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{{Short description|Branch of sociology}}
{{For|the academic journal|Rural Sociology (journal)}}
{{Further|Role homogeneity}}
{{use American English|date= November 2017}}
[[File:Boy plowing with a tractor at sunset in Don Det, Laos.jpg|alt=Boy plowing with a tractor at sunset in Don Det, Laos.|thumb|
{{sociology}}
{{Rural society}}
'''Rural sociology''' is a field of [[sociology]] traditionally associated with the study of social structure and conflict in rural areas
▲'''Rural sociology''' is a field of [[sociology]] traditionally associated with the study of social structure and conflict in rural areas although topical areas such as [[food]] and [[agriculture]] or natural resource access transcend traditional rural spatial boundaries{{citation needed|date=November 2019}} (Sociology Guide 2011). It is an active academic field in much of the world, originating in the [[United States]] in the 1910s with close ties to the national [[United States Department of Agriculture|Department of Agriculture]] and [[land-grant university]] colleges of agriculture.<ref>Nelson, 1969</ref>
▲The sociology of food and agriculture is one focus of rural sociology, and much of the field is dedicated to the economics of [[agriculture|farm production]]. Other areas of study include [[rural migration]] and other [[demography|demographic patterns]], [[environmental sociology]], [[resort town|amenity-led development]], public-lands policies, so-called "[[boomtown]]" development, [[social disruption]], the sociology of [[natural resources]] (including forests, mining, fishing and other areas), [[rural culture]]s and [[Identity (social science)|identities]], [[rural health]]-care, and educational policies. Many rural sociologists work in the areas of [[development studies]], [[community studies]], [[community development]], and [[environmental studies]]. Much of the research involves [[developing countries]] or the [[Third World]].
== History ==
===United States===
Rural sociology was a concept first brought by Americans in response to the large amounts of people living and working on the grounds of farms.
===Europe===▼
'''History of European Rural Sociology'''
Though Europe included more agricultural land than the United States at the turn of the twentieth century, European rural sociology did not develop as an academic field until after World War II.<ref>Hofstee, E.W., Rural Sociology in Europe, Annual Meetings of the Rural Sociological Society (Washington, D. C., 1962); Kötter, Herbert, The Situation of Rural Sociology in Europe, 7 Sociologia Ruralis 3, 254-294 (1967).</ref> This is partially explained by the highly philosophical nature of pre-war European sociology: the field’s focus on broad scale generalizations largely erased rural-urban difference. European sociology in the early 1900s was also almost entirely siloed within European academia, with little cross Atlantic pollination. Practical applications and research methods employed by Land Grant Colleges,<ref>Act of July 2, 1862 (Morrill Act), Public Law 37-108; Friedland, W.H., Who killed rural sociology? A case study in the political economy of knowledge production, 17 International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food 1, pp. 72–88 (2010).</ref> the Country Life Commission,<ref>Bailey, H et al., Report on the Country Life Commission (1909), available at https://www.fca.gov/template-fca/about/1909_Report_of_The_Country_Life_Commission.pdf</ref> and early American rural sociologists like W.B. Du Bois <ref>See Rubaka, Reiland, Du Bois and the Early Development of Urban and Rural Sociology, in W.E.B. Du Bois (2017).</ref> were also well beyond the strictly academic sphere in which European sociologists resided.<ref>E.W. Hofstee, Rural Sociology in Europe, Annual Meetings of the Rural Sociological Society (Washington, D. C., 1962); Lowe, P., Enacting Rural Sociology: Or what are the Creativity Claims of the Engaged Sciences?, 50 Sociologia Ruralis 4 (2010).</ref> The concerns of rural people, farmers, and agriculture were simply outside the attention of most European sociologists at that time.
▲===Europe===
Post war, European academic institutions began to understand that “there was something useful in the activities of those queer people who called themselves rural sociologists.”<ref>E.W. Hofstee, Rural Sociology in Europe, Annual Meetings of the Rural Sociological Society (Washington, D. C., 1962).</ref> Stronger relationships between American and European sociologists developed in the late 1940s, which was reflected in the Marshall Plan of 1948.<ref>Lowe, P., Enacting Rural Sociology: Or what are the Creativity Claims of the Engaged Sciences?, 50 Sociologia Ruralis 4 (2010).</ref> The Plan formalized the United States as a source of information and economic guidance for postwar Europe and allocated the equivalent of 100B in 2023 dollars to help Europe rebuild, especially its food systems and machinery needed to expand agricultural production.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-09-28 |title=Marshall Plan (1948) |url=https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/marshall-plan |access-date=2024-03-07 |website=National Archives |language=en}}</ref> With this aid came an infusion of empirical rural research designed to promote rural growth and agricultural success.
