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Social science studies of mining communities suggest that the well-being of these company towns varies a great deal. Yet the literature has not thoroughly explained the sources of that variation, especially its potential relationship to the resource itself. In order to clarify our understanding of socioeconomic well-being, this paper likens the experience of being mining dependent to riding a roller coaster. While many mining areas experience volatile economic conditions, key characteristics and responses of the communities, companies, and resource alter the ride. To illustrate this concept, the paper examines employment trends in two metal-mining regions of the Midwest and finds that employment was more volatile in one area than the other. The reasons for the differences between the communities are explored. The paper concludes that paying greater attention to the context in which mining occurs and to the resource itself may help clarify the impacts of mining on local communities.

This paper addresses spatial inequality as an emerging specialty area in sociology. Rural sociologists have long attended to spatial inequalities. The authors tend to view their work as uniquely centered on the rural experience, as opposed to occupying the forefront of spatializing stratification theory and of sociology as a whole. First the development of sociological interest in spatial inequality is discussed, providing an overview of factors that have contributed to a spatial trend in the study of stratification. Then, the implications for rural sociology are discussed, describing how rural sociologists contribute to research on spatial inequality, and distinguishes the approach of rural sociology from those of other subfields and disciplines. Finally, some examples of research in this emerging specialty area are highlighted by drawing from papers included in this issue. The authors call for the development of research based on qualitative approaches to provide deeper insights into the processes linking space with stratification, both from the perspective of people who are disadvantaged and from the standpoint of those who enjoy an advantage because of such a connection. They encourage the development of international and cross-national research on spatial inequality to broaden the understanding of the links between space and inequality.

This paper sets forth an interdisciplinary interpretation of social capital that will permit the concept to be used with precision in scholarly and scientific work. If the interpretation is accepted, the social capital concept cannot be regarded as a social theory, nor as a statement of normative goals. The interdisciplinary concept proposed here is applied to rural studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the December 1, 1975 issue of the periodical "Rural Sociology." This issue of "Rural Sociology" follows the tradition of the December 1965 issue. A cumulative index for the 10 years 1966 through 1975 has been added as a separate supplement. The updating work was guided by earlier efforts of authors Sheldon Lowry and Nancy Hammond. An explication of procedures and contents is contained in the "Guide to Usage" section of the present index. A word is in order here about the regular issue of the journal. All of the papers were invited. The RSS presidential address is, of course, the usual open invitation to comment on whatever the retiring officer sees fit to his or her views and interests. President Harold Capener has examined the organizational context for application of scientific knowledge. His concern is to set out some guidelines to improve the chances of success for applied social sciences like rural sociology. Capener's remarks provide a fitting introduction to the rest of the issue. His observations help to remind the reader of the historical events and organizational handicaps within which the discipline operates. As he notes, that context is not unrelated to performance of tasks by the rural sociologist-the burden of the other three papers.

