Rural Sociology Research Articles

Model Ambiguities in Configurational Comparative Research

For many years, sociologists, political scientists, and management scholars have readily relied on Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) for the purpose of configurational causal modeling. However, this article reveals that a severe problem in the application of QCA has gone unnoticed so far: model ambiguities. These arise when multiple causal models fare equally well in accounting for configurational data. Mainly due to the uncritical import of an algorithm that is unsuitable for causal modeling, researchers have typically been unaware of the whole model space. As a result, there exists an indeterminable risk for practically all QCA studies published in the last quarter century to have presented findings that their data did not warrant. Using hypothetical data, we first identify the algorithmic source of ambiguities and discuss to what extent they affect different methodological aspects of QCA. By reanalyzing a published QCA study from rural sociology, we then show that model ambiguities are not a mere theoretical possibility but a reality in applied research, which can assume such extreme proportions that no causal conclusions whatsoever are possible. Finally, the prevalence of model ambiguities is examined by performing a comprehensive analysis of 192 truth tables across 28 QCA studies published in applied sociology. In conclusion, we urge that future QCA practice ensures full transparency with respect to model ambiguities, both by informing readers of QCA-based research about their extent and by employing algorithms capable of revealing them.

Australasian Rural Geographies: At the Core, in the Antipodes?

AbstractThis paper reviews ‘Antipodean’ rural geography research published over the period 2012–2014 inclusive. A broad, inclusive stance was adopted to what should be regarded as Antipodean rural geography. Key publication outlets were identified and scanned for what were deemed to be relevant paper titles and abstracts, then the institutional and disciplinary affiliations of authors, bearing in mind a general concern for ‘rural issues’. The review concentrates on the prominent themes of the recent mining boom and its externalities, new perspectives on agrarian and regional development, and population issues. Australasian rural geographers have not only become adept at ‘writing back’ to the centre but have played leading roles in the intellectual development of the sub‐discipline and cognate areas (e.g. rural sociology). Indeed, at least in the short period covered by this review and in the admittedly selective scope of that survey, Australian and New Zealand rural geographers have been at the forefront in advancing the sub‐discipline internationally. In doing so, they have not only placed the discussion of Australasian rural issues within a global context but have further refined the philosophical and conceptual approaches and tools used. In important respects, then, Australasian rural geographers are very much at the core of the international project of contemporary rural geography. Moreover, they have made – and continue to make – important contributions to the broader discipline of human geography.

Property as boundary object: normative versus analytical meanings

Franz von Benda-Beckmann made a lifetime of contributions to property theory. His main concern was that the analytical clarity around property was being lost despite a large literature purporting to analyze types of property from many different disciplines. As a consequence, Franz spent a lot of his time in the boundary zone between disciplines and between different types of practitioners, debating the property theory with lawyers, anthropologists, geographers, political scientists, rural sociologists and development officers. In this work, he argued that both problems and opportunities resulted from the tension between analytical and empirical property analysis (with a focus on what is) and normative theories (with a focus on what ought to be). He also drew attention to a troubling paradox in which we see more analytical evidence of the wide variability in property arrangements at the same time that normative arguments for property structures have been narrowing, particularly under privatization and globalization. His boundary work encouraged those relying on instrumental approaches to property to learn instead from a better understanding of the work property does in actual ideologies, legal systems, social relations and social practices. In this paper, I explore the role of property theory as a boundary object to argue that the rigorous analytical framework that Franz promoted has been and will continue to be challenged by alternative uses for this shared boundary object, but that he has nevertheless made a lasting contribution to clarifying both the analytical and normative uses to which the property theory is put.

The convergence of alternative food networks within “rural development” initiatives: the case of the New Rural Reconstruction Movement in China

Rural sociologists and geographers have conceptualised different rural development trajectories including “the agri-industrial model”, “the post-productivist model” and “the rural development model”. Alternative food networks (AFNs) are increasingly recognised as a “forerunner” and a critical component of the emerging “rural development model” in the West. Meanwhile, Marsden and Franklin [2013. Replacing neoliberalism: theoretical implications of the rise of local food movements. Local Environment, 18 (5), 636–641] pointed out that there is a “local trap” in the current conceptualisation of AFNs that overemphasises their local embeddedness and heterogeneity. This “local trap” marginalises AFNs and, therefore, hinders their potential for transforming the industrialised conventional food system. The convergence and scaling-up of fragmented AFNs have been recognised as important ways to address this marginalisation issue and thus have attracted considerable attention. However, current studies of the convergence of AFNs focus mainly on the role of food-centred organisations without recognising the role of the emerging “rural development” initiatives in the convergence of AFNs. Based on in-depth interviews with key stakeholders and analysis of secondary data, this paper uses the New Rural Reconstruction Movement (NRRM), an emerging alternative rural development movement in China, as an example to illustrate how the NRRM opens up a novel space for the convergence of AFNs. We argue that the interrelationship between AFNs and rural development is indeed reciprocal. The NRRM, following the “rural development” trajectory, functions as a hub for the convergence and scaling-up of various alternative food initiatives. Strategies for achieving convergence include constructing a “common ground” for these initiatives, establishing national alliances and organisations, sharing knowledge and exchanging personnel among them.

