Rural American Communities Research Articles

Churches, tobacco farmers, and community sustainability: Insights from the tobacco south

American tobacco farmers and the communities in which they live face an increasingly uncertain and tenuous future. In many rural American communities, churches function as the moral and social compass that guides community life. In North Carolina's rural communities, churches and tobacco are inseparable. Indeed, churches in tobacco-dependent communities are often referred to as tobacco churches. These churches experience tensions and contradictions that exist within the multiple cultures of which they are a part: denominations, banks, locally owned businesses, schools, and community centers. Ethical dilemmas abound as the moral dimensions of public health and livelihood are weighed against the backdrop of the common good. This article will give an overview of the conflict, then delve more deeply into the historical and societal components that have shaped the tobacco culture and the roles, past, present, and future, that churches have or could play. Current pressures related to public health and rural economic viability will be examined. Cases illustrating the possible central role of the church at both the local and regional level will be presented to build an argument for the constructive role of the church for communities undergoing radical social, economic, and cultural change. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Review: Education in the Rural American Community: A Lifelong Process

Review: Education in the Rural American Community: A Lifelong Process

American Rural Communities.

0-8133-1477-1 Rural Communities : Legacy and Change 0-8133-8558-X Sacred Cows and Hot Potatoes : Agrarian Myths and Agricultural Policy

American Rural Communities. Edited by A. E. Luloff and Lewis E. Swanson. Westview Special Studies in Contemporary Social Issues. 1990, 276 pp. 35.00

American Rural Communities.Edited by A. E. Luloff and Lewis E. Swanson. Westview Special Studies in Contemporary Social Issues. 1990, 276 pp. 35.00 H. Max Miller H. Max Miller University of Georgia Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Social Forces, Volume 69, Issue 3, March 1991, Pages 950–951, https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/69.3.950 Published: 01 March 1991

Older Adult Friendship: Structure and Process.Rebecca G. Adams , Rosemary BliesznerGettin' Some Age on Me: Social Organization of Older People in a Rural American Community.John Van Willigen

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewsOlder Adult Friendship: Structure and Process. Rebecca G. Adams , Rosemary Blieszner Gettin' Some Age on Me: Social Organization of Older People in a Rural American Community. John Van Willigen Christine L. FryChristine L. Fry Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by American Journal of Sociology Volume 96, Number 4Jan., 1991 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/229647 Views: 3Total views on this site Copyright 1991 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

American Rural Communities.

American Rural Communities.

Book Reviews

Daniels, Thomas L., Keller, John W., and Lapping, Mark B., The Small Town Planning Handbook (Chicago, IL: American Planning Association, 1988, 170 pp.), paper, $22.95. Reed, David A., The Winnowing: Economic Change in Rural America (Lanham, MD: Hudson Institute, University Press of America, 1989, 65 pp.), hardcover, $18.50. John, DeWitt, Batie, Sandra S., and Norris, Kim, A Brighter Future for Rural America? Strategies for Communities and States (Washington, DC : National Governors' Association, 1988, 177 pp.), paper, $12.95. Fuguitt, Glenn V., Brown, David L., and Beale, Calvin L., Rural and Small Town America (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1989, 471 pp.), hardcover, $55.00. Luloff, A. E. and Swanson, Louis E. (eds.), American Rural Communities (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1990, 276 pp.), paper, $35.00. Garkovich, Lorraine, Population and Community in Rural America (New York: Praeger, 1989, 235 pp.), paper, $12.95. Parker, Edwin B., Hudson, Heather E., Dillman, Don A., and Roscoe, Andrew D., Rural America in the Information Age: Telecommunications Policy for Rural Development (Lanham, MD: The Aspen Institute and University Press of America, Inc., 1989, 170 pp.), paper, $12.50. Sim, R. Alex, Land and Community: Crisis in Canada's Countryside (Guelph, ON: University of Guelph, 1988, 230 pp.), hardcover, $15.00 Can. Lapping, Mark B., Daniels, Thomas L., and Keller, John W., Rural Planning and Development in the United States (New York: Guilford Press, 1989), paper, $19.95; hardcover, $40.00.