New interest in environmental factors in the sociology of agriculture has stimulated the development of a "social ecology" perspective. This paper applies a socioccological perspective to soil resource degradation and the implementation of soil conservation policy in a Calombian farming system. The analysis illustrates two important themes in social ecology: how interaction between biophysical and social parameters in agriculture structures farmers' use of natural resources and the interpretation of natural resources in terms of how farmers perceive them. Analysis of the political economy of the farming system shows how biophysical and institutional factors create incentives for farmers to use destructive soil management practices, which are reflected in norms and values of land use in the farm community, and farm types or adaptive strategies for coping with this environment. The paper concludes that a socioecological perspective focuses analysis on institutional factors that cause soil erosion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research on adopter categories has found several relationships between time of adoption and various social, economic, and demographic characteristics of the adopters of innovations. This paper extends the focus to include the spatial dimension in the context of two approaches to explaining innovation diffusion. The communications approach emphasizes information flows, whereas the market and infrastructure approach stresses the availability of the innovation to potential adopters. The study produces two major findings: (1) that locational characteristics are an important aspect of both explanations and therefore should be considered along with the traditional set of variables in describing adopter categories; (2) that the conceptual model associated with adopter categories should be broadened to reflect marketing strategy characteristics as well as innovativeness characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By way of introduction to this special issue on rural masculinities, we provide an overview of masculinity studies, emphasizing the influential work of Robert W. Connell on hegemonic masculinity. We go on to distinguish between two main avenues of rural inquiry in masculinity studies: studies of the masculine in the rural and studies of the rural in the masculine, or what we 4150 term the masculine rural and the rural masculine. We apply this distinction to the six contributions to this special issue. showing how most of the paper maintain a kind of dialogue between the two. We conclude by arguing that studies of rural masculinities are a contribution rather than an alternative to feminist scholarship in the rural social sciences, and that the topic of rural masculinities provides rural scholarship with opportunities for conducting research in other disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural Sociology began and continues as a medium of intellectual exchange for scholars concerned with rural issues. For fifty years editors have tried to publish articles that make social science useful, that bring the most relevant theory and methods of a particular time to bear on rural problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is based on a restudy of the 13 New York communities included in the national sample for Brunner's three studies of 140 agricultural villages made in 1924, 1930, and 1936. The paper reports on changes in population 1920&ndash1970, in Dun and Bradstreet business listings 1921&ndash1970, in community boundaries 1936&ndash1974, and in school district boundaries, in 85 community services and facilities and 15 types of voluntary associations 1960&ndash1974, and in industries 1964&ndash1974. The presence of planning and zoning boards in 1974 is noted. All centers were rural by census definition in 1920; 10 still were in 1970. The evidence shows growth and decline, stability and change, depending on the individual community and the time period. Except for a minority of the communities, the evidence suggests that stability and growth prevail over decline. Vitality is generally greater in the noneconomic sectors than in the economic. Differentiation has increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an index of various literature on rural sociology.

The term “access” is frequently used by property and natural resource analysts without adequate definition. In this paper we develop a concept of access and examine a broad set of factors that differentiate access from property. We define access as “the ability to derive benefits from things,” broadening from property's classical definition as “the right to benefit from things.” Access, following this definition, is more akin to “a bundle of powers” than to property's notion of a “bundle of rights.” This formulation includes a wider range of social relationships that constrain or enable benefits from resource use than property relations alone. Using this framing, we suggest a method of access analysis for identifying the constellations of means, relations, and processes that enable various actors to derive benefits from resources. Our intent is to enable scholars, planners, and policy makers to empirically “map” dynamic processes and relationships of access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Racial differences in homeownership have long been a topic of sociological study. Previous studies, however, neglected to consider differences in levels of homeownership between nonmarried black and white women in the context of place. Accordingly this paper focuses on the interaction between place, race, and gender and its impact on homeownership for nonmarried persons. The study employs the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) and logistic regression analysis to address the following questions: Has the racial differential in homeownership for nonmarried women changed from 1970 to 1990? How do place, race, and gender interact to determine the levels of homeownership for nonmarried women? The findings reveal that, although black women were less likely than white women to own homes, the racial differential declined dramatically in rural areas over the two-decade period. The overall trend of decline was opposite to that for urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we use data from the national 1980 Farm Women Survey to determine whether independent farmers differ from other farmers in their economic well-being and whether the effects of independence reflect class and family characteristics. We define "independent farmer" as a woman or a man with managerial responsibility for the farm operation who does not have a spouse regularly performing farm labor. Men without the direct farm labor of a wife did not appear worse off economically than men who had this help. Independent women farmers were worse off than women on other farms. Class position explained only some of this difference among women. Family and