Thinking Past Henri Lefebvre: Introducing “The Theory of Ground Rent and Rural Sociology”

AbstractThis introduction to the translation of Henri Lefebvre's 1956 essay “The theory of ground rent and rural Sociology” moves through three stages. First, it suggests that Anglophone appropriations of Lefebvre have tended to focus too much on his urban writings, at the expense of understanding his early work on rural sociology, and failing to recognise how his urban focus emerged as a result of his interest in rural–urban transformation. Second, it provides a summary of his wider work on rural questions, including his unfinished work on a major treatise of rural sociology; and outlines the key themes of the present essay in relation to these other projects. Third, it connects Lefebvre's issues to wider debates in political economy and geography about aspects of the rural, land and ground rent, not least including the work of Antonio Gramsci and José Carlos Mariátegui.

The Theory of Ground Rent and Rural Sociology

The Theory of Ground Rent and Rural Sociology

Towards a rural sociological imagination: ethnography and schooling in mobile modernity

In 1959, C. Wright Mills coined the phrase ‘the sociological imagination’ to offer a critical assessment of a discipline he saw descending into a technical or abstract empiricist practice that he feared would ultimately deepen human alienation and oppression. Mills positioned the sociologist as a careful, critical scholar working in the space between biography and history. In this paper, I offer a meta-ethnographic analysis of several recent critical ethnographies in the rural sociology of education using my own experience as a rural education ethnographer to frame the analysis. I argue that critical ethnographic work is crucial to developing educational analysis that is attuned to the nuances of place and the kind of metrocentric analysis that effectively ‘traps’ rural places in larger structural educational reform narratives.

Europe's Coastal Fisheries: Instability and the Impacts of Fisheries Policy

AbstractThis article discusses the precarious situation of Europe's coastal fisheries in an increasingly complex world where environmental, economic, political and social instabilities – either separately or interactively – threaten their future sustainability. It draws particular attention to key lessons from resilience thinking and the role that social sciences can play in developing a deeper understanding of the nature of change and the processes shaping the vulnerability, resilience and adaptation of fishing communities and livelihoods, as well as the dangers implicit in certain aspects of fisheries policy. The article concludes by introducing the articles in this special issue of Sociologia Ruralis on ‘Resilience and Adaptation of Fishing Communities’.

Images Of A Good Village: A Visual Analysis Of The Rural Idyll In The “Village Of The Year” Competition In The Czech Republic

Abstract This paper presents a sociological analysis of the image of a “good village”, as portrayed in the annual Czech competition Village of the Year. It focuses on the positive representations attached to the rural in the political and expert discourse. The analysis is rooted in cultural rural sociology and in its study of rural idyll. It is argued that a specific kind of rural idyll is produced in the competition. This idyll is analysed using the photographs submitted to the competition by the villages themselves. A combination of visual methods is employed to uncover the positive values attached to the images. The results show that activity and social life play a key role in the image of a “good village” thus produced. On the other hand, there are virtually no references to agriculture.

Arensberg and Kimball and Anthropological Research in Ireland

For many years Irish rural sociology came to be defined in relation to Arensberg and Kimball's celebrated anthropological study, Family and Community in Ireland, for which fieldwork was undertaken in Clare between 1932 and 1934. It has been observed that ethnographers in Ireland post-Arensberg and Kimball were strongly inclined to take the community as their unit of analysis, focus their analysis of social life on kinship and social networks, and adopt structural functionalism as their theoretical model of local society. The essay republished here in abridged form accompanied the re-publication of Family and Community in Ireland in 2001. It critically examines the intellectual and political background to Arensberg and Kimball's ethnographic fieldwork in rural Clare, the manner in which their research unfolded and the subsequent reception of their published work over a period of some sixty years.

