New Rural Pluriactivity? Household Strategies and Rural Renewal in Norway

Abstract

It is a common assumption that pluriactive Nordic smallholders would prefer an income from ordinary paid work to the daily search for income. However, this article shows that a large proportion of pluriactive people live in regions with considerable access to paid work. The question therefore becomes why they choose traditional rural adaptations when there is ample opportunity to obtain ordinary full‐time paid work. The analysis is based on data collected in ten Norwegian rural municipalities, and interviews with pluriactive households living in four communities close to Norwegian cities. The article confirms that the income of a majority of entrepreneurs is obtained by running more than one small‐scale industrial enterprise, or by mixing operating enterprises with ordinary paid work. These kinds of strategies are based on exploiting new niches in the rural economy, which are shaped by modern gender relations in rural households.