demographic characteristics explained the remaining effect of women's independent farming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent changes in legislation, policy, and appropriations call explicitly for program evaluation to be undertaken in extension as well as other federally funded programs to help document program results and consequences and to provide input into policy and program decisions. Consistent with this charge, the present paper develops a conceptual and analytic framework that recognizes the dynamic, nonrecursive nature of the program and policy evaluation process. The flexibility of the frame- work allows policy or program evaluation to be addressed from three interrelated perspectives: (1) structural analysis, (2) control programming, and (3) simulation. The approaches have different foci and provide different kinds of information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates gun ownership as influenced by the interaction of gender with both situational and subcultural variables. Previous research suggests that women raised in the South and in rural areas are more likely to be familiar with firearms than are women from other areas. I argue that greater familiarity should lead to higher levels of ownership among Southern and rural women. Moreover, because non-Southern and urban women are less familiar with guns, they are unlikely to own them unless motivated by such situational factors as marital status or fear of crime. Because socialization of males into firearm use is common in all areas, these differences are not predicted for men. Data from the 1982 NORC General Social Survey support the regional, but not the rural, subcultural interpretation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that both the orthodox and radical treatments of farm Labor are distorted by the underrepresentation of women's participation on the family labor farm. Detailed information from a small parish in Quebec is examined to support this argument. Variables examined include the characteristics of both paid and nonpaid laborers, the distribution of responsibility for household and farm tasks, the time spent in various activities, and the extent to which household goods are produced by family members. The results indicate that both the direct and indirect contribution of women must be integrated into the analysis of agricultural production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite a general awareness of the dimensions of the non-metropolitan population "turnaround," the role of rural population change in this demographic phenomenon remains less well understood. Using population data from the 1950-1980 decennial censuses, the present paper examines the contribution of various-sized places and rural areas to aggregate U.S. and nonmetropolitan population change during each ten-year period between 1950 and 1980. We show that not only were rural areas growing at a faster rate than urban areas during the 1970's, but perhaps as important, rural population change was the driving force be- hind aggregate population growth in most parts of the nonmetropolitan U.S. Rural areas accounted for over 80 percent of aggregate U.S. non-metropolitan population change in the 1970-1980 decade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The principal purpose of this paper is to outline a theoretical perspective of agricultural production at the farm level that includes environmental variables. A useful starting point for considering agriculture and the environment is the conceptualization of the environment as an ecosystem. An ecosystem consists of biotic communities and an abiotic environment linked together by means of a series of cycles or circuits, i.e., energy circuits, food chains, nutrient cycles. etc.

Although social scientists have a number of concepts to differentiate the importance of various agents of influence (significant others), all rely on the recipients' judgment in assessing an other's ’significance.’ In this paper criteria involving observation of the activity of agents of influence themselves are proposed and investigated. Examined are the importance of a given source for a social system in terms of number of persons influenced and the scope of influence for each. Data pertaining to educational and occupational influence on a sample of high school students in rural Illinois are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Issues raised by the feminist epistemic critique of social science are used to examine what is meant by local knowledge and its contribution to analyses of agricultural sustainability. Employing the concepts of partial perspective, lived experience, and the complexity of social context, this paper focuses attention on the juxtaposition of local and scientific knowledge and challenges those interpretations of local knowledge production that ignore the various people. relations, and interests constituting the rural economy. An examination of local as a contested, complex. and heterogeneous domain refines the work of Kloppenburg (1991) and his commitment to the significance of local knowledge in constructing opportunities for sustainable agriculture. Attention to the on-farm gender division of labor helps to identity gender differences as critical in constituting the family farm and to elaborate how the different experiences of women and men may offer alternative visions of what constitutes sustainable agricultural production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The content analysis by Falk and Zhao (1989) of theoretical orientations shown in Rural Sociology articles during the span 1976-1985 is critically evaluated as to its methodological adequacy and substantive conclusions. The former is shown as suspect and, therefore, the latter become moot. Discussion is particularly focused on the elaboration by Falk and Zhao on the wisdom of the metatheoretical underpinnings of the field in the decade explored. While they are less critical in judgment of rural sociology's performance than was the earlier study being "replicated" (Picou et al. 1978a), the assertion made by Falk and Zhao is still fundamentally misdirected. Until rural sociology faces the issue of data quality, its improvements in "theory" activity will not be substantial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research methods used in empirical research reported in Rural Sociology from 1936 to 1985 are examined. Trends in research procedures are reviewed for each of the five decades of the journal's existence. One major trend identified is the movement away from descriptive analyses of social phenomena toward more complex quantitative models. This movement has been accompanied by increased methodological homogeneity in sources of data, data collection techniques, and a focus on the individual as the unit of analysis to the neglect of social structures and social processes. Measurement, sampling, and analysis continue to be problematic