THE RURAL–URBAN DIALOGUE AND RURAL SOCIOLOGY.

This article deals with the rural-urban dialogue and its implications for focus and identity of rural sociology. It may not be an overstatement to contend that one's appraisal of rural sociology as a field as well as his optimism or pessimism as to its future depends to no small degree on his stance in this dialogue. The major purpose of this paper is to sketch three essential steps in the conceptual refinement of the rural-urban notion. These include making the concept universally applicable; declaring the population dimension as prior but relating it explicitly to culture and social structure; and stating the normative and ideological context in which the concept is used. Appropriately, several presidential addresses at the annual meetings of the Rural Sociological Society have focused on the accomplishments and future of the field. In addition, especially within the last two decades, a considerable volume of other papers have dealt critically with and subject matter and practice of rural sociology.