Based on data from the China Statistical Yearbook and China Family Panel Survey (CFPS), this article investigated the influence of regional transportation infrastructure development on family education expectations. Research results show that there is a significant positive correlation between transportation infrastructure and family educational…

The aim of this paper is to build a capability-based framework, drawing upon the strengths of other approaches, which is applicable to the complexity of the urban-rural divide in education in China. It starts with a brief introduction to the capability approach. This is followed by a discussion of how the rights-based approach and resource-based…

Due to imbalanced social and economic development, education in poverty-stricken rural areas in China is lagging behind that of urban areas. The current study explores the role of the nonprofit organizations (NPOs) involved in rural compulsory education promotion. Results show that the NPOs are providing a variety of programs to promote rural…

This paper examines rural population ageing in the United States with a particular focus on the contrasting contexts in which older rural residents live. We compare the characteristics of the older population by rural versus urban residence, and explore challenges and opportunities associated with the ageing of rural baby boomers. The United…

In-migration is a key influence in the process of rural economic development in England, Continental Europe and the US. New arrivals are often viewed in the literature as contributors in new venture creation, as well as catalysts in enhancing rural-urban interdependencies in the countryside. This paper sets out to explore the validity of this view…

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…

Compares influence of employment growth/diversity, commuting, retirement migration, income, unemployment, age structure, and adjacency with influence of nonfarm self-employment and percentage of labor force that is female on recent declines in nonmetropolitan growth rates. Suggests last two variables are more important determinants of…

A survey of 450 North Carolina employees indicates that jobs are better in outside-owned firms than in local firms and that, regardless of the ownership locale, urban Piedmont labor markets provide better jobs than rural labor markets. Analyses suggest that outside firms may be undermining local relations of production in rural North Carolina.…

Questions "supply-push" theory of rural development, which suggests that upgrading workers' skills will guarantee rural development. Data from past two decades show tendency of decreasing growth in job skills and in requirement for quantifiable job skills (e.g., level of education). Upgrading job skills by itself seems unlikely to pay…

Argues that state government must take a strong lead in promoting rural development. Justification for such a role includes improving the efficiency of the state's economy; making full use of fixed investments; improving rural-urban equity; preserving a rural lifestyle; and responding effectively to population density differences between rural and…

Examines changes over a 21-year period in 1 area of highland Bolivia to show how people and their activities and livelihoods have changed as a response to increasing commercial opportunities and new needs. Analyzes the extent to which these changes imply a restructuring similar to that which is taking place in the First World. (KS)

A survey of 109 households in 4 villages in Gower, South Wales, examined social-class changes associated with rural gentrification, the contention that gentrifiers are embodiments of capital, child-rearing concerns as a motive for gentrification, the influence of gender inequalities, and comparisons with urban examples of gentrification. Contains…

Social protest from the farms, fields, and mills of rural Appalachia and the Ozarks leads to an indigenous music not found on commercial radio. Adult educators can gain from this music insight into the communities for which they are planninq educational services. (SK)

The Lower Mississippi Delta region, especially the rural Delta, faces many economic challenges. The rural Delta has received much federal aid in basic income support and funding for human resource development, but less for community resource programs, which are important for economic development. Federal aid to the Delta is analyzed in terms of…

Economies in rural areas during the 1980s were characterized by (1) fewer jobs in resource-based industries; (2) job shifts from manufacturing to services; (3) an increasing concentration of low-wage, low-skill jobs in rural areas; and (4) a growing earnings gap and outmigration of the best educated rural workers. (KS)