The United States’ influence was reflected in pedagogical changes to include rural sociological methods pioneered by American rural sociologists, particularly statistics. Education met increased government demand for sociological expertise brought by European reconstruction and a growing understanding of the importance of sociological understanding to policy making.<ref>Lowe, P., Enacting Rural Sociology: Or what are the Creativity Claims of the Engaged Sciences?, 50 Sociologia Ruralis 4 (2010); Hofstee, E.W. The relations between sociology and policy, Sociologia Ruralis 331–345 (1970)</ref>
While the mid 20th century saw rural sociological research in most European nations driven by government need, rural sociology as an academic discipline was rare in general universities.<ref>Mendras, H., "Les études de sociologie rurale en Europe" (Rural Sociologic Studies in Europe), 1 Sociologia Ruralis, 1, 15-34 (1960).</ref> This was due in part to the lack of university agricultural programs but also a general resistance to applied sciences.<ref>Hofstee, E.W., Rural Sociology in Europe, Annual Meetings of the Rural Sociological Society (Washington, D. C., 1962).</ref> Where rural sociology classes did exist, an emerging divergence from the American model presented itself in European’s treatment of culture as an independent variable in rural sociological research.<ref name="ReferenceA">Id.</ref> E.W. Hofstree, by all accounts the grandfather of European rural sociology, observed why cultural difference was of particular importance in Europe:
"In Europe, not only between the different nations but also between an infinite number of regional and even local groups within every country, there are differences in culture, which influence the behaviour of those groups considerably.... it will take a long time before Europe will show the same basic culture everywhere, and I must say that, from a personal point of view, I hope that it will take a very long time."<ref name="Hofstee, E.W pp. 329">Hofstee, E.W. Rural sociology in Europe. Rural Sociology 28 pp. 329–341 (1963).</ref>
This departure from America’s more homogenous treatment of rural culture<ref>See Bailey, H et al., Report on the Country Life Commission (1909), available at https://www.fca.gov/template-fca/about/1909_Report_of_The_Country_Life_Commission.pdf</ref> grounded the field in methods that require community-level planning before technical change or community development can occur.<ref>Lowe, P., Enacting Rural Sociology: Or what are the Creativity Claims of the Engaged Sciences?, 50 Sociologia Ruralis 4 (2010)</ref> These differences somewhat receded the 1950s and 60s, when European rural sociology shifted away from sociocultural study and towards the facilitation of modern agricultural practices.<ref name="arc2020.eu">{{Cite web |last= |date=2022-07-14 |title=On Meaningful Diversity: Reflecting on 75 years of Rural Sociology at Wageningen University |url=https://www.arc2020.eu/on-meaningful-diversity-reflecting-on-75-years-of-rural-sociology-at-wageningen-university/ |access-date=2024-03-07 |website=Agricultural and Rural Convention |language=en-US}}</ref> This shift was driven by government interest in policy change as well as the perception that “backward [European] farmers [are] backward not only socially and culturally, but also economically and technically.”<ref>Hofstee, E.W., Rural social organization, 1 Sociologia Ruralis 1, 105–117 (1960).</ref>
After relatively united beginnings, European rural sociology faced internal disagreements about pedagogy, focus, and direction in the 1970s.<ref>Benvenuti, B et al, The Current Status of Rural Sociology, 15 Sociologia Ruralis 1 (1975).</ref> Many felt the field had strayed too far from its sociocultural roots, become too empirical, and overly aligned with government.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Critics were particularly concerned by the field’s seeming disregard for consideration of social interaction and culture, and encouraged a return to earlier modes of rural sociology that centered community structure. Ultimately, the field regained it balance between empiricism and sociocultural and institutional study in the 1980s.<ref name="arc2020.eu"/> Considerations of European rural sociologists have since expanded to include food systems, rural-urban interface, urban poverty, and sustainable development.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