areas, although new approaches to measurement and analysis appear promising. Implications of the trends for the development of substantive knowledge in the field are drawn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The methodological adequacy of research reported in Rural Sociology since 1965 is examined. In addition, trends in areas of interest during the decade are compared with earlier periods In general, the quality of reported research improved over the decade. The increase in use of multivariate techniques, the projection of dynamic models, and the consideration of nonlinear forms of relationships all point toward an increasing sophistication of rural sociological research. Problems with sampling, measurement, and analysis stand out as areas in need of substantial improvement. Suggestions are made for improving both the quality of research and the reporting of research findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article lists several books related to rural sociology. Some of the books related to population, labor force and migration are: "South Dakotans on the Move: Characteristics of People Leaving and Entering the State, 1970 to 1980," "Recent Immigration to Maine: The Who and Where of it." Some books that are related to natural resources, energy, recreation are: "Sources of Conservation Information and Participation in Conservation Programs: An Interregional Analysis," "Cost and Yield Effects of Reduced Tillage Systems Used in the Northern And Central Great Plains." Some of the books that are related to rural development are: A Review and Critique of Rural Development Research in the Land-Grant System Since 1970--with Focus Upon the South," "Agricultural Extension by Training and Visit," "Season and Strategy: The Changing Organization of the Rural Water Sector in Botswana," and Isolation of Factors Related to Levels and Patterns of Living in Low-Income Areas of the Rural South: A Basebook."

This article analyzes the Mulford and Mulford article, which was based on research project in rural sociology in Greene County in Iowa. This analysis is a complete enumeration of the instances of cooperation or conflict in closely related incorporated centers. Specific causes of the relationships presented were not investigated but opinions regarding causes were expressed by the interviewees on general patterns of community concern. Data supports the conclusion that the small towns were overorganized and that competition for members was active enough to result in conflict for group survival. Sociograms were used to picture relationships between groups as social units.

The literature notes that natural disasters, including wildfires, that damage human settlements often have the short-term effect of "bringing people together." Less recognized is the fact that such events can also generate social conflict at the local level. This study examines the specific sources of such social conflict during and after community wildfire events. Examining qualitative data generated from six case studies of wildfires in the American West, we suggest that integrating the theories of Weber, Giddens, and Habermas with community interaction theory provides a context for understanding such conflict. Rationalized forms of interaction and problem solving imposed by extra-local organizations during and after wildfire events are often resisted by local actors who are also inhibited from acting due to local capacity limitations. Thus, conflict occurs when social relations are disembedded by non-local entities, and there is a perceived loss of local agency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study critically reviews theoretical concepts and measurements of social capital and tests hypotheses that elaborate how four dimensions of social capital (informal social ties, formal social ties, trust, and norms of collective action) and sense of community are related to participation in community improvement activities for elderly residents in small towns and rural communities. Mail surveys of 2,802 elders in 99 small towns and rural communities in Iowa reveal that many elders are actively involved in their community. Social capital and sense of community are very important in predicting elderly participation in community improvement activities, but they relate differently to elderly community involvement. Formal ties and sense of community have much stronger relationships with community involvement than informal ties and norms of collective action. Generalized trust is not significantly related to elderly community involvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, church burnings in the South have attracted a great deal of attention. Many commentators have charged that they are a product of strained race relations throughout the South, and particularly of severe racial tensions in Southern rural areas. In this study we evaluate these claims. We begin by mapping the spatial coordinates of recorded church burnings from 1990 to 1997, and find that church arsons indeed are concentrated in the South. Church burnings, however, are a more urban phenomenon than popular media accounts would suggest. Our analysis then explores the influence of contextual factors (population and locale, racial composition and inequality, socioeconomic conditions, local religious ecology, and patterns of reported crime) on church burnings in counties located in the study region. Logistic regression models confirm that church arsons are most likely to occur in small metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) and non-MSA counties containing a city of at least 10,000 residents. Church burnings also are especially likely in counties with a higher percentage of black residents, a larger number of churches relative to the rest of the state, and a higher arson rate. We conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for future research and public policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on processes of agrifood restructuring in Australia and New Zealand. The author analyzes the roles and relationships of the agrifood industries in the Australasia region during a period of major change. The researchers were drawn from a wide range of disciplines, but shared a common interest in the analysis of agricultural change and the impacts of current transformations at a number of levels, global, regional, and local. Unlike the United States, with its land grant colleges and freestanding departments of rural sociology, Australia and New Zealand have put only limited resources into rural-based sociological research, concentrating instead on extension and agricultural economics. The former has gone through a crisis of identity and is much reduced force in an increasingly privatized, "user-pays" environment, while the latter is generally an extremely conservative disciple, marked by theoretical rigidity, which continues to leave people and social relations out of its mathematical models.

