Search

Copyright of Sociologia Ruralis 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.)

The article presents information on a workshop related to the linkages between theory and practice in rural sociology. The papers in this Workshop concentrate on the conditions affecting the utilization of rural sociological research findings by practitioners. A restriction is that papers deal with applied research and not with pure research, which in the long run can have an important effect on the decisions of practitioners. There are four papers: (1) a paper by the author, which gives a theoretical framework, but no empirical evidence that this framework is correct. Unfortunately, this paper is somewhat out of date, because after it was written, the author obtained an overview of 4000 publications in this field, (2) a paper by author M. Lerner, which gives a case study of 15 years of sociological research for the Settlement Department of the Jewish Agency in Israel. Experience taught that it was necessary to change the relations between research workers and practitioners considerably over this time, (3) a paper by author A. Levesque, which describes to years experience of a French private research agency in research on rural development for a number of different government agencies and professional organizations, (4) a paper by author R. Riedler, based on experience in a mountainous district of Austria, where not much empirical sociological research has been done.

This article presents a list of papers related to rural sociology. The list includes "A Typology of Singhalese Villages," by G.H.F. Welikala, "Social Structure and Local Initiative in Rural Thailand," by G. Kalshoven, "Legitimization of Directed Change in Pre-industrial Societies," by Ashghar Fathi, "Rural-Urban Migration and Town-Country Relationship in Israel," by A. Berler and Y. Ginsburg, "A Theoretical Model of Cumulative Disagiarization," by Vogislav Duric, "The Changing Patterns of Settlement and Population Distribution in Latin America," by Olen E. Leonard, "Mexican-American Migrant Farm Laborers and Their Employers in Ohio," by B. Perry Joseph and Eldon E. Snyder, "The Rural-Urban Transition in Brazil," by John V.D. Saunders, "The Impact of Industrialization on Geographic Mobility and Economic Decision-Making of a Rural Society in South Asia: A Case Study From Rourkela/Orissa, India," by K.H. Junghans and "A Research Design for the Understanding of Social Change From a Human Ecosystem Perspective."

This article deals with the pattern of changing functions of the rural community consequent on changes in agriculture. The first half of the paper is devoted to the definition of the problem under investigation, an outline of its precise scope and an indication of its limits. The article is concerned both with those social changes in the rural community that are the product of internally generated developments in agriculture and also those that result from the effect on agriculture of the influence of outside factors. The paper confines its analysis to European conditions and, more particularly, to the more-developed rural regions of Europe. Taking up the findings of the Limerick Rural Survey in Ireland, the article illustrates these consequences by reference to them. The first consequence is shown to consist mainly in a weakening of the rigid class system which formerly kept the farm laborer in subordination. Today, due to their shortage and the possibility of bettering their lot by emigration, the status of the farm laborers is being upgraded, to an extent that is having some unsettling effects on the farmer's family, on whom the burden of agricultural work is falling more heavily.

This article presents information on the written word as a means of mass communication. has a particular importance regarding advisory literature. In this study an attempt was made to investigate if and to what degree the information, passed on to the farmers through a number of well-known periodicals of the Dutch agricultural press and the agricultural advisory service, is tuned in to the public for which they are intended. Readability formulas are only aids for measuring certain aspects of the readability of the written word, but as such they can perform a useful function in promoting clearer communication between writer and reader. In the search for more objective standards in determining the difficulty of written notices use can be made of the readability research which is developed and practiced in the U.S.A.

The article presents discussion by various sociologists during the fourth working session of the First World Congress for Rural Sociology held in Dijon, France. Sociologist Antonio M. Arce from Costa Rica briefly commented on Pakistani sociologist A.M. Khan's paper entitled "Impact of changes in agriculture on political life in Asia". These comments refer to three different aspects of the paper and are expected to stimulate discussions from the audience. The paper tries to analyse the dynamic relationship between agricultural development efforts and political ferment in Asia and how this interdependence relates to the residues of Western colonialism and the emergence of Russian and Chinese communism. Another sociologist R. Bičanič from Yugoslavia discussed about the interference of politics in sociology. He also discussed the point dealing with the revival of rural sociology in socialist countries, particularly Poland, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. The rural exodus linked with accelerated industrialization has become so intense that agriculture is threatened with a depleted labour force, and this leads to a policy of income parity with industrial workers for agricultural producers also which may have wider political implications.

Copyright of Sociologia Ruralis 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 Sociologia Ruralis 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.)