Outside formal academic programs, rural sociology organizations and journals were founded in the 1950s, including Sociologia Ruralis—which still publishes today— and the European Society for Rural Sociology (ESRS). Founded in 1957 by E.W. Hofstee, the ESRS welcomes international membership, including professional rural sociologists as well as those interested in their work and holds regular congresses that promote cross boundary collaboration and the growth of rural sociology research.<ref name="Hofstee, E.W pp. 329"/> Its liberal internationalism and inclusivity makes it a unique interdisciplinary organization that stands somewhat apart from academia and splits its focus between theory and applied research.<ref>Lowe, Phillip, Enacting Rural Sociology: Or what are the Creativity Claims of the Engaged Sciences?, 50 Sociologia Ruralis 4 (2010).</ref> For example, in 2023, the ESRS’s congress included working groups on diverse topics, including rural migration, population change, place making, mental health, and the role of arts and culture in sustaining rural spaces.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Working groups {{!}} ESRS2023 - XXIXth European Society for Rural Sociology Congress - Crises and the futures of rural areas |url=https://esrs2023.institut-agro-rennes-angers.fr/working-groups-0 |access-date=2024-03-07 |website=esrs2023.institut-agro-rennes-angers.fr |language=en}}</ref>
'''Rural Spaces in Europe'''
The relevance of Rural Sociology to the European continent is undeniable. 44% of the EU’s total land is considered “rural,” with the Union’s newest countries including even higher percentages (upwards of 50%). More than half the population of several member states, including Slovenia, Romania, and Ireland, live in rural spaces.<ref name="europenowjournal.org">{{Cite web |title=From Past Practices to Future Directions in European Studies |url=https://www.europenowjournal.org/2020/06/02/from-past-practices-to-future-directions-in-european-studies/ |access-date=2024-03-07 |website=www.europenowjournal.org |language=en-US}}</ref>
While the definition of rurality in Europe has traditionally included all “non-urban” spaces academia’s definition of the term is in flux as more residents move to liminal spaces (sub-urban, peri-urban, ex-urban).<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Unlike the United States,<ref>Sun L, Chen J, Li Q, Huang D., Dramatic uneven urbanization of large cities throughout the world in recent decades. Nat Commun. 2020 Oct 23;11(1):5366. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-19158-1. PMID 33097712; PMCID: PMC7584620.</ref> European populations in urban areas are shrinking, with a noted uptick in migration back to rural and intermediary spaces over the last two decades, and especially since the end of COVID-19 lockdowns.<ref name="europenowjournal.org"/> These increasingly populated rural spaces are being met with greater economic development and tourism in the last two decades.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-12-07 |title=Employment and growth - European Commission |url=https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/data-and-analysis/employment-and-growth_en |access-date=2024-03-07 |website=agriculture.ec.europa.eu |language=en}}</ref> As of 2020, 44% of Europe’s population was categorized as “intermediate”, and only 12% reside in urban space.<ref name="europenowjournal.org"/>
Despite these changes, focus on rural issues has been largely siloed within rural sociology programs. Between 2010 and 2019, the Council for European Studies hosted only one panel on Rural issues (Farm, Form, Family: Agriculture in Europe).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rurality in Europe |url=https://www.europenowjournal.org/2020/11/09/rurality-in-europe/ |access-date=2024-03-07 |website=www.europenowjournal.org |language=en-US}}</ref> There are signs this may be changing. Europe Now, a widely distributed mainstream academic journal, recently devoting an entire article to the intersection of European and rural studies, including articles challenging the continued applicability of the urban-rural dichotomy, land access, food, resource use disparity, and culture. This move towards interdisciplinarity reflects the human and topographical geography of Europe writ large, and foreshadows possible integration of rural sociology into mainstream academic discourse.<ref>See Ducros, Helene D., Rurality in Europe, Council for European Studies, Europe Now Journal (2020) (noting the absence of “rural topics at Europeanists’ generalist conferences”) available at https://www.europenowjournal.org/2020/11/09/rurality-in-europe/#:~:text=In%20the%20EU%2C%2044%20percent,is%20considered%20to%20be%20rural.</ref>
===Australia and New Zealand===
Rural sociology in Australia and New Zealand had a much slower start than its American and European counterparts. This is due to the lack of land grant universities which heavily invested in the discipline in the United States and a lack of interest in studying the “peasant problem” as was the case in Europe.<ref name="Lawrence, Geoffrey 1997">Lawrence, Geoffrey. 1997. “Rural Sociology – Does It Have a Future in Australian Universities?” Rural Society 7(1):29–36. doi: 10.5172/rsj.7.1.29.</ref> The earliest cases of studying rural life in Australia were conducted by anthropologists and social psychologists <ref>Oeser, O., & F. Emery 1954. Social structure and personality in a rural community. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.</ref> in the 1950s, with sociologists taking on the subject beginning in the 1990s.<ref>Dempsey, K. 1990. Smalltown: A study of social inequality, cohesion and belonging. Sydney: Sydney University Press.</ref><ref>Dempsey, K. 1992. A man's town: Inequality between women and men in rural Australia. Melbourne: Oxford.</ref><ref>Gray, I. 1990. Politics in place: a study of power relations in an Australian country town. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.</ref>
