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Presents a letter to the editor about Lee Taylor's position paper on rural sociology.

This article comments on the position papers in the June 1967 issue of Rural Sociology. The author asserts that the papers are a mark of growing maturity of the rural sociology profession. It took years before the state universities and colleges assumed the dominant role of that they have achieved in the development of rural sociology. Contributions of the early sociologists to the applied field are presented to emphasize their historical value.

Rural sociologists are concerned about the present status, the crucial issues, and the future of their group. In 1963, the Committee on the Development of Rural Sociology developed a preliminary list of major issues facing rural sociologists. With the approval of the Council, the members of the committee decided to prepare a set of working papers on some of these major issue areas. These papers would attempt to define more clearly the assumptions, dimensions, and issues, to present different points of view, and to suggest alternative definitions or positions and their probable consequences. Thus, it was hoped that the working papers would provide a structure from which more effective discussion would develop.

This paper explores some aspects of the editorial decision process and its outcomes as they are involved in the production of scientific knowledge. Based on 337 manuscripts reviewed for Rural Sociology from the Spring of 1978 to the Spring of 1981, ten characteristics associated with successful and unsuccessful manuscripts were examined. Five of these constituted a discriminant function model: number of rounds of review, author membership in the Rural Sociological Society, referee agreement regarding recommendations to the editor, referees who are authors, and difference in referee degree dates. The other five variables did not contribute significantly to the model: referee membership in the RSS, gender of the authors, number of authors, referee agreement regarding the contribution of the manuscript, and referee agreement regarding the presentation of the manuscript. The model achieved 85 percent accuracy in classifying the total set of manuscripts, but it was much more successful in classifying the rejected papers (95 percent) than the published papers (63 percent). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Civic engagement involves active participation in political and nonpolitical contexts in one's community. Research consistently demonstrates that sociodemographic factors, neighborhood context, community size, and media use are all important antecedents of robust civic engagement. This paper focuses on the intersection between these latter two factors. My paper draws on multiple streams of research in the rural sociology and communication literature to develop a theoretical framework where rural individuals' use of local media promotes greater civic engagement. Using data from the 2018 Local News Survey, results show that the use of local newspapers and online news websites for local news and information leads to a higher probability of participation in local activities and local groups in one's community. However, results also show that getting local news and information from traditional formats such as local TV stations may no longer be associated with an increased probability of being an active citizen in rural communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on Southern Policy Papers issued by the Southern Policy Committee in cooperation with the Institute for Research in Social Science, the University of North Carolina, North Carolina. In first paper, "Southern Population and Social Planning," by T.J. Woofter Jr. stresses the implications of the relatively high rates of population increase in the southern states of the U.S., especially among the Whites. These increases have upset the balance of Whites and Afro-Americans in urban employment. Which lead to reduced southern wages as compared with other regions, upset the southern age distribution by drawing off the productive middle-aged and talented groups, tended to create a hotbed discontent and created an unemployed-youth problem. The second report, "Social Security for Southern Farmers," by H. Clarence Nixon depicts unsatisfactory economic and social conditions which confront the southern farmer. The abolition of the tenant-cropper system, revision of tariffs, and utilization of social insurance is advocated.

American youth from rural backgrounds have made great strides to overcome challenges in college enrollment and completion since the 2000s. Yet little is known about how rural youth are financing these attainment increases—a pressing question in light of high college costs, rising student debt, and spatial inequality in the resources that students have to pay for college. This paper examines disparities in young adults' student debt by geographic background using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 Cohort. Regression analyses reveal that college‐goers from rural backgrounds accumulate more debt than those from suburban and urban backgrounds, adjusting for differences in sociodemographic characteristics. Rural college‐goers' higher debt can be partially attributed to differences in socioeconomic backgrounds and rates of inter‐county migration during college, and there is evidence that the additive influences of geographic background and gender contribute to particularly high debt among rural women. The findings suggest that longstanding spatial inequalities contribute to disparities in student debt and raise questions about the experiences of rural youth and communities in a debt‐based society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information related to upcoming events on rural sociology. The Program Committee for the Rural Sociological Society announces a call for papers for the annual meeting to be held in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, from August 25-27, 1972. Submission of papers is required by April 1, 1972. Abstract and text should be sent to Rabel J. Burdge, Program Chairman, Department of Sociology. University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40506. A series of workshops is planned on topics of current interests to encourage more active participation in the program. This years program will reduce the number of formal presentations. Papers will be made available for distribution prior to the meeting. Graduate students are asked to submit papers to any session. Sessions organized by graduate students will review papers from all sources. The other information is that J.L. Charlton has directed a study now published by the University of Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station. The co-author, Joseph F. Singer, also used the data for a Ph.D. disseration in economics, Charlton is currently directing a study of factors affecting the use of medical services in three subregions of Arkansas.

