Assessing community viability with multiple-indicators (including education) is a necessary step in creating effective leadership in rural communities and schools. As part of a larger study of the effects of leadership patterns on community viability, this report examines the procedure for measuring community viability within the socio-geographic…

Extends the debate on rural restructuring by redefining families and households and their study; by considering the contributions of family scholarship to rural sociological issues; by assessing the methodological implications and challenges of integrating a family focus in rural sociology; and by reengaging rural sociology around important policy…

Four community surveys in the boomtown Delta, Utah, 1975-86, revealed that, while some social disruption occurred during rapid growth years, even greater changes occurred in anticipation of the boom. Community satisfaction and social attachment did not recover when the boom was over. Contains 37 references. (SV)

Summarizes the revised economic and policy types of the Economic Research Service's rural county classification system. The new typology is based on conditions in more recent years, includes Alaska and Hawaii, redefines persistent poverty, includes more county types, makes economic types nonoverlapping, and classifies counties designated as…

In rural studies the "behavioural approach", i.e. an actor-oriented, largely questionnaire-based methodology that focuses ''on the motives, values and attitudes that determine the decision-making processes of individual farmers'' (J. Rural Stud 11 (1995) 51, p. 55), has become increasingly important in the investigation of farmer response to…

In North America and elsewhere it is frequently asserted that changes in rural society have led to an economic and social "decoupling" of agriculture from the wider rural community. Casual analysis of contemporary media reporting and popular discourse would suggest that interactions between the two spheres are as often characterized by…

This article is concerned with the nature of novice teaching principals' interactions in Queensland rural communities. Stories selected from case accounts are used to provide insights into the teaching principals' interrelationship with the community. The article concludes with a discussion of some implications for practice suggested by these…

Discusses the rural educational needs that led to the development of the U.S. Extension Service in the early 1900s. Lists demographic, sociological, political, and technological changes currently affecting extension education, and calls for research to clarify the future of the Extension Service. (SV)

Responds to Philo's article calling for rural studies to focus research on marginalized groups and communities within rural areas. Recommends a reconstructed sociology of postmodernism that would end the use of global concepts such as "rural" and focus on the ways in which power relations contribute to the construction of rurality (and…

Responds to an article by Murdoch and Pratt appearing in this journal issue that questions the view that rural research needs to focus on marginalized groups and communities and that calls for a reconstructed sociology of postmodernism. Clarifies the author's views on postmodernism and the concept of "rurality" and his theoretical…

Notes changes in the social contract between society and land grant universities and resulting implications for rural sociology's research, teaching, and extension agenda. Traces the legislative, academic, and social contexts of these changes. Suggests new organizational and networking strategies for rural sociology that will foster new…

Reviews the (largely British) literature on lay discourses of the rural--people's everyday interpretations of rural places and ideas of the rural. Suggests that lay discourses of the rural are complex and incoherent to an extent that makes it difficult to incorporate them into established academic rural studies. Partly supports the concept of the…

Discusses the following alternatives for the colleges of agriculture: (1) continue the status quo; (2) specialize to serve the needs of a group not currently served by traditional colleges of agriculture; or (3) reduce the dependence on traditional clientele groups through more funding with grants from industries or governmental sources. Provides…

General Social Survey data (1985) indicate that nonmetropolitan social networks were smaller and denser than urban networks; contained larger proportions of long-term ties, ties to kin and neighbors, and ties involving multiple roles; but were not more homogeneous, except with regard to religion. Data from southwestern Louisiana, however,…

This collection of 76 award-winning films and videos shows people from the southern Appalachian mountains pursuing the chance to work, to live in health and peace, to share their lives with loved ones, and to create and sustain that which is beautiful. Item categories are: 1992 releases; environmental issues; women's stories; cultural identity;…