Gettin‘ Some Age on Me: Social Organization of Older People in a Rural American Community. JOHN VAN WILLIGEN

<i>Gettin‘ Some Age on Me: Social Organization of Older People in a Rural American Community.</i> JOHN VAN WILLIGEN

American rural communities

American rural communities

Gettin' Some Age on Me: Social Organization of Older People in a Rural American Community.

The social life of older rural Americans is made up of relationships formed through kinship, their neighborhoods, and the organizations to which they belong. These social institutions are shaped by the ways people use them, and therefore change through time. In this precedent-setting study, John van Willigen uses the concept of social network to investigate life-course changes in the relationships of older people within the context of community history. Gettin' Some Age on Me grew out of a study of more than 130 older people in a rural Kentucky county. They were interviewed concerning their relationships with others, and data were collected on the give and take of support that is part of their social life. An understanding of community life and history, developed through interviews and period documentation, provided a context for understanding the changes these people have experienced over time. Finally, related studies by other researchers provided a framework for interpreting rural and urban differences. Van Willigen skillfully interweaves these various accounts to reveal fundamentally important patterns. It is clear that these other people should be viewed not as dependent and isolated but as important sources for social support; that even though their social relationships decline in number late in life, early in the post retirement period there is an apparent increase in social involvement; and that older people are much less isolated in the rural community studied than in many urban areas. This book makes a substantial contribution to the very limited literature on aging in rural America. It is important reading for social gerontologists and for all social scientists with an interest in American communities.

Gettin' some age on me: social organization of older people in a rural American community

Gettin' some age on me: social organization of older people in a rural American community

Patterns of migration to and demographic adaptation within rural ethnie american communities

L'émigration de millions de personnes d'Europe vers les Etats-Unis a eu de graves conséquences, tant pour les pays de départ que pour ceux d'arrivée. Jusqu'à présent les scientifiques ont généralement analysé l'immigration soit du point de vue du lieu de départ, soit du point de vue du lieu d'arrivée ; très peu de travaux ont étudié les schémas de la migration elle- même ou les adaptations démographiques des migrants pénétrant dans un nouvel environnement économique et culturel. Cet article étudie deux populations de migrants ayant quitté la Norvège pour les Etats-Unis et révèle que les migrations en chaîne ont conduit à la formation de colonies peuplées de migrants d'origine commune qui ont entre eux des liens très étroits. Comme on pouvait s'y attendre ces migrants ont reproduit le comportement démographique de leur lieu d'origine : la fertilité dans le mariage est restée élevée, la structure familiale complète et les conceptions prénuptiales largement répandues . Cependant au cours des quarante dernières années, la fertilité des couples mariés a décru et les familles nucléaires augmentées des familles à un seul parent sont devenues la règle. Les phénomènes de modification démographique subis par ces immigrants correspondent donc à une complexe interaction de continuité et de changement.

Law, Time, and Community

Research concerning law and social change has almost always treated time as a universal constant and a baseline against which variations in behavior can be measured. Yet a significant literature exists demonstrating that researchers can also regard time as a socially constructed phenomenon requiring analytic interpretation in its own right. This article explores two aspects of the human experience of time that were especially important for the residents of a rural American community: the sense of time's iterative character and its linear or irreversible quality. These two ways of experiencing and conceptualizing time played a significant part in efforts by residents of Sander County, Illinois, to define their community and interpret the social, cultural, and economic transformations it was undergoing. They were also important in the residents' efforts to frame and define conflict within the community and to determine when law should or should not be invoked. The article examines some ways in which the analysis of varying conceptions of time within a community can enhance understanding of expectations, perceptions, and values concerning law in a changing society.