The article focuses on the annual meeting of the Rural Sociological society. This is not a new experience, but some of the changes that are taking place in rural sociology programs and in society indicate that the need for discussion is not yet satisfied. This is also one way of reaching the many members, subscribers, and readers who axe unable to attend the Society meetings, and of including them in the circle of discourse. Accordingly, few persons from various sections of the country and one to represent a view of rural sociology as it exists outside the U. S. to offer some of their views on important issues in the future of rural sociology were invited. They were asked to respond briefly and quickly enough for the papers to be presented in the June issue before the 1969 meeting.

Presents news notes and announcements involving the Rural Sociological Society. Highlights of the 1971 annual meeting of the Rural Sociology Section of Association of Southern Agricultural Workers; Call for papers for the 1971 annual meeting of the society to be held in Denver, Colorado on August 27 to 29, 1971; Programs and projects of the society.

Presents news notes and announcements involving the Rural Sociological Society. Call for papers for the 1969 annual meeting of the society; Tentative session topics; Best dissertations in rural sociology for the years 1967 and 1968.

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 metalmining 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I examine military masculinities as a form of rural masculinity. I argue that one model of military masculinity, the warrior hero, acts as a dominant military construction of masculinity. I examine how the countryside as a location, and rurality as a social construction, impinge upon the construction of the ideal type of the warrior hero. The paper draws on recruitment literature, Ministry of Defence publicity materials, popular accounts of soldiering, and Army videos to trace out the practices and representations that construct the dominant discourse of the warrior hero. The paper is grounded conceptually in theories of gender identity and rurality as social constructions. I conclude by questioning the political consequences, both for rural life and for the armed forces, of this hegemonic model of masculinity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents various research papers listed in the September 1991 issue of the journal Rural Sociology. Some of the papers listed are "Exceptional Growth and the Return of Population Concentration in Washington," by Annabel K. Cook, "Metropolitan America: Beyond the Transition," by William H. Frey, "U.S. Metropolitan Growth in the 1980s: Do the Old Explanations Hold for New Patterns?" by William H. Frey and Alden Speare, "Population Profile of the United States, 1989," by Campbell Gibson, "The Health Demographic Profile System's Inventory of Small Area Social Indicators," by Harold F. Goldsmith, David J. Jackson, Susan Doenhofer and Wayne Johnson, "Decennial Population Counts for Iowa and Other States: 1890-1990," by Willis Goudy, "Iowa's Incorporated Places in 1990: Initial Census Counts on Population," by Willis Goudy and Sandra Charvat Burke, "People and Housing: The Effects of Demographic Factors on Residential Housing Requirements in North Dakota," by Rita R. Hamm, "North Dakota Life Tables 1960, 1970 and 1980," by Rita R. Hamm and Azam Syed.

Local social systems are connected to larger systems, including the world-system, in a variety of complex ways: thus it is often difficult to identify the local stratification system or community of reference. Yet, system specification is crucial in stratification studies, because the phenomena studied are often best understood in terms of relative position within the local system. To support this emphasis on local community of reference this paper reviews Cancian's upper middle rank conservatism thesis and Frey et al.'s (1979) finding of lower middle rank conservatism in adoption or agricultural innovations in Pakistan, and presents a reanalysis of the Frey et al. data. The reanalysis shows that the finding changes when specification of the local system changes. Thus, the system specification problem faced by empirical researchers concerned with rural stratification systems is highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an index of various literature on rural sociology.