Falk and Zhao (1989) have recently suggested that increased theoretical diversity characterizes the last decade of published research in Rural Sociology. We suggest that this claim is premature, given paradigmatic trends in the larger discipline of sociology. From a reanalysis of data sources and the use of an analytical framework based on the partial paradigm concept, we conclude that rural sociology is attempting to further integrate theory, methodology, and image of the subject matter within a positivistic partial paradigm framework. We further suggest that rural sociologists continue their pursuit of a reflexive understanding of the practice of social science as an integral part of their research agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1978, Picou, Wells, and Nyberg reported their results from a metatheoretical study of articles which had appeared in Rural Sociology from 1965 to 1976. They concluded that rural sociology was "characterized by theoretical closure and methodological monism. Employing their analytic strategies and examining the years 1976 to 1985, we conclude that rural sociology has become more theoretically diverse but is still generally atheoretical in character. We discuss the implications our findings have for the future of rural sociology and the intellectual and political crisis within which it may find itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies focusing on ethnic influences on agricultural patterns have, contrary to commonly held assumptions of homogeneity, revealed variations in Midwest plains agriculture. Our study of ethnic influences emphasizes the historical context and uses data front a random sample of German, British, and Yankee centennial farina in Illinois. Hypotheses concerning both the current and the initial conditions of more than 100 years ago are tested. Though differences in the patterns between the ethnic groups are often small, they are typically in the direction predicted. Thus, over the last 100 years or more, many of the differing ethnic patterns in agriculture, though dissipating, have persisted, like echoes from the past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural Sociology has developed into a well-respected and frequently cited specialty journal. Of the 1,300 pIus journals included in the Social Science Citation Index, Rural Sociology ranks in the top 16 percent and among the top ten journals for those in the Sociology category. Reviewing fifty years of articles suggests that Rural Sociology has a unique tradition and special status because of its institutional ties and foci in that it has an applied, empirical orientation and has evolved from a reform and policy tradition to "make social science useful." The influence of the discipline's rural roots and institutional ties, the discipline s receptivity to new theories, techniques, and substantive issues, and its desire to make social science useful provide the basis for a scholarly tradition that likely will continue into the next century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) is the law that created the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The law also led to a legal anomaly. While federal agencies are given broad discretion over the use of information contained in EISs, the EISs are explicitly required to make "integrated use" of social science expertise. Yet most EISs to date have contained little or no evidence of social science input. This article begins with a brief introduction to the legal requirements for the use of social science expertise in EISs. Next, synthesizing the existing literature, we identify six major factors that appear to account for the major part of the discrepancy. Third, we explore possibilities for dealing with the situation. Three propositions drawn from the theories and insights of political sociology suggest that what appears to be problems "of the field" may actually result from the specific structural situations in which social scientists have found themselves to date. Thus, improvements may be dependent on social scientists' willingness to explore new roles-roles that entail important risks as well as important opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sociologist has for a number of decades been called upon to render practical service in fields of social maladjustment, especially in the fields of crime and poverty, and has for many years conducted researches and written books in the fields of normal social behavior and conditions, but by and large it has been only during the last eight years, beginning with the Hoover Commissions, and greatly increasing during the New Deal, that he has been called upon to render actual counsel and service in studying and guiding large public activity programs. Concerning the criticism and censure of sociology and the sociologist by other social scientists, there are probably two broad generalizations which will cover the situation. In the first place, sociology is always dealing with phenomena, which are also at least partially the phenomena of other social sciences, and sometimes with biological phenomena. The sociologist must therefore expect and should welcome the critical judgment on his work of these other scientists.