Rural sociologists, for a long time now, have doubted whether their discipline really existed. In the developed countries, the agricultural population has shrunk, so that nowadays it may account for as little as 4 percent of the total gainfully employed population; it has also gradually become more difficult, and even impossible, to put one's finger on the differences between rural and urban. These changes have affected rural sociologists in various ways. Some have left the field altogether. Others have turned their attention to new problems that occur in the countryside, problems that are mostly related to the uses made of open space and natural resources. They have specialized in the sociology of recreation, the sociology of environmental problems, or in regional planning. According to the author, the discipline has not only lost the wholeness it may once have had, but also that the specializations themselves are often marked by the lack of a holistic outlook. It is as if rural sociologists have lost sight of the fact that, whatever phenomenon they study, it is embedded in a context as wide as a total society, and even wider.

The article presents several papers on rural sociology. The paper "Technology and Social Change: The Case of Miracle Rice," by Gelia T. Castillo, presents the many changes directly or indirectly associated with the introduction in the Philippines of IR8-28S-3, more popularly known as miracle rice. No other single piece of agricultural technology seems to have generated as many ramifications in the country as this particular rice seed. The paper "A General Systems Approach to the Analysis of Social Structure and Change," by J.D. Flynn. Techniques were derived from general systems theory to indicate a measure of the variety of sub-systems, and several measures of unity derived from a matrix of subsystem interactions. Changes in the measures over time reveal some causes of structural change and are used to predict implications of planned change. The techniques were used to analyze data from a village in the Canadian Arctic. The data were not very reliable, but the development of variety and changes in unity were both noted.

Copyright of Sociologia Ruralis 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 Sociologia Ruralis 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 Sociologia Ruralis 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 Sociologia Ruralis 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 Sociologia Ruralis 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 Sociologia Ruralis 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.)

This article presents information on the First World Congress for Rural Sociology, which took place in August 1964 at Dijon. The number of papers, submitted to this Congress, was far greater than that received for the Third Congress of the European Society for Rural Sociology in 1962 at St. Wolfgang. Therefore it is impossible to publish, the complete written material. Full texts are included of main papers and papers of prepared discussants only. Of the regional papers the summaries are given. The discussions are reported in the languages used by the participants during the meetings. Some of the regional papers will appear in full text in later issues of this Journal, others will be submitted to other journals in the field. Of the regional papers the summaries are given. The discussions are reported in the languages used by the participants during the meetings.

This article traces briefly the use of the comparative method in sociology. It documents that what is currently called "cross-national research" is an interest that has antecedents running back for at least a century in a great variety of fields. Secondly, the article argues for a closer interplay between sociological theory construction and cross-national data. Because current sociological theory is exceedingly culture-bound, basing its propositions largely on data derived from modern American and Western European societies, the need for testing hypotheses within truly cross-cultural settings is most timely and urgent. Thirdly, the paper article delineates three major methodological problems in cross-national research. These problems include the requirement of equivalence of meaning, the requirement of concept equivalence and the requirement of equivalence of cultural variability. It concludes with a recommendation for furthering interest in cross-national research in rural sociology.

The author introduces the January 1962 issue of "Sociologia Ruralis." This special issue contains the addresses given and the discussions which took place, at the Third Congress of the European Society for Rural Sociology in September 1962. In this way the author hopes to make known the results of this international exchange of experience, in the field of rural sociology and rural planning, to those members who were unable to attend the congress, as well as to the wider public which is interested in this subject. Some papers published in this issue have had to be shortened. All contributions to discussions were not committed to paper by the speakers. The order of the official programme has been followed in the following pages and modifications which were made during the Congress for expediency are ignored. The author tanks those who have contributed for the publication of this issue.

The article presents information on the possibilities and limitations of cross-national and cross-regional research. In approaching cross-national and cross-regional research, the author has taken for granted the fundamental rationale of comparative study as such, and disregarded general problems of its validity. This is so, as the last Congress considered this issue, and the main points of these deliberations are on record. Instead, the author has tried to focus on more specific topics of conceptualization, methodology and organization, as they bear directly upon rural social study. Accordingly, the papers included have two major foci and fall into two groups; in each of which the author has tried to secure a discussion of both theoretical as well as applied and practical aspects. The first group, focuses on problems of the proper meaning or nature of comparative research and on the essential qualities it must have to be effective. The second group is related to problems attending the execution of comparative projects. The first of the two deals mainly with major questions of methodology: firstly, with problems of interpersonal relations, including those of political clearance, of tackling cultural variations and of stereotyping; and secondly, with technical ones, chiefly the comparability of secondary data, the utilization of and relationship to theoretical models and the standardization of field procedures.

Copyright of Sociologia Ruralis 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 Sociologia Ruralis 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.)