This article presents the author's reply to comments by Robert C. Bealer and Thomas R. Ford on his article "The Rural-Urban Variable: An Urbanite's Perspective." The author says that Bealer contrasts his position with that of Richard Dewey, as expressed in the latter's paper "The Rural-Urban Continuum: Real But Relatively Unimportant." Dewey's views stem from a consideration of the subject by eighteen authors of textbooks in urban sociology. The author is puzzled by Bealer's insistence upon the logical necessity of a focus on social-psychological variables. Certainly one can spend much effort analyzing the characteristics of communities without taking on the added burden of accounting for individual behavior. The author is content, at least for the moment, to leave such questions as the explanation of those persistent traits that rural-dwellers may carry with them when they move to the city to his colleagues in social psychology. All in all, the author takes Bealer's passionate remarks on the necessity for seeking global generalizations to be merely symptomatic of the present time.

This article presents the research papers published in this issue of the journal "Rural Sociology." The first paper by James H. Copp represents a stage in the maturation of research on farm practice acceptance. It is one of the first attempts to compare the results of studies conducted in different agricultural regions. Using data from Wilkening's study in Wisconsin and from his own study in Kansas, he developed comparable measures of certain personal, social, and economic variables. Another paper by Copp and colleagues deals with the informational aspect of the acceptance of new farm practices. They attempt essentially to specify the function of information sources in the adoption process. By asking a series of questions about the sources of information at various times, from the awareness of a new practice until its adoption, they find that institutionalized sources tend to perform a function separate from that of noninstitutionalized sources. The study by Charles R. Hoffer and Dale Stangland is a worthy attempt to take into account the farmer's value orientations as they affect his adoption of practices.

This paper examines the relationship between formal and informal participation of individuals in three Pennsylvania rural communities. Data concerning the range and intensity of informal activities were used to test the hypothesis that a positive relationship exists between formal and informal participation of individuals in rural society. In general, this hypothesis was substantiated by the evidence on eighteen selected types of informal activities. However, more research is needed, not only on the roles played within various informal groups but also on participation in other areas of informal activities than those reported in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides information about developments in various universities and colleges in the field of sociology. Two papers of W. A. Anderson of Cornell University on Rural Social Participation and the Family Life Cycle have been published by the Agricultural Experiment Station as Memoirs 314 and 318. They deal with the relationship of stages in the family life cycle to formal and informal family participation. He has also published a study entitled "Social Change and an Urban Fringe Area." Anderson is working with city and town officials in Ithaca, New York on problems of city expansion and fringe-area incorporation. A Study of Some Factors Associated with Family Informal Participation has been issued as Department Bulletin 36. Department Bulletin 39, "Eight Case Illustrations of Low Formal Participation," and Department Bulletin 40, "Eight Case Illustrations of High Formal Participation," are other recent publications. He has also revised the bibliography of the department. The Government of Brazil, in June, conferred upon T. Lynn Smith of the University of Florida, the Order of the Southern Cross. Smith has spent several years in Brazil, on assignment by the U. S. Department of State, as a visiting professor at the University of Brazil, and as advisor on agrarian reform to the Minister of Agriculture and the National Commission on Agrarian Policy.

Although Rural Sociology has published a number of papers written by social scientists from outside the United States, it appears that many such social scientists have not known that it was appropriate for them to submit papers for consideration by the Journal's Board of Editors. Just as membership in the Rural Sociological Society is open to any person in any country who is employed in the field of rural sociology or who is interested in promoting the development of rural sociology through research, teaching, or extension work, so it is the intent of Rural Sociology to be an international medium of communication in the field of rural sociology. The Board of Editors takes this opportunity to invite the submission of papers to the Managing Editor by rural sociology workers outside the United States. The Board of Editors takes this opportunity to invite the submission of papers to the Managing Editor by rural sociology workers outside the United States. The Annual Meetings of the Rural Sociological Society was called to order at 11:00 a.m. by Howard W. Beers, president. Minutes of the September 2-3, 1951, meetings are published in the December, 1951, issue of the Rural Sociology accepted as printed.

