“Culture Clash'' Revisited: Newcomer and Longer‐Term Residents' Attitudes Toward Land Use, Development, and Environmental Issues in Rural Communities in the Rocky Mountain West*

Abstract

Abstract Many rural communities in the Rocky Mountain West with high amenity values have experienced substantial in‐migration in the 1990s. Popular media accounts and some social science literature suggest that newcomers have very different values than longer‐term residents regarding environment, growth, and development issues, and that these differences are resulting in widespread social conflict. We evaluate these “culture clash” and “gangplank” hypotheses using survey data from three rural communities in the Rocky Mountain West that are experiencing amenity‐related in‐migration. We examine attitudes about environmental concern, population growth, economic development, and tourism development. Results indicate that newcomers differ significantly from longer‐term residents on a number of sociodemographic dimensions, but either there are no significant attitude differences between the two groups, or, where difference exist, longer‐term residents wish more strongly than newcomers to limit population growth and development in their communities. We offer explanations for why the results differ from media accounts and from the earlier research observations and hypotheses.