The countryside is worth a thousand words – Portuguese representations on rural areas

Abstract

Along with the well-documented transformations of rural areas in the last few decades, the social views, representations and ways of describing rurality in western societies have also changed. From such transformations, a threefold narrative on the rural seemed to emerge in lay discourses: a ‘pre-modernity’ or ‘rural crisis’ discourse; a productivist perspective and a ‘rural renaissance’ vision. In the first, rural areas are generally portrayed as less developed and in need of change. The second is related to the association of the rural with agricultural modernization. Finally, in the third, the countryside is increasingly understood as a repository of traditional cultural values and natural resources, in need of preservation. Despite the rise of hegemonic idyllic views on the rural in Portugal, following the tendency of the ‘global north’, there is a diversity of rural social representations, mainly related to historical and cultural specificities.This paper aims to unveil the heterogeneity of Portuguese society's representations about the Portuguese countryside, and the factors related to the existence of different representations, based on the results of a survey directed to a sample of the Portuguese population (N = 1839). Using a hierarchical cluster analysis of variables related to the social representations of the rural, five distinct clusters representing diverse images were identified. A first cluster of residents holds an anti-idyllic rural image of Portuguese rural areas, which are mainly portrayed as a physical and inhabited space. A second group describes the rural as abandoned and disadvantaged. A third representation portrays the rural as idyllic, as a place of wellbeing. A fourth presents the rural as a place for positive transformation and socioeconomic development. Finally, a fifth image presents rural areas as spaces for economic activity, mainly related to tourism activities and exploitation of natural resources. From the empirical evidence it is possible to conclude that social representations on the rural in Portugal are manifold, revealing some contradictions and overlapping images.