Attempts were made between 1935-1957 to bring an American style rural sociology to New Zealand. The New Zealand department of Agriculture, funded by the Carnegie Foundation, tasked Otago Universities economist W.T. Doig with surveying living standards in rural New Zealand in 1935.<ref name="Carter, Ian 1988">Carter, Ian. 1988. “A Failed Graft: Rural Sociology in New Zealand.” Journal of Rural Studies 4(3):215–22. doi: 10.1016/0743-0167(88)90098-8.</ref> The creation and funding of such a report mirrors America's Commission on Country Life. Additional Carnegie funds were granted to the Shelly Group who conducted the countries first major sociological community study and endorsed the creation of land grant institutions in New Zealand. Ultimately, these attempts to institutionalize rural sociology in New Zealand failed due to the departments lack of organization and failure to publish impactful survey results.<ref name="Carter, Ian 1988"/>
Early studies of rural sociology in the region focused on the influence of transnational agribusiness, technological changes effects on rural communities, the restructuring of rural environments, and social causes of environmental degradation.<ref name="Lawrence, Geoffrey 1997"/> By the mid 2000's researchers focus had shifted towards broader sociological questions and variables such as the construction and framing of gender among Australian and New Zealand farmers,<ref>Liepins, Ruth. 2009. “Making Men: The Construction and Representation of Agriculture-Based Masculinities in Australia and New Zealand*.” Rural Sociology 65(4):605–20. doi: 10.1111/j.1549-0831.2000.tb00046.x.</ref> governmental policies impacts on rural spaces and studies,<ref>Loveridge, A. (2016). Rural sociology in New Zealand: Companion planting? New Zealand Sociology, 31(3), 207–229. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.280312863833958</ref> and rural safety and crime.<ref>Panelli, R., Little, J., & Kraack, A. (2004). A community issue? Rural women's feelings of safety and fear in New Zealand. Gender, Place & Culture, 11(3), 445-467.</ref> Scholars have additionally focused on rural residents, particularly farmers, opinions of environmentalism and environmental policies in recent years.<ref>Fairweather, John R., Lesley M. Hunt, Chris J. Rosin, and Hugh R. Campbell. 2009. “Are Conventional Farmers Conventional? Analysis of the Environmental Orientations of Conventional New Zealand Farmers*.” Rural Sociology 74(3):430–54. doi: 10.1526/003601109789037222.</ref> Such a focus is particularly salient in New Zealand where livestock farming has historically been a major national source of income and environmental policies have become increasingly strict in recent years.
Though early scholars of rural sociology in Australasia tout it for its critical lens, publications in the 2010’s and 2020’s have accused the discipline of omitting the experiences of indigenous peoples,<ref name="Sullivan, S. 2013 pp. 139">O’Sullivan, S. (2013) ‘Reversing the Gaze: Considering Indigenous Perspectives on Museums, Cultural Representation and the Equivocal Digital Remnant’, in L. Ormond-Parker, A. Corn, C. Fforde, K. Obata and S. O’Sullivan (eds) Information Technology and Indigenous Communities. Canberra, ACT: Aboriginal Studies Press, pp. 139–50.</ref> failing to account for class based differences,<ref>Houghton, R.M. (1980) Lower Waitaki Communities Study. Technical Report. Dunedin: Ministry of Works and Development.</ref> discounting the importance of race and ethnicity,<ref>Scott, K., J. Park and C. Cocklin (2000) ‘From “Sustainable Rural Communities” to “Social Sustainability”: Giving Voice to Diversity in Mangakahia Valley, New Zealand’, Journal of Rural Studies 16: 433–46.</ref> and only recently incorporating in studies of women in rural places.<ref>Mahar, C. (1991) ‘On the Moral Economy of Country Life’, Journal of Rural Studies 7(4): 363–72.</ref><ref>Pini, Barbara, Laura Rodriguez Castro, and Robyn Mayes. 2022. “An Agenda for Australian Rural Sociology: Troubling the White Middle-Class Farming Woman.” Journal of Sociology 58(2):253–69. doi: 10.1177/1440783321999830.</ref> Work on rural women in the region has often incorporated white feminism and used a colonial lens. As a response, scholars, particularly in New Zealand (Aotearoa), have begun to focus on the experiences of the Māori in rural areas,<ref>Pomeroy, Ann. 2022. “Reframing the Rural Experience in Aotearoa New Zealand: Incorporating the Voices of the Marginalised.” Journal of Sociology 58(2):236–52. doi: 10.1177/14407833211014262.