Rural sociologists figure prominently in the move towards public sociology. The paper takes up Michael Burawoy's call for public sociology and discusses what rural sociologists have to offer to publics and how we stand to gain as a discipline in working with publics. The paper argues that rural sociologists' ability to adopt a cosmopolitan view while negotiating the complexities of global/local processes provides a useful theoretical stance for doing public sociology. Methodologically, both feminist methods and various approaches to networks can guide us as we do public sociology. Then, the paper provides two examples of recent efforts to do public sociology with a women's community group in Sri Lanka in response to the tsunami and with the Pennsylvania Women's Agricultural Network to illustrate the possibilities and limitations of working with networks. In conclusion, the paper addresses opportunities for doing public sociology, the challenges we face as we go public, and future work that is needed to develop theoretically and methodologically strong public rural sociology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The well-being of residents of resource dependent communities is a question of traditional interest to rural sociologists. The label "resource dependent" obscures how this relationship may vary between particular resource industries, regions, or indicators of well-being. Few analyses have compared the relationship between well-being and resource dependence across different industries, nor tested competing theories about the relationship between resource dependence and well-being. Our paper presents an overview of the relationship between resource dependence— agriculture, fisheries, mining, energy, forestry—and human well-being in Canada. Analysis of 1996 Statistics Canada data revealed a great deal of variation in the effect of "resource" dependence on indicators of well-being (e.g., human capital, unemployment, income): some industries exhibit fairly positive outcomes (e.g., agriculture), others more negative outcomes (e.g., fishing). Consistent with analyses conducted in the United States, these relationships vary by region, suggesting the need for models that incorporate the particulars of place and industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local control of natural resource processing facilities in small rural communities is often viewed as beneficial to community development. This paper employs social impact assessment tools to examine the social and economic effects of change in the ownership of forest products mills in two communities. Our analysis documents (1) the degree to which local ownership of the new, locally owned corporations led to local reinvestment of profits, and (2) whether the goals of the architects of these buyouts were realized: the maintenance of jobs, income, population, and a way of life. Overall, both communities were able to maintain jobs. population, and real estate values, and profits were reinvested in mill upgrades. After the buyouts, however, both communities experienced a rise and them a decline in community cohesion, and changes in local social and power relations, in which local ownership was short-lived; benefits to relationships within the community were mixed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the operation of gender relations in the context of rural policy. Framed by debates on new rural governance, it considers how both die content and the culture of recent rural regeneration policy reflect highly masculine values and the maintenance of traditional power relations. New forms of decision making in rural areas promote a style of policy snaking that values and grants priority to male networks in the construction of elite groups and styles of management, and devalues community participation. We use examples from the United Kingdom to demonstrate the implications of shifts in the mechanisms and practice of policy making and implementation for men's and women's differential involvement and experience with rural regeneration. We go on to show how gender relations are also reflected in the content of contemporary rural regeneration policy. Decisions concerning the most appropriate types of initiative are predicated on a male-oriented view of previous activity and local labor markets, and represent a highly masculinist approach to regeneration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender analyses in farming have become well established in rural sociological literature. In recent years. however increasing attention has been given to the discursive processes influencing gender relations and identities. In the current paper I continue this trend by exploring how a range of key agriculture-related masculinities arc constructed and articulated in Australia and New Zealand. First, a conceptual discussion identifies the need to consider discourse and creation of knowledge and truths about masculinity. An outline of the research is provided. Then I report on two broad fields in which masculinity is constructed, namely the farm arena and industry politics. Finally. I make closing comments in relation to the possibility of alternative genderings of agriculture. [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]

