Voluntarism, a concept rooted in the Puritan Ethic, is that ethos which assigns welfare functions for persons without adequate means to voluntary agencies, and voluntarism along with cultural pluralism must be curbed if exodus of the rural farm population is to be mitigated. With the exception of the Old Age and Survivor's Insurance Program, the…

A quarter of nonmetro counties lost population in the 1990s, but population loss was not related to poverty rate or low educational levels, perhaps because low-skill workers can no longer expect better wages in urban areas. Population loss was related to low population density and remoteness (which decrease access to services), lack of natural…

To explain the migration turnaround of the 1970s, it has been suggested that the United States may be approaching an equilibrium state in the exchange of populations between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas. As metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas have become more similar in population composition and industrial and socioeconomic…

This bibliography contains 137 entries related to population migration in rural America. The entries were derived from the AGRICOLA database produced by the National Agricultural Library and include journal articles, government reports, conference papers, extension bulletins, and books. Entries cover such topics as demography, economic growth,…

Due largely to outmigration of young people, the nonmetropolitan United States has a lower proportion of people in the prime working ages of 20-44 than do metropolitan areas. Discouraged workers and high levels of work-preventing disabilities have contributed to lower rates of nonmetropolitan labor force participation for each age group between 20…

Primary schooling in Africa is not the enemy of farming it has been thought to be, according to an analysis of relevant field research. Primary school leavers are pragmatic about farming. They frequently delay their farming efforts until their prospects look good. Many rural school leavers migrate to urban centers because of simple economics…

This book includes studies of globalization-related social changes in rural areas of the United States and other countries and implications of these studies for sociological theory. Although no chapter focuses exclusively on education, education-related themes include rural school dropouts and intergenerational poverty, the migration of rural…

Fifty-one years of working in Appalachia on land resettlement and preservation of local values have taught Marie Cirillo the importance of not thinking in terms of either/or. It is not science/technology versus indigenous knowledge; it is how one connects the two so there can be proper balance. It is not capital versus labor; it is not…

The papers in this volume are concerned with rural development, with emphasis on the problems of low-income groups. Stephen McDonald explores economic factors in farm outmigration. Virgil Christian, Jr. and Adamantios Pepelasis discuss the extent and importance of economies of size in agriculture. Thomas Till analyzes the nature and extent of…