Rural Sociology: Some Inter-American Aspects

Abstract

Rural sociology had its origin and growth as an academic discipline in the United States. The other social sciences—including general sociology, economics, political science, anthropology and historiography—were mainly imported from Europe and the British Isles. Rural sociology, however, was a United States “export” both to Europe and to Latin America.This inverse process of diffusion deserves a brief explanation. Why did Rural sociology not originate in Europe? And, conversely, why did it take root in the United States? To answer the first question we may cite the following factors:1.During the latter part of the nineteenth century when the social conditions of rural people in the United States were critical, Europe was relatively stable. The peasant revolts of the earlier centuries had faded into history, feudalism, in its worst features at least, was no more. There were still agrarian problems, of course, including land fragmentation, but they were not serious enough to cause widespread unrest. Moreover, the restless ones were free to migrate to the New World. Europe, in short, was in the happy condition of being able to export its “problem” mainly to the United States.