The new nonmetropolitan trends have revealed the short-comings of traditional theories and explanations of population redistribution. As a preliminary step toward increased understanding, we have sought to place one aspect of the turnaround in its historical context by considering specifically nonmetropolitan urban structure and its changes. We have examined interdecade growth of U.S. nonmetropolitan incorporated places, grouped by initial size and location for each decade since 1900. Results show four periods of growth and decline patterns: 1900-1950, continuous rural settlement and overall concentration; 1950-1940, depressed urban growth; 1940-1960, suburbanization and rural decline; 1960-1980, deconcentration and village revival. Based on these data, the turnaround indeed appears to be a new era with some long-run antecedents rather than, as was the depression, a temporary departure from the prevailing trend. Variables used here, such as initial size and location, are relatively unambiguous, but further theoretical development should rest on a more complete understanding of the socio-historical context of these population trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social implications of the increased use of information technologies in rural North America are analyzed, with particular attention to their consequences for human interaction, the traditional subject matter of rural sociology. First, the influence of technology on rural people's interaction patterns throughout this century is reviewed, and speculations are made about how those patterns will be changed by the increased use of information technologies. Second, the increased importance of information as an input into the production of goods and services is described against a background of the uncertainties that exist concerning the transition to an information age. Next, five features of the emerging rural information structure are described. They include: a greatly expanded telecommunications capability, the equipment needed for the productive use of these capabilities, information technologies that come embedded in tools and materials, a rapid physical delivery system, and the capability of individuals to use the new information technologies. Finally, four areas of significant social change and policy consequence are identified for research by rural sociologists. They are the changing societal context, who will live in an information age rural North America, what structures of interaction will influence their behavior, and what institutions will serve them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The penetration of foreign capitalist enterprises into Mexico during the latter half of the 1800's created an internal labor market based on the wage system and a national capitalist class. This new economic structure, coupled with changes taking place on the expanding world export market for Mexican agricultural products and national policy-making administration, created sufficient conditions for economic dislocations, political cleavages, and coalitions to occur. These factors, when superimposed on existing social inequalities and the inefficient unilateral state apparatus, led to both the 1910 Revolution and the Zapatsista rural struggle. It is the contention of this article that this relatively new structural mosaic transformed the reformist Morelos land struggle into a full-fledged revolutionary movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the departmental prestige in rural sociology. In recent years, the sociological enterprise itself has become an important focus of inquiry for an increasing number of scholars. As a part of this introspective shift in emphasis, the major means for communicating sociological knowledge, the professional journals have begun to receive increasing research attention resulting in a growing body of information dealing with a wide variety of issues. One particularly prominent subject in these inquiries has been the measurement of the relative prestige of departments by frequency of citations in major journals. To date, little attention has been specifically devoted to specialty areas within the discipline and to the journals which represent these areas. Using the journal, Rural Sociology, the purposes of this study are - to develop and apply a simple measure of institutional prestige for the field of rural sociology and to compare the resultant 'rural' prestige hierarchy with other measures attempting to represent the field of sociology as a whole.

Many observers of environmentalism and the environmental movement have emphasized the role of rural values in the emergence of environmental concern. It is noted that social scientists have often been unclear as to what is meant by rural values, and it is argued that rural values can be conceived of as pertaining to at least two distinct dimensions of sentiment—agrarianism and ruralism. Data from a statewide sample of Wisconsin residents are used to test the hypothesis that ruralism is more strongly associated with environmental concern than is agrarianism, Only weak support for this hypothesis is obtained among the total sample; however, the results for the upper-middle class are more in accord with it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lists books and related references on sociology, which appeared in the December 1976 issue of "Rural Sociology." Population, labor force, migration; Ecology, use of physical and natural resources; Social organization, community institutions.