For more than a generation a considerable amount of attention has been given to the development and utilization of an empirical measure of the theoretical concept of innovativeness. Research workers in agriculture have employed various types of adoption of farm practices scales as a measure of the relative rates of adoption of technological innovations by farmers. The major problem in using an adoption scale has rested with unidimensionality; the degree to which the developed scale measures the innovativeness dimension. Following the review of several research studies aimed at establishing unidimensionality, some sociologists claimed that the analyses provided no clear cut answer as to whether adoption scales measure only a single general dimension; innovativeness. The major aims of this paper are to demonstrate that such unidimensionality does clearly exist and to show the theoretical and practical implications. The data used in this paper were drawn from an interdisciplinary study of the factors determining the adoption of agricultural innovations by a sample of 116 woolgrowers in New South Wales.

It has long been recognized that the study of peasant movements requires two basic methodological rules for its proper understanding: first, the focus of the study must be both on the interaction process which binds the peasantry to its overlord and the social forces that impinge upon both poles of interaction; second, such study must necessarily deal with the historical contexts within which the interaction process between lord and peasant develops. The main purpose of this paper is to apply these two methodological rules to a case study of a) the transformation of a regional power structure and b) the origins and development of a peasant movement that swept an intermontane valley of Peruvian Central Sierra dominated by the hacienda system, transforming it into a region of Indian communities. A second purpose of the paper is to derive certain theoretical generalizations from the empirical case, which can be relevant for the development of a theory of political peasant movements. This article also discusses the role of successful peasant movements in the development process of dependent, unequally developed societies, like Peru.

Copyright of Sociologia Ruralis 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.)

The article discusses the paper presented by Dr. Pahl zu on social conditions in the Netherlands. With admirable clarity, displaying an extensive knowledge of the relevant literature, he has demonstrated that the traditional concept of the rural-urban continuum is more an obstacle than a help in the work. Of course, this conclusion as such is not new, as Dr. Pahl himself has shown in his review of recent literature. Any sociologist who has used the concept in his work, has come sooner or later to the finding that one or more elements did not fit in the construct. Whatever the criteria chosen for characterization may be, there is always the case to be found of an urban group behaving 'rural' and of a rural group being 'urban', or, worst of all, one finds rural and urban characteristics within one group or individual. With the description of the situation in 'urban villages' and with the examples taken from studies made in the developing countries, in which all sorts of discontinuities between the urban and the rural come into the view, Dr. Pahl has found strong support for his statements. It is clear that a typology of settlements, from the small to the large, can never form the basis for a continuum which classifies social structures.

Copyright of Sociologia Ruralis 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 Sociologia Ruralis 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 Sociologia Ruralis 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 Sociologia Ruralis 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.)

The article presents information on the Proceedings of the Second World Congress for Rural Sociology, which was held in August, 1968 in Enschede/Drienerlo, the Netherlands.

Copyright of Sociologia Ruralis 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 Sociologia Ruralis 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 Sociologia Ruralis 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 Sociologia Ruralis 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 Sociologia Ruralis 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 Sociologia Ruralis 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.)

The article discusses several issues related to agricultural development discussed in the seminar sessions of the third world congress for rural sociology. Serious questions were raised concerning the appropriateness of the usual variable characteristics included in many sociological studies if such studies are to have utility for policy-makers and planners dealing with problem of development in rural areas. The relatively low correlations found between such characteristics as age, sex, years of schooling and size of farm suggests that the focus should be on characteristics more closely associated with involvement such as beliefs and disbelief about the groups or activities. Given the technology available today, it should be possible to collect the data appropriate to decisions about a given project in a reasonably short time and to tailor the collection to the particular area concerned whether it be a small rural village or a district or a nation. One of the major conclusions of the session and of cooperative researches has been that cooperatives have failed to make the contributions to development that sociologists had anticipated. It was felt that cooperative structure is quite flexible and could and should be adapted to local customs in many cases.

In mid-1972 the continent of Africa had a population of 364 million or 9.6 percent of the world population of 3,782 million. The annual crude birth and death rates which were 47 and 21 per 1000 respectively produced a growth rate of 2.6 percent per annum, a rate second only to that of Latin America. The African population will double in 27 years. The population is very young with 44 percent under 15 years of age while only 3 percent is 65 and over. This paper will deal with two issues: What are the population problems in Africa and what are the African peoples and governments doing about them? Whether Africa has a population problem is a topic that will continue to be debated for the rest of this century. It is an issue on which reasonable and intelligent people disagree. The author's position is to say categorically that a problem does exist and then go on from there. This article also attempts to review the knowledge of family planning in Black Africa. The necessity for massive action on the part of governments has been emphasized. The readiness of the population is not in doubt. The political risks the elite: political, military and intellectual, runs should be completely spelled out in any communication addressed to them.