This article presents the author's comments on the article "The Rural-Urban Variable: An Urbanite's Perspective," by Leo F. Schnore. The main point the author wishes to make concerns the nature of what is called the rural-urban variable or continuum. Upon closer analysis, it is apparent that this so-called continuum is at best a partially-ordered scale in that rural-urban status is defined by a variety of sub-attributes or elements which cannot be translated into the same scale order. The author wholly agrees with the conclusion of Otis Dudley Duncan, which Schnore quotes in his paper that very precise research cannot be done until more refined measures are developed. The crude rural-urban continuum will undoubtedly continue to be of some utility in the study of communities in underdeveloped nations where the data for establishing more refined classifications are usually lacking. In these areas, too, we are more likely to encounter communities near one end or the other of the assumed continuum, so the ordering of them is less difficult. For purposes of research, though, one needs to develop more refined and useful concepts.

The image of farming in the United States is an individualistic one. The existence of kinship arrangements and their significance in the intergenerational transfer of farms and on farm decisions have received little attention. This paper looks at the characteristics of kinship arrangements in the Palouse area of eastern Washington and northern Idaho and whether relatives who farm together differ in innovativeness from those who do not farm with relatives. Two models are presented, which suggest that kinship arrangements might have either a positive or negative effect on adoption of erosion control practices. We present data to test these two models and discuss the implications of our findings for farmer innovativeness and intergenerational transfer of farms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presidential addresses to the Rural Sociological Society fall into two basic types. Some persons have chosen to deliver a paper which continues the kind of substantive interests at the core of their particular careers. In this way the article is not too different than any other of the person's efforts. Perhaps the more characteristic mode is to step outside "the usual" and appraise where new challenges may be arising for rural sociology, where old problems remain and, in general, to focus on issues pertinent largely to the profession as such. This is so for the simple reason that the central concern of the author long has been with metatheory or metasociology. The nature of the beast, brings "professional" matters under scrutiny. Through the rubric of metatheory his goal is to examine and hopefully clarify some of the assumptions which underlines substantive propositions. The assumptions that are perhaps most inviting for inquiry are those involving methodology. This is because of rural sociology in the United States has a methodological centrality.

A substantial body of research has investigated the influx of people and industry into rural and nonmetropolitan areas of America. Unfortunately, there has been a conspicuous absence in much of that research of theory pertaining to structural linkages impinging upon non-metropolitan social and economic change. In order to integrate present empirical knowledge as well as to provide a general framework for future investigation, some theoretical perspective is necessary. This paper examines several perspectives that view the transformation of rural society and the rural-urban interface in terms of power relations and dominance. While the evidence for a conclusive test of the evidence for a conclusive test of the perspectives is unavailable, a framework for investigating the interface is suggested, especially in terms of rural development projects. This framework incorporates the concept of spin-offs and especially encourages examining the ability of the rural area to convert and to utilize the spin-offs of industrial development. Preliminary empirical and expository evidence suggests that a dependency perspective may provide a more adequate and integrated understanding of the industrial "invasion" of the nonmetropolitan sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an index of various literature on rural sociology.

The decade of the seventies thus far has witnessed a considerable amount of legislative attention directed at rural areas. Under the general heading or rural development no fewer than 48 bills were introduced in the first session of the 92nd Congress in the House of Representatives and 22 bills were introduced in the U.S. Senate. Few of these became law but the sheer numbers give some indication as to the political importance of the issues involved. The purpose of this paper is to focus on a portion of one of the most important pieces of rural development legislation, the Rural Development Act of 1972 (RDA-72). This article traces the legislative history and the philosophical assumptions of RDA-72 with particular regard to the provisions of rural industrialization in the U.S.

Presents minutes of the Council Meeting on August 26, 1973. Attendees; Speakers; Balance sheet for the 1973-1974 proposed budget.

This article deals with the participation of members in the affairs of the Rural Sociological Society. The data analyzed by the author was drawn from the membership records of the Society and questionnaires sent to individual members. The three classes of membership used in the analysis of this study are associates, students and professionals. In the measurement of the members' participation, the author arrived with a conclusion that participation in the annual meeting was the most frequent form of involvement and in here little regional variation occurred. It was also concluded that professional members with agriculture experiment station appointments had greater proportions active than those without such appointments and, despite the relatively small number of appointees, they were the major participants in the Society.