My general concern in this comparative study is with the structuring of educational ambition among rural youth in three modern. industrial societies: Norway, Germany, and the United States. Scholastic rank and educational plan are conceptualized as integral components of a developmental sequence leading to career placement. The research thrust is to specify linkages between these two variables, Social class origin, sex, residence place, and regional context are introduced as additional considerations. The study populations consist of large numbers of students at critical stages in their educational careers (e.g., American high school seniors). In all three societies, the observed effect of demonstrated scholastic ability upon educational ambition is reinforced by the influence of social class origins. And, in the American case especially, girls are consistently and to a marked degree ranked above boys. This sex-distinctive pattern, coupled with the weaker position of girls in the competition for higher education and elite status, poses an anomalous situation meriting further research attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an index of various literature on rural sociology.

The average distance moved by interstate migrants has increased from 1935&ndash40 to 1965&ndash70, but at a sharply decreasing rate. White interstate migrants continue to move farther than black migrants in 1965&ndash70, but the differential is narrowing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from a restudy of mountainous villages in rural Appalachia and northern Greece, an attempt is made to codify findings related to normative patterns of rural social transition. There are three major findings. First, despite considerable differences in the specific content of the normative structure, the essential forms in the two settings are identical, as are the processes of adaptation. Second, the major direction of normative change, in both Appalachia and mountainous Greece, is toward facilitation of integration of the rural into the larger social system. In large part such changes involve norms directly or indirectly supporting economic integration, which constitutes the main axis of overall incorporation of the rural into the larger society. Third, the shifting of reference groups and the emergence of relative deprivation occurred much earlier and spread more rapidly in rural Appalachia than in Greece, with more non-conventional means of adjustment being employed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigation of reference group influence on the extension communication activity of the social science faculty in a midwestern university showed that high output occurred when (1) strong influential reference groups were located outside academia and (2) personal satisfaction took precedence over prospects for professional advancement as a reward. Colleagues in government and industry exerted the strongest influence toward high extension communication, while academic reference groups (departmental colleagues and those in own academic discipline) exerted the strongest influence toward low output. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An experimental sociology of institutional renewal is emerging, with models drawn from social science research and from changes wrought by agricultural, medical, and community development during the last century. Means are described whereby academic sociology can perform experimental research roles to produce predictable changes in social systems. The experimental sociology, which has been patterned after plant and animal science, tests whether social systems will sponsor or reject changes which are presented to them. Innovations in teaching sociology courses are described which involve graduate and undergraduate students in research roles leading to the design and experimental testing of hypothetically sponsorable change models. Such student roles represent an approach to research and development which, cannot he controlled by funding agencies. The ensuing knowledge buildup is comparable to the historic agricultural experiment station and research hospital processes of developing new knowledge, which in this instance is applied to achieve useful goals and institutional change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contents of Rural Sociology for the years 1965-1975 are examined for adequacy to a criterion of theory. The Mertonian differentiation of various referents for the term is used as the framework for analysis. It is argued that the reported work has been largely consistent with a metasociological preference for an empiricist-inductivist methodological stance, that the lack of interest shown in espousing alternative general orientations is not debilitating, and that a substantial amount of concept clarification transpired. The results of evaluation using these three meanings for theory are seen as forming a consistent logical pattern belying a belief that rural sociology is necessarily atheoretical. While theory as empirical generalizations or explanatory laws is found wanting, Rural Sociology is not seen as unique to such a judgment of failure. It is argued, further, that refraining from trying to generalize results or ponder explanations for them is defensible so long as careful replication of research results is lacking. The need for replication of research is urged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From a perspective that psychological attributes are products as well as producers of behavior, an analysis was made of the relationship between fatalism and fertility in rural Puerto Rico. Results were in accord with the working hypotheses: a direct though weak relationship between fertility and fatalism was found; and, the relationship was more pronounced for particular age groupings and subsistence levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]