Large-Scale Farming and the Rural Social Structure.

T. Lynn Smith analysed the rural class structure in America on the basis of 1959 census data. This paper correlates the proportion of lower class population with the prevalence of corporate farming, based upon an analyses of the proposition of total state agricultural production accounted for by the 31,000 largest farms (r = .76%). The implications of these data are that, with progressive expansion of large scale agriculture, the American rural population will develop into what Smith identifies as the two-class system. Note is also taken of some regional variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]