A contribuição do método regressivo-progressivo na análise de Henri Lefebvre. O Vale de Campan. Estudo de Sociologia Rural

<p>O artigo analisa <em>O Vale de Campan. Estudo de sociologia rural, </em>de Henri Lefebvre. As atribuições de método aparecem como síntese e momento importante da pesquisa primária sobre as comunidades camponesas nos Pireneus, sul da França. Contribuição que expõe como tese principal o movimento do método regressivo-progressivo como sistematização do autor. A crise das categorias, que sintetizam o Estado nacional, território, camponeses, etc., e suas determinações, desvela a reprodução social crítica e contraditória de mobilização da terra e renda da terra, uma contribuição ímpar sobre as condições históricas sociológicas.</p><p> </p>

A Recruitment Crisis in Agriculture? A Reply to Heike Fischer and Rob J.F. Burton's Understanding Farm Succession as Socially Constructed Endogenous Cycles

AbstractThis short article responds to Fischer and Burton's article, ‘Understanding farm succession as socially constructed endogenous cycles’, featured in the last issue of Sociologia Ruralis. Broadly the article commends the concept of ‘socially constructed endogenous cycles’ as a way of conceptualising successor creation, but challenges some of Fischer and Burton's claims, with the aim of stimulating further discussion and research into intergenerational farm transfer. Drawing on a range of empirical research, the article explores the reality of the ‘recruitment crisis’ that Fischer and Burton suggest is occurring, and subsequently asks, is there an optimum level of familial succession? The article continues by exploring some of the other claims made by Fischer and Burton, including the impact of mechanisation on farm children's involvement in farm work, and challenges their suggestion that farmers are currently marginalised in society.

Featured Collection Introduction: Synthesis and Analysis of Conservation Effects Assessment Projects for Improved Water Quality

JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources AssociationVolume 51, Issue 2 p. 302-304 Featured Collection: Synthesis and Analysis of Conservation Effects Assessment Projects for Improved Water Quality Jan Boll - Guest Coordinator Featured Collection Introduction: Synthesis and Analysis of Conservation Effects Assessment Projects for Improved Water Quality† Jan Boll, Jan Boll Director & Professor [email protected] Environmental Science and Water Resources Program, University of Idaho, 875 Perimeter Drive MS 3006, Moscow, Idaho, 83844Featured Collection Introduction, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA). © 2015 American Water Resources Association. DOI: 10.1111/1752-1688.12297.Search for more papers by this authorTammo S. Steenhuis, Tammo S. Steenhuis Professor Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 14843Search for more papers by this authorErin S. Brooks, Erin S. Brooks Research Assistant Professor Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, University of Idaho, 875 Perimeter Drive MS 3006, Moscow, Idaho, 83844Search for more papers by this authorLyubov A. Kurkalova, Lyubov A. Kurkalova Professor Departments of Economics and Energy & Environmental Systems, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, Greensboro, North Carolina, 27411Search for more papers by this authorRebecca A. Rittenburg, Rebecca A. Rittenburg Graduate Research Assistant Water Resources Program, University of Idaho, 875 Perimeter Drive MS 3006, Moscow, Idaho, 83844Search for more papers by this authorAudrey L. Squires, Audrey L. Squires Graduate Research Assistant Water Resources Program, University of Idaho, 875 Perimeter Drive MS 3006, Moscow, Idaho, 83844Search for more papers by this authorGeorge Vellidis, George Vellidis Professor Crop and Soil Sciences Department, University of Georgia, Tifton, Georgia, 31793Search for more papers by this authorZachary M. Easton, Zachary M. Easton Assistant Professor Department of Biological Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, 24061Search for more papers by this authorJ.D. Wulfhorst, J.D. Wulfhorst Professor Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, University of Idaho, 875 Perimeter Drive MS 3006, Moscow, Idaho, 83844Search for more papers by this author Jan Boll, Jan Boll Director & Professor [email protected] Environmental Science and Water Resources Program, University of Idaho, 875 Perimeter Drive MS 3006, Moscow, Idaho, 83844Featured Collection Introduction, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA). © 2015 American Water Resources Association. DOI: 10.1111/1752-1688.12297.Search for more papers by this authorTammo S. Steenhuis, Tammo S. Steenhuis Professor Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 14843Search for more papers by this authorErin S. Brooks, Erin S. Brooks Research Assistant Professor Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, University of Idaho, 875 Perimeter Drive MS 3006, Moscow, Idaho, 83844Search for more papers by this authorLyubov A. Kurkalova, Lyubov A. Kurkalova Professor Departments of Economics and Energy & Environmental Systems, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, Greensboro, North Carolina, 27411Search for more papers by this authorRebecca A. Rittenburg, Rebecca A. Rittenburg Graduate Research Assistant Water Resources Program, University of Idaho, 875 Perimeter Drive MS 3006, Moscow, Idaho, 83844Search for more papers by this authorAudrey L. Squires, Audrey L. Squires Graduate Research Assistant Water Resources Program, University of Idaho, 875 Perimeter Drive MS 3006, Moscow, Idaho, 83844Search for more papers by this authorGeorge Vellidis, George Vellidis Professor Crop and Soil Sciences Department, University of Georgia, Tifton, Georgia, 31793Search for more papers by this authorZachary M. Easton, Zachary M. Easton Assistant Professor Department of Biological Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, 24061Search for more papers by this authorJ.D. Wulfhorst, J.D. Wulfhorst Professor Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, University of Idaho, 875 Perimeter Drive MS 3006, Moscow, Idaho, 83844Search for more papers by this author First published: 19 March 2015 https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.12297Citations: 1 Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Citing Literature Volume51, Issue2April 2015Pages 302-304 RelatedInformation

