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The article presents abstracts on papers related to sociology. The paper "Rural Development: From Practices and Policies Towards Theory," by Jan Douwe van der Ploeg, Henk Renting, Gianluca Brunori, Karlheinz Knickel, Joe Mannion, Terry Marsden, Kees de Roest, Eduardo Sevilla-Guzmán and Flaminia Ventura reflects the discussions in the IMPACT research programme and suggests that at the level of associated theory also a fundamental shift is taking place. Rural development is a autonomous process in which agriculture plays the key role. The paper "Food Supply Approaches: Exploring Their Role in Rural Development" by Terry Marsden, Jo Banks and Gillian Bristow explores the role of short food supply chains. In the paper, the consideration is given to the short food supply chains, and a three level topology is present. The dimensions and evolution of short food supply chain and the identification of four types of evolution have also been examined in the paper. Four types of evolution are temporal, spatial,demand and institutional.

The 'new rural sociology' arguably represented the most significant watershed in the development of rural sociology during the 1970s and 1980s. I argue, however, that the new rural sociology, especially its dominant traditions of Chayanovian and neo-Leninist Marxism, has now been almost entirely superseded as a theoretical position in agrarian political economy by the international food regimes, commodity chains/systems analysis, regulationist, and actor-network traditions. In addition, Wageningen School research on `farming styles' and the 'cultural-turn' within rural sociology and rural studies have arisen, in part, as challenges to the more structuralist styles of reasoning within agrarian political economy. Parallel trends in the sociology of development are also discussed. The paper concludes with an appraisal of the strengths and weaknesses of these new late twentieth century traditions in agrarian political economy, particularly in comparison with the new rural sociology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the XXI Congress of the European Society for Rural Sociology. Through European policies and regulations rural development the here and the there are unavoidably connected. From this perspective it is interesting to explore how agricultural and other economic activities are re-allocated in rural Europe. The XXIst Congress in Keszthely takes an important current event the one-year anniversary of the European enlargement as starting point for engaging in the ongoing questions around change and continuity, diversity and cohesion in rural Europe.

This paper will aim to demonstrate how a wider theoretical and conceptual landscape, based around environmental social theory, can help to assist contemporary rural sociology in progressing its agenda. Of particular relevance here is an assessment of rural sociology by Buttel, where he makes the point that in the past decades work on aspects of regulation and globalization, for instance, has tended to be quite the reverse of the earlier theoretical developments of the 1970s and 1980s. He argues for more theoretical innovation to be undertaken. While the past decade or so has demonstrated quite a flurry of rich empirically engaged work, actual theoretical development has reached, he argues, something of a hiatus; with various schools tending to adopt a position along the actor-oriented-political economy axis.

The article presents abstracts related to agriculture. They include "The ongoing quest for a model of Greek agriculture," "Family farming and capitalist development in Greek agriculture: a critical review of the literature," "Peri-urban rural areas in Greece: the case of Attica," and "Cultural identities and integration in rural Greece."