrast, political trust is found to be higher in the city. Environmental factors are proposed as the explanations for these findings, and data from a sample of land reform beneficiaries (N = 753) are used as evidence of the importance of environment in explaining trust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on the social bases of environmentalism in the United States has generally found that urban residents are more concerned about the environment than rural residents. Recent research suggests this may no longer be the case, particularly in specific settings or under certain conditions. This paper examines the issue by reviewing recent survey research on rural and urban environmentalism. Tests for significant differences between urban and rural inhabitants of the Southern Appalachion Ecoregion on cognitive and behavioral dimensions of environmentalism are also conducted using data obtained from 1,239 telephone interview. Findings are consistent with previous research showing that younger people, those with higher levels of environmentalism and political liberals generally express higher levels of environmentalism. However, no significant rural-urban differences were found on several indicators of environmentalism. A range of conditions that are rapidly changing the character and composition of the region may help to explain Why the findings do not conform to the general pattern of rural-urban differences. Overall, it appears that environmentalism has broadened its appeal in rural areas, especially in communities located near national and state parks, wildlife refuges, and other outdoor recitation sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies comparing the fear of crime of residents of different sized communities have considered only one dimension of the relationship between urban life and fear of crime. This paper extends previous research by examining the effects of rural-urban origin, using survey data from two large western Canadian cities. The identification of important inter-action effects between size of place of origin and length of residence in the city, gender, and age allows discussion of how "rural baggage" may influence current city residents' subjective responses to the urban environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows the sources of population change in standard metropolitan areas and compares the change in central cities and suburban areas resulting from each source. Five steps in the estimating procedure are stated and the operations described. It is shown that between 1940 and 1950 the central cities, as a group, lost population through net migration. Their moderate growth was due to annexation and to a natural increase rate which more than made up for the net migration loss. The suburban rings gained 26 per cent through net migration. There was much variation among the metropolitan areas and among their central and suburban parts in the components of their growth. Population change in the Chicago Standard Metropolitan Area in the 1930-40 and 1940-50 decades is illustratively analyzed to show the color, sex, and age components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pattern of city growth in Korea deviates from that typical of the rise of a large urban population. Most of the urban growth has occurred since the country was annexed by the Japanese, in 1910. The pattern of growth was heavily influenced by the Japanese policy of utilizing Korean resources and manpower for empire development rather than for supplying consumer needs in Korea. Urbanization in Korea under the Japanese was extremely rapid. This was partly due to expanding economic opportunities in urban areas but also because cities served as a refuge from the poverty of densely populated agricultural areas. After World War II, urbanization continued at a rapid rate, but the limited economic base for city growth provided by Japanese activity had largely disappeared. In 1949, 17.2 per cent of the population of South Korea was in incorporated cities, but the occupational distribution showed a persistence of the rural-agricultural focus of the cities. it appears that city growth based on escape from rural conditions has reached a saturation point. However, the outlook for establishing even a partial industrial base for the Korean economy is not promising. Thus the prospect for Korean cities is one of little growth, or even decline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Czech Republic the privatization of property and the emergence of a market economy after the fall of communism created a unique "experiment in mature" Before 1989 there was virtually no private sector and salary differences between total and urban worker were relatively small. By the end of 1993 a substantial portion of both the rural and urban labour force had moved in to the private sector. Using data from a sample of 443 men who were employed in 1989 ant at the beginning of 1994 we found that urban workers who moved to the private sector had obtained larger salary increases and left less economic pressure than rural workers and those who styed in the public sector. Economic pressure in turn mediated between salary change and subsequent reports of health problems and psychological distress. Respondents also reported that the private sector offered them greater job flexibility job flexibility may reduce depressive symptoms by improving the match of workers skills with the demands of the job but private sector jobs also be a source of uncertainty. Tensions associated with increasing rural disadvantage and with moving to the private sector are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The meaning of rurality from the person-on-the-street perspective was explored using data from a statewide telephone and mail survey of 1,241 Pennsylvania residents. Responses to 35 Liken items were factor analyzed and five factors were delineated: positive images of rural life, negative images of rurality, antiurbanism, agrarianism, and wilderness values. Widespread agreement with the positive