American Approaches to the Improvement of Rural Infrastructure

This paper characterizes American approaches, as compared with Japanese ones, to improving rural infrastructure. The discussion first highlignts some significant differences between Japanese and U.S. agriculture and agricultural areas, providing the reader with general pictures of American rural settlements. It then points out that American rural communities have developed around small towns, whereas in Japan urban areas are generally outgrowths of rural settlements. Combined with grass-root democracy and unique local government systems, these differences render distinctive American approaches to rural infrastructure planning: more program- (or function-) oriented than space-oriented.

Taxes versus services: Municipal service provision in growing rural communities

Planners and administrators in North American rural communities proximate to cities have struggled over the last decade to cope with expanding populations. Amongst the questions posed by this population growth, those associated with the municipal provision of services are considered to be of paramount importance by many commentators. This article examines conventional wisdom on the service-provision implications of rural population growth in light of evidence gained through surveys of rural residents in an urbanizing region of Southern Ontario, Canada. A trade-off game is used to produce budget-constrained community preferences on priorities of municipal service provision; preferences are shown to be more complex in their relationship to residents' characteristics, such as length of residence, than is often suggested in the literature. Moreover, when asked to indicate their preference concerning the broad trade-off between service levels and taxes, 41 percent preferred the status quo and 40 percent opted for increased services and taxes, whilst only 10 percent preferred to save on taxes by sacrificing service quality. It is suggested that policy makers consider carefully the design limitations of survey instruments prior to phrasing policy on service provision. In situations like those created by Proposition 13 in California and Proposition 2 1/2 in Massachusetts, the implications of budget cuts became apparent to residents only as services seriously deteriorated or disappeared altogether. By conducting a trade-off game or some suitable alternative, the implications of tax changes for service provision became apparent to residents without the changes having to occur in reality.

Prevalence of behavior problems in 3-year-old children. A cross-national replication.

The prevalence of behavior problems in three-year-old children in a rural American community was determined from the reports of mothers. A questionnaire based on a "symptom loading" approach to screening was used. This method was previously used in an epidemiological study of behavior problems in 3-year-olds in London. The present study estimated the prevalence of behavior problems to be slightly less compared with the best estimate in the London study. As in the London study, social class and sex differences were not found to relate significantly to the presence of behavior problems. There were also similarities in the prevalence of individual behavioral items on the questionnaire. A simple parent questionnaire worked as well in a population with different demographic features as it did in the population for which it was originally designed.

Ethnoarchaeology

John E. Yellen. Archaeological Approaches to the Present, Models for Reconstructing the Past. New York: Academic Press, 1977. Richard A. Gould, ed. Explorations in Ethnoarchaeology. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1978. William H. Adams. Silcott, Washington: Ethnoarchaeology of a Rural American Community. Reports of Investigations, no. 54. Pullman: Laboratory of Anthropology, Washington State University, 1977.

Rural American Community Studies: The Survival of Public Ideology

The community study is one of the major methodological traditions in American sociology and has yielded important data upon which interpretations of American society have been made. The broad range of time periods, geographic locations, and community types encompassed by the community study literature makes valuable its contribution to the ethnography of American culture.

Food and Culture in Southern Illinois--A Preliminary Report

G enesis. Scientific examination of food habits in American rural communities seems to date from the post-World War I period, when a number of modest studies emanated from agricultural colleges and rural sociology departments of state universities.2 These studies emphasized the necessity for modifying cooking techniques and food-choices for dietary improvement, and suggested practical techniques for that purpose. This same tradition persisted in the later attempts of various government agencies, particularly those associated with the wide-scale activities of the Department of Agriculture. Thus NYA has experimented with model cooking projects, Farm Security with garden and canning instruction, WPA with school lunch programs. The Consumer Purchases Studies of the Department of Agriculturure represent an elaborate extension of this type of research.3 A second approach to the study of food habits can be seen in the various laboratory studies of the experimental modification of diet in controlled groups, by students of social and child psychology.4 In many of these ex-