This article presents the author's comments on the article "The Rural-Urban Variable: An Urbanite's Perspective," by Leo F. Schnore. Schnore asserts that the central thesis of this article is that rural-urban divergences in the U.S. are still substantial and worth studying. The author says that this proposition is not new. It is avowed openly by many rural sociologists and, at least tacitly, by most through the kinds of research they pursue and the action programs they often supplement. Schnore's thesis is somewhat unorthodox, for it is the author's impression that Richard Dewey's article "The Rural-Urban Continuum: Real But Relatively Unimportant," more nearly states the typical urbanite's evaluation. Although Schnore's claim may be more congenial to rural sociology as a profession. appraising its validity requires heavy lending of ideas from the position which underlies Dewey's evaluation. Without attempting to classify Schnore's indices in Dewey's schema, the author suspects that sociologists like Dewey might be willing to subsume all of them as only specific aspects of one or another of the five structural qualities Dewey is willing to admit as invariant concomitants of size and density.

Presents news notes and announcements involving the Rural Sociological Society. Professional opportunities abroad; Announcements of events; Career developments of sociology professionals; Theses and dissertations.

The article presents information about several projects, programs, and personalities in the field of sociology. The "Community Mental Health Journal" has been founded to facilitate communication among professionals in the field. The first issue will be published early in 1965. It will contain articles on research and evaluation, program development, and theoretical issues. According to another information, the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Illinois is holding a workshop-seminar in rural sociology from December 2-4, 1964. The theme of the seminar is "Rural Sociology: Its Development, Problems, Substantive Significance, and Contributions in University Programs." Major papers will be contributed by Paul A. Miller, president of West Virginia University; Olaf F. Larson, Cornell University; and George M. Beal, Iowa State University. The article also contains information about some personalities in the field of sociology. William B. Baker, director of Centre for Community Studies, University of Saskatchewan, was awarded an honorary doctorate in May by North Dakota State University.

This paper tells the story of how and why five rural sociologists were invited to spend a year attached to an American embassy "to study the rural life" in five different Latin-American countries. This paper attempts to report what the sociologists planned to do, to what extent they were able to carry out their plans, and why they could not always do so. The value of such broad types of studies is appraised by the rural sociologists who participated in this enterprise, and their knowledge of the sociologically significant carryovers resulting from their work is reported. The author conferred or corresponded with all who participated in the studies and feels confident that he has faithfully reflected or reported all of the ideas which space has permitted him to present. For the appraisal of limitations of the methods used and the special emphasis given by the different analysts, he accepts sole responsibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data on educational participation and attitudes toward the educational process and institutions are drawn from a comprehensive cross-sectional socioeconomic survey conducted in rural interior Lebanon. The conclusions suggest a considerably higher level of participation, concern, and affluence with regard to the place of formal education in the lives of the Arab peasants who make up the bulk of the sample than is sometimes anticipated. In the course of a random sample socioeconomic survey conducted in the interior of southern Lebanon in 1954 data were collected on educational participation and attitudes. The participation material has been published elsewhere and will be referred to here only where relevant to the present discussion. The specific concern of this paper is a description of the quality and direction of educational orientation as reflected in opinion and attitude statements of a cross section of household heads in one of the larger villages in the original study. Many of the findings in the school participation phase of this research are clearly related to the attitudinal responses which are to be reported in the present paper.

The purpose of the article is to afford an additional medium of expression for scholars in the field of Rural Sociology. Rural Sociology has always been the joint responsibility of the professional organization of rural sociologists and a sponsoring university. Its history is intimately intertwined with the history of the Rural Sociological Society and its predecessor, the Rural Sociology Section of the American Sociological Society. The history of the journal may be summarized in four periods: (1) the prepublication period when decisions and plans were made; (2) the first five years (1936-40), at Louisiana State University; (3) the next eleven years (1941-51), under the sponsorship of North Carolina State College; and (4) the years at the University of Kentucky (1952-57), four of which fall in the 20-year period covered by this index. Moreover, it will be the policy to solicit manuscripts from workers in foreign countries, although it is intended that all such papers shall deal with some phase of rural social life.