images of rural life, antiurbanism, agrarianism, and wilderness values was found. Negative images of rurality were overwhelmingly rejected by the respondents. Rural dwellers were somewhat more positive in their attitudes toward all aspects of rurality than were urban or suburban residents. The relevance of these overall findings for rural development is suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over two decades ago. Samuel Stouffer published results of a national survey on willingness of Americans to grant civil liberties to nonconformists. Since that time, social researchers have undertaken numerous studies aimed at reevaluating his findings. Despite this continuing interest, Stouffer's hypothesis relating the effects of residential migration to differences in tolerance between rural and urban residents -- his "culture shock" hypothesis -- has been neglected. Secondary analysis of data from the 1972-74 General Social Surveys suggests Stouffer may have been wrong in his formulation of this hypothesis and incorrect as well in his assumption that city dwellers were more likely than rural residents to have experienced the shock of living in two worlds of values. However, the analysis also suggests that Stouffer's notions, appropriately modified, may provide an important framework for future research on attitudinal differences among rural and urban residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic consequences of urban relocation and the relationship of pre-relocation experiences and migrant characteristics to successful completion of vocational training and employment are assessed for a sample of male Indian relocatees (N=202) who had participated in the Direct Employment or Adult Vocational Training programs of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). The data stem from follow-up interviews with participants in BIA-sponsored relocation programs during 1963. Urban relocation resulted in significant improvement in employment, income, housing, and perceived quality of life. The linkage of nine independent variables to continued employment is presented and tested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growing concern over pesticide use and environmental quality has intensified the potential for varying attitudes between the farmer and the city dweller toward the pesticide industry. The reasons of the differences in attitudes toward the pesticide industry are influenced by the usability of pesticide in the groups' production activities. This report summarizes the results of a survey related to the statements about the pesticide industry among farmers and city dwellers in Champaign County, Illinois.

The farm family is generally considered to be more oriented toward tradition than the urban family. For this reason and because of close ties between family and farm in American agriculture, a good deal of attention has been focused on family variables in studies of technological change in agriculture. The present study is based on the general proposition that the family as an institution is slow to change and that persistence of traditional aspects of family structure and function will deter acceptance of change in other areas. This report is based on a larger study of obstacles to change among commercial farmers in one of the agriculturally less prosperous Pennsylvania counties. Relationships between characteristics of the sample families which reflect a traditional orientation and one aspect of technological change, the attitude of the farm operator toward the use of credit, are dealt with in this article. The process of earning a living from the farm has traditionally involved most family members. Several questions were asked to determine which family members were part of the farm work force when needed. Relative great family involvement in farm work was hypothesized to be positively associated with a traditional, negative attitude toward credit.

This study was concerned with the relationships between divorce rates and seven social factors for each of the 34 Nebraska counties having some urban population. The zero-order correlations between divorce rates and each of the seven factors were significant. Further investigation showed significant correlations between several of the factors and indicated the need for removing the influence of other factors. Using partial correlation to hold constant the other factors, the correlation of each factor with divorce was determined. Four of the factors—religious affiliation, age composition of population, educational level, and population mobility—were not significantly correlated. The other three—foreign composition of the population, urbanization, and income level—were significantly correlated with divorce and accounted for approximately 83 per cent of the differences in divorce rates between the 34 counties represented in the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Rural Sociology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Rural Sociology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Rural Sociology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Various explanations have been offered for the conservatism of the Bulgarian villagers who live in close proximity to and under the apparent influence of Sofia, the country's chief city. A study of the contacts which these villagers have with the "outside world" shows that even when they visit Sofia they still move in a peasant world and fail to break through the psychological barrier separating them from the urban dweller. The "outside world" in visiting the village usually comes in holiday mood, either as returned relatives for a week end, as hikers climbing the mountain in extreme sport styles, or as summer guests enjoying the fine climate. Such visitors take little pains to interpret city ways to the solemn peasant. A few salesmen, officials, artisans, and entertainers make their appearance during the year but leave little impact upon the social structure of the village. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]