Did rural America bring Donald Trump to the presidency? As a phenomenon related to the rise of Trump, the authors try, in this paper, to explain the conservatism that surrounds them personally, as rural residents and rural education scholars. Their neighbors are (mostly) conservative; in part it defines them; it is part of their culture. They have…

This paper examines the attempts made by the renewing kibbutzim to maintain their way of life as much as possible through the adjustment of their gating mechanisms. In this type of a rural gated community, sorting procedures and admittance criteria of nonmembers are the most notable elements. Background material and interviews with informants at…

Discussions at the local, state, and national level have been focused on the importance of providing access and opportunity for college attendance. While these discussions are important to raising public interest in higher education attainment, they often negate how community values influence the college attendance decision process. This study…

This study examines coping behaviors and felt experiences of homeless adults in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Data from in-depth interviews with 55 homeless adults reveal 5 general coping pattern groups: shelter users, campers, couch hoppers, mixed users, and circumstantial homeless. Homeless adults within each group experienced similar levels of…

Economic changes and the machinations of the treadmill of production have dramatically reduced the number of jobs provided by extractive industries, such as mining and timber, in the United States and other affluent nations in the post-World War II era. As the importance of these industries to national, regional, and local economies wanes,…

Religious communities are important sources of bridging and bonding social capital that have varying implications for perceptions of social cohesion in rural areas. In particular, as well as cultivating cohesiveness more broadly, the bridging social capital associated within mainline religious communities may represent an especially important…

This article is essentially written as two linked parts. The first part considers how space, spatiality and history can contribute to understanding and "doing something about" the sustainability of rural communities. This is done by extensive reference to Soja's (1989 & 1996) space and spatial theorising and selective perspectives of…

Geographical, economic, social and cultural barriers to accessing services in rural areas are widely reported. Less widely discussed are dilemmas posed by individual and community reluctance to address sensitive health issues. This article, focusing on the highly sensitive area of mental health, and employing a participatory action approach,…

This article sets out to analyze the educational problems facing the Batwa community of Burundi. After explaining the marginal nature of that community in the Burundian context, the article highlights the Batwa's exclusion from school education, from the colonial era to the present. The article attempts to show that, despite governmental adopted…

Interviews with 75 leaders in 5 rural Missouri communities identified "sense of fit" and community evaluation as dimensions of leaders' community attachment that were related to each other but were associated differently with leader characteristics such as education. Leaders' local attachments appeared to inhibit linkages to outside…

In-depth, unstructured, interviews with 20 non-Amish public officials, farmers, and business people in Fillmore County, Minnesota, examined attitudes toward the local Amish population, including Amish religious beliefs and practices, taxation and school issues, Amish impact on the area economy, and prejudice toward the Amish as a group. Data were…

Linear development and systemic models of community attachment were tested using survey responses of 415 nonmetropolitan Utah residents. Community size did not have independent inverse effects on community attachment dimensions: involvement, amity, and sentiment. Community size and five social position variables produced interactive effects.…

Research indicates that living in company towns created a population lacking in initiative and self-determination. In one community that was a company town until the mid-1950s, key-informant interviews indicated high levels of dropping out, illiteracy, teen pregnancy, poverty, and dependency. However, a survey of high school students revealed no…

Compares traits and attitudes of two Illinois farming communities with populations characterized as "German yeoman" and "Yankee entrepreneur." Discusses how community characteristics shape responses to social and economic changes and affect the course of economic development. (SV)

Reviews two models of community-attachment, linear-development and systematic models, using data on social ties and local sentiments from survey respondents in Iowa communities. Linear-development variables (population size and density) relate weakly to community attachment. Systematic variables (residence length, income, and age) relate more…