According to the author, it is appropriate, after concluding the book A Decade of Development, to take stock of where the study of development has taken sociologists and where it has gone wrong. That it has gone wrong is painfully obvious given the meager results of efforts to improve the quality of life in most third world countries as well as the attempts on the part of advanced capitalistic countries to enhance the life chances of their less-advantaged sectors. A portion of these mistakes may be attributed to methodological errors on the part of those engaged in the study of development. The present paper attempts to review some recent approaches to the study of development and suggest what future steps are needed to develop a clearer understanding of the issues and approaches to developmental concerns. The major approaches to the sociological study of development may be divided into two broad camps that roughly conform to the unit-ideas that form the foundations of sociology. These unit-ideas range from conservative to radical philosophical assumptions. In everyday terms these two broad camps are usually referred to as equilibrium models or conflict models.

The theme for this Third World Congress for Rural Sociology was selected by a working group, which met in Rome, Italy at FAO headquarters in the summer of 1969. This group included eminent scholars with diverse national and cultural backgrounds. It, therefore, must be considered a commentary on the appropriateness of the theme selected that a consensus was achieved in a relatively short period of time. This theme, Development Policies and Rural Life, was considered in keeping with research and action programs, which were being implemented by rural sociologists and other social scientists in almost all nations of the world. In light of the serious nature of the deliberation with regards to the theme and program of the Congress and in view of the objective which inspired the decisions, it occurred to the author that it would be appropriate to attempt a paper which was keynoted on ways to lessen the degree of incoherence and incongruity which characterizes the arena within which sociologists contemplate the field of rural development. According to the author, his tact has been to scrutinize as objectively as possible the two separate but inextricably related issues over which controversy is centered.

Copyright of Sociologia Ruralis 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 Sociologia Ruralis 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.)

Ageing population and consequent high dependency ratios are features common to all European countries. However, the specific problems of the elderly in rural areas have not been the subject of systematic research, despite growing preoccupation with the obstacle this group may constitute to modernization and restructuring of agriculture. In default of hypotheses based on properly weighted data on rural populations, the paper examines the type of alteration in the situation of old people which is reported as occurring as agriculture becomes increasingly focused on highly organized market production. It then discusses the possible impact of this change of situation on the basic needs of the old in rural areas, as identified in general studies of old age. These basic needs-for economic security, housing, health care, and continued activity -- are briefly reviewed in the context of rural life. The question is put as to whether it is feasible to solve the old-age problems so presented on lines consonant with the general principles to be observed in treatment of the old, which have emerged in these last few years as a consensus of informed opinion. In view of the lack of precise facts, a long-term research strategy is suggested. As a first approach, some global studies of all factors involved within some limited and clearly defined areas would seem essential. Specific problems could then be selected for more thorough study, perhaps on parallel multi-national lines, to ascertain which practical solutions are most likely to be of help in evolving new human patterns of living in integrated rural communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Sociologia Ruralis 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 Sociologia Ruralis 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 Sociologia Ruralis 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 Sociologia Ruralis 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.)

This article reports that communication is viewed as an interpersonal matter between a communicator and a communicatee whether in the face to face situation or through the medium of picture, print or radio. The interpersonal dyad is seen as the most elemental social relationship and with an added degree of stability as the most elemental unit of social structure. Viewed as an interpositional dyadic construct it provides a suitable unit for the analysis of complex social structures relevant to the communication of farm information. The central purpose of the paper is to distinguish and meaningfully to interrelate, aspects of the dyadic construct relevant to interpersonal communication and influence. These include the purpose, continuity and interactional qualities of the relationship, their external associations and lines of communication, the manner in which the dyadic pairs combine into complex aggregates and the special qualities of the aggregates themselves which are likely to influence the communication of information and the exercise of influence. This model is presented as only one way or approach to studying communication conditions and processes, not as an appropriate model for assessing implemented change in human behaviour.

The article discusses the governmental farm policies as a zero-sum game in which one segment, commercial farmers, gains while another segment, farm labor and rural people, lose. Evaluation research is a neglected area of sociology. Methodology and skills in conducting evaluative research need improvement. Sociologists can make contributions to measuring goal accomplishments and explaining the process by which the program objectives are established and the program is implemented. Sociological knowledge should have utility in goal formation. Sociologists have envied the money measure used by economists. They are only now seriously searching for indicators or standards by which to compare returns or payoffs to various segments of society. They usually arrive at "quality of social relationships" or "improved life's chances" but these are multi-dimensional and not easy to quantify. Rural sociologists have been oriented primarily to build a body of knowledge and to discipline problems, rather than to undertake research on the problems of the rural society. Analysis of farm policies would require a focus on current rural societal problems.