This paper examines and describes patterns of migration, changes in birth rates, and the relationship of these two factors for the rural and urban population in state economic areas of 13 North Central States, 1940–1950. Analysis of the data clearly shows the concentration of population through net in-migration in the rural parts of metropolitan areas, and especially in the older and larger metropolitan areas. The 64 state economic areas of net in-migration had gains of 19, 36, and 14 per cent in total, rural, and urban population, respectively. The 109 areas of net out-migration maintained a stationary total population, lost 5 per cent in rural population, and gained 10 per cent in urban population. Areas of net in-migration showed a numerical increase of 7.2 births per 1,000 population, 1940–1950, and those of net out-migration an increase of only 4.6. Areas showing the rural-in, urban-out migration pattern had the largest increase, 7.5, while the rural-out, urban-out areas had the least increase, 3.8. The data point up the need for expanded study of the various demographic, social, and economic factors affecting migration and fertility and their relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to what might be regarded as a basic postulate in sociology, when a number of persons are in interaction over a period of time, mutual expectations and norms develop concerning the behavior of the persons involved, and the individual's actions are not independent of these norms and expectations. the postulate is the basis of the hypothesis that relationships among neighbors affect many of the individual operator's decisions concerning the farm business. The author of this paper seeks to test the hypothesis that the extent to which farm operators adopt recommended farm practices is, in part, a function of the operator's neighborhood of residence.

This paper outlines the emergence of rural sociology as a science, sketching briefly its backgrounds and pointing out some of the obstacles which confronted it along with other sciences. The discussion relates rural sociology to the early developments in the philosophies and methodological conceptions of science. From this point, the account turns to the work of Charles Josiah Galpin at the University of Wisconsin. The narrative includes a sketch of the development of three major schools of rural sociology -the "Wisconsin School," "the Cornell School," and the "Minnesota- Harvard School." Then there is a discussion of some of the problems of modern rural sociological research, emphasizing areas of neglected and new subject matter for future study. The paper closes with a renewed appeal for objectivity to the end of achieving a more rationalistic logico-experimental science for the future than has existed in the past, while maintaining objectivity as the servant of human understanding rather than allowing it to become the master of human reason. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A process important in understanding community action is that of decision-making. This paper presents certain theoretical considerations relevant to research in community organization and action. A study of community efforts in the promotion of 218 small hospital projects and case studies of a representative community hospital project in the Southeast and one in the Northeast reveal differences in decision-making processes. The Southeast projects developed more amidst arrangements made through constituted authority; while in the Northeast, community organizational arrangements seemed related to the social psychological components of influence. For the comparisons, use is made of the occupational positions of decision-makers in the projects, the types of sponsoring groups and practices, and the internal structure of the decision-making system of relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the findings of a critical appraisal of twenty-six research studies in rural sociology published in 1950. Special emphasis is given to methodology and adequacy of reporting. The major deficiencies noted were in lack of theoretical orientation, lack of concern for adequacy in sampling, shortcomings in the utilization of measurement instruments, and lack of concern for control of other possibly explanatory variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an analysis of one hundred and one rural locality groups delineated for Wake County, North Carolina, during the summer of 1948. There is a high correlation between the quantitative indexes of four aspects of group life. There is a low correlation between the quantitative indexes and group identification as measured in this study. All four of the indexes have low predictive value of the strength of group identification. However, the index of the number of kinds of institutions and organizations appears to be more highly associated with group identification than the other indexes used in the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the nature of the health research in progress at Ohio State University. The concern of the paper is with mental health. It discusses the reasons for undertaking health research, the objectives of such research, and the methods used. Studies completed and in process are likewise reported.