The main purpose of this research was to construct a multi-dimensional (composite) index measuring the overall level of rural development and quality of life in individual rural regions of a given EU country. In the Rural Development Index (RDI) the rural development domains are represented by hundreds of partial socio-economic, environmental,…

In recent years, the European Union's stated commitment to the principle of multifunctionality within its Common Agricultural Policy has fostered a resurgence of interest in recovering and protecting the heritage and traditions associated with local agricultural products. In spite of, or perhaps because of, the growing political and economic…

The causes of rural/urban educational inequalities are multiple and diverse, and their analysis requires multi-disciplinary, longitudinal research. In this Polish study, preliminary examination of macrostatistical data on rural/urban disparities revealed the limitations of dichotomous analysis. In a broad, in-depth approach designed to develop a…

The function of schooling on different levels in the direction of the processes of social mobility which influence the development of rural areas in Poland were studied during 1967-71. Data was collected by means of a network of 35 permanent teacher correspondents, as well as 2 field stations which were operated for 3 years in 2 investigated…

In view of the 1973 changes brought about by the State's attempt to bring its authority closer to society and create new arrangements to satisfy rural needs, Poland's rural communities were analyzed in terms of a typology of social action. Defined as action and the desire to act resulting from membership in the local community, social action was…

The tempo of social change is ever more rapid and the rate of technico-economic change is still more rapid. But the transformation of man's psychosomatic system takes place much more slowly. Therefore, the theoretical premises of the development of the rural areas and of the local community should be considered on that background. The pressure of…

Transformations of rural areas was the topic of the first Polish-Yugoslav Geographical Seminar as documented in these proceedings from the six-day meeting. Twenty of the 25 papers presented are contained here, three in French and the remainder in English, and are categorized under these major topics: influence of big urban centers on the…