THE INTERDEPENDENCE OF RURAL AND URBAN ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS IN ADVANCED CAPITALIST SOCIETIES: MODELS OF LINKAGE.

There has been increasing recognition in recent years by rural sociologists that rural and urban environmental degradation have many interdependent causes and consequences. There is far less consensus, however, about the nature of these linkages between rural and urban environmental problems. An analysis of the existing literature indicates three major models of linkage which have discernible explicit or implicit tools in Durkheimian, Weberian, and Marxian sociologies. The three perspectives differ most generally in terms of their conceptualizations of the nature of man, society, and the major forces underlying social change, and more specifically with respect to the nature of the rural urban continuum, center-periphery relations, and the course of national development. We argue that the classical theories of Durkheim, Weber, and Marx are faithfully reflected in, respectively, "socioeconomic dualism-diffusion", "internal colonialism", and "uneven development" theories of rural-urban interrelations and the linkages among various rural and urban environmental problems in the U.S. After briefly discussing the nature of rural environmental degradation in the U.S., we detail the major differences in approach among the three competing theories in accounting for increasingly severe environmental problems of the rural periphery. In doing so, the interdependence of rural and urban environmental degradation is emphasized. A summary portion of the paper discusses the distinctive epistemological roots of the three models and the meager prospects for synthesis. It is suggested that the most likely avenue for synthesis is between the "colonialism" and "uneven development" models, into a more general "class-coercion- conflict" perspective. We conclude by emphasizing the disparate implications of the three models for social policy to enhance both rural and urban environmental quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]