Previous studies have established that community residents and leaders differ in their support for hazardous waste facility siting in rural areas (Spies et al. 1998). We examine whether these same differences exist in rural communities that face other high-risk development decisions by analyzing resident and leader support for a proposed gold…

Rural communities are increasingly being faced with the prospect of accepting facilities characterized as "opportunity-threat," such as facilities that generate, treat, store, or otherwise dispose of hazardous wastes. Such facilities may offer economic gains through jobs and tax revenue, although they may also act as environmental "disamenities."…

This paper examines the epistemic barriers to sustainable agriculture, which are those aspects of food production that are not readily revealed by direct perception: such as decreases in rates of soil and nutrient loss, increases in levels of beneficial soil micro-organisms, and reductions in the amount of chemicals leaching into the water table.…

Studies of reactions to nuclear facilities have found consistent male/female differences, but the underlying reasons have never been well-clarified. The most common expectations involve traditional roles--with men focusing more on economic concerns and with women (especially mothers) being more concerned about family safety/health. Still, with…

"Biological invasions" are now recognized as the cause of significant ecological and economic damage. They also raise a series of less visible social issues. Management of invasive species is often a political process raising questions such as who decides which organisms are to be managed, and who benefits or is affected by different…

This study examines how six national newspapers balanced supporting agriculture (a morally good occupation) with supporting environmentalism (nature as a moral value), in an area in which agricultural and environmental interests conflict--farm use of pesticides. The study showed that, contrary to expectations, newspapers supported social change…

Rather than seeking ivory-tower isolation, members of the Rural Sociological Society have always been distinguished by a willingness to work with specialists from a broad range of disciplines, and to work on some of the world's most challenging problems. What is less commonly recognized is that the willingness to reach beyond disciplinary…

The majority of the literature on contaminated communities indicates that environmental hazards lead to conflict and dissension. In this paper we examine the salient dimensions of conflict and factionalism in a rural Oklahoma community. The community is heavily contaminated from 80 years of commercial mining operations and was one of the first…