Dependence, diversity, and the well-being of rural community: building on the Freudenburg legacy

Abstract

This paper offers a tribute to William Freudenburg’s legacy of work on the well-being of resource-dependent communities. In it, we review Bill’s work on the well-being of resource-dependent communities, and social impact assessment more generally. Key elements of this program of work, especially his emphasis on subjective indicators of well-being and his emphasis on the need for “mid-range” theory informed research conducted by the Canadian Forest Service that addressed the relationship between forest dependence and well-being. Especially crucial in this vein were analyses that explored variation in outcomes over time, space, and definitions of well-being and dependence. Finally, we demonstrate that these analyses served as a foundation for our emerging work in the area of community diversity and resource dependence.