The dark side of the rural idyll: Stories of illegal/illicit economic activity in the UK countryside

In rural sociology and rural studies, rurality in many countries is commonly constructed as an idyllic space in which crime is perceived as an urban problem. In other countries, however, rurality is constructed as a place where the individual is vulnerable and the population is socially beyond the urban. This article questions the construction of rurality as idyllic by reporting on research in rural areas which demonstrates that crime, in particular illicit and illegal enterprise based crime, is becoming more prevalent in the UK countryside. In urban areas, illicit and illegal forms of entrepreneurship are distinctive in terms of how they are construed and enacted – so why would it not be similar in rural areas? The paper presents a theoretical framework based on the work of Ferdinand Tönnies which demonstrates that contemporary examples of roguery exist in the UK countryside. We make more visible what previously was invisible, or ignored in the literature. Five stories of illegal rural enterprise are presented which provide a counterargument to Mingay's rural idyll. Since illicit and/or illegal rural enterprise is under-researched this constitutes an original attempt to frame an emerging phenomenon of interest.

鈴木榮太郎「社会学の研究分野などについて病床雑筆（第2 部）」

Here I introduce a hitherto unpublished manuscript by Eitaro SUZUKI（1894-1966）entitled “Essay on Sociological Studies, Part 2”. Written in 1950, while Prof. SUZUKI was convalescing in the University of Hokkaido Hospital, it consists of two parts. Part 1 deals with his general conceptions of sociology. Here I present only Part 2, which describes his early career as a rural sociologist and is of more immediate interest to our association. Keisuke SUZUKI（1933-2011）, Eitaro's son, preserved a voluminous collection of his father's research and personal materials. These include manuscripts, diaries, notes, letters, and photos, most of which were discovered after his death. They are owned by the UESAKI family and currently managed by Robert Ricketts, a professor at Wako University, Tokyo and former colleague of Keisuke SUZUKI. Since 2013, pending a final decision on the disposition of these documents, I have been given preliminary permission by the UESAKI family and Prof. Ricketts to edit these materials.

農村家族をめぐる研究動向と課題（上）

農村家族をめぐる研究動向と課題（上）

農村家族をめぐる研究動向と課題（下）

農村家族をめぐる研究動向と課題（下）

Lokális közösség, megtartó közösség. Elméleti megközelítések a lokális közösség integráló szerepének vizsgálatához egy vidéki településen

Abstract The paper seeks to frame a qualitative research on community integration in a rural place by the overview of literature of bonding communities and also by reviewing rural sociology literature on local community. This literature review has two main focal points. First we focus on theories of bonding community and community integration as key research topics. In addition rural community approach is introduced as a wider context and research framework. Identity building is a central topic in both bodies of literature and also institutionalism and policy based approach has significant emphasis in both approaches. Keywords: local community, bonding community, social integration

Corrigendum

Weenink, D 2014 Frenzied attacks. A micro–sociological analysis of the emotional dynamics of extreme youth violence. British Journal of Sociology 65(3): 411‐433.The author's affiliation was wrongly published as Rural Sociology Group, Wageningen University and should be rightly Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Amsterdam.

Sociological Research of Rural Areas in the Czech Republic and Cooperating Among Experts

Abstract This paper is aimed at relations among experts concerned with rural sociology in the Czech Republic. The research was focused on their troubles with cooperation and access to essential information for empirical and theoretical survey of the society in Czech rural space. The research is based on qualitative approach. Semistructured interviews with experts from scientific and academic sphere and documents study were used as the data collection. The goal of this research is to encourage the rural scientific community and to answer questions related to troubles in cooperation.