1. Social and Economic Effects of Community Size.
- Author
-
Harden, Warren R.
- Subjects
COMMUNITIES ,POPULATION ,RURAL sociology ,SOCIOLOGY ,SOCIAL structure - Abstract
An examination of 116 small communities in Central Illinois indicates that their ability to provide citizens with adequate goods and services is closely related to their ability to hold population. The outlook for firmness in growth of population, however, is not particularly optimistic, considering the size of some of these communities. If a community is fortuitously located near a large city, its prospects for growth are greatly enhanced. In this case, the community may lose its identity, however, and become a "bedroom' town. Distance from a larger community no longer seems to afford protection to local markets and thus makes it increasingly more difficult for small communities to offer a great variety of goods and services. Although there were marked similarities among these communities, some of them did not fit the pattern. Undoubtedly many factors such as community pride and entrepreneurial spirit account for these differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 1960