</ref><ref>Pomeroy, A. and S. Tapuke (2016) ‘Understanding the Place of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Building Enduring Community Resilience: Murupara Case Study’, New Zealand Sociology 31(7): 183–204.</ref><ref>Te Aho, L. (2011) ‘Waikato River of Life’, pp. 145–57 in J. Ruru, J. Stephenson and M. Abbott (eds) Making our Place: Exploring Land-use Tensions in Aotearoa New Zealand. Dunedin: Otago University Press.</ref> while likewise shifting from solving issues of farmers to rural residents. A few scholars in Australia have likewise begun to incorporate the experiences of Aboriginal peoples into their scholarship, some of whom are indigenous scholars themselves.<ref>Ramzan, B., B. Pini and L. Bryant (2009) ‘Experiencing and Writing Indigeneity, Rurality and Gender: Australian Reflections’, Journal of Rural Studies 25(4): 435–43</ref><ref>Marika, R., Y. Yunupingu, R. Marika-Mununggiritj and S. Muller (2009) ‘Leaching the Poison: The Importance of Process and Partnership in Working with Yolngu’, Journal of Rural Studies 25(4): 404–13.</ref><ref name="Sullivan, S. 2013 pp. 139"/> In particular, Chelsea Joanne Ruth Watego,<ref>2023. “Chelsea Watego.” Wikipedia.</ref> and Aileen Moreton-Robinson <ref>2023. “Aileen Moreton-Robinson.” Wikipedia.</ref> have risen to prominence in recent years, though the later two identify more as indigenous feminist scholars then rural sociology scholars.
Today many prominent scholars do not belong to a department of rural sociology, but rather related disciplines such as geography in the case of Ruth Liepins, Indigenous Studies in the case of Sandy O'Sullivan,<ref>“Sandy O’Sullivan (0000-0003-2952-4732) - ORCID.” Retrieved October 12, 2023 (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2952-4732).</ref> or Arts, Education, and Law in the case of Barbara Pini.<ref>“Barbara Pini Profile | Griffith University.” Retrieved October 12, 2023 (https://experts.griffith.edu.au/18572-barbara-pini).</ref> Today courses in the discipline can be studied at a small number of institutions: University of Western Sydney (Hawkesbury), Central Queensland University, Charles Sturt University, and the Department of Agriculture at the University of Queensland. Additionally, academics who publish in the discipline, such as Ann Pomeroy, Barbara Pini, Laura Rodriguez Castro, and Ruth Liepins, can be found at University of Otago, Griffith University, and Deakin University.
=== Latin America ===
The beginnings of rural sociology’s development in Latin America began in 1934 under the research of Commission of Cuban Affairs of the Foreign Policy Association member [[Carle C. Zimmerman]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nelson |first=Lowry |date=1967 |title=Rural Sociology: Some Inter-American Aspects |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/164794 |journal=Journal of Inter-American Studies |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=323–338 |doi=10.2307/164794 |jstor=164794 |issn=0885-3118}}</ref> As a North American rural sociologist, he conducted a study in Cuba comparing the wealth and conditions of cane workers to that of colonizers. The results of this work ultimately resulting in a demand of rural life studies expanding to Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico largely for the sake of materials to fuel the quality of the United States’ performance in [[World War II]].
In the midst of the war, other rural sociologists were exploring the rural life of other countries. Dr. Olen Leonard assisted in the establishment of Tingo Maria’s [[Agricultural extension|Agricultural Extension]] program, the study of which was published in 1943.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Loomis |first1=Charles P. |last2=Provinse |first2=John H. |last3=Setzier |first3=F. M. |last4=Steward |first4=Julian |last5=Strong |first5=Wm. Duncan |last6=Weckler |first6=Joseph E. |date=1945 |title=Rural Sociologists in Latin America |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44134858 |journal=Applied Anthropology |volume=4 |issue=4 |pages=50–52 |jstor=44134858 |issn=0093-2914}}</ref> While in Ecuador, Leonard attempted to establish a similar program in the Hacienda Pichalinqui region by identifying how locals gathered, the value and meaning of possessions, and the attitudes of those in the area. His work in Guatemala consisted of assisting public officials develop a long term plan for agricultural education; in Nicaragua he participated in the development of a general and agricultural population census. Glen Taggert (El Salvador), Dr. Carl Taylor (Argentina), and T. Lynn Smith (Colombia, El Salvador) all also took part in advancing Agricultural Extension programs in Latin America. Taylor’s work in particular inspired the Argentinian Institute of Agriculture to create the Institute of Rural life.
The Caracas Regional Seminar on Education in Latin America of 1948 established fundamental education as a system that would be “specifically attending to native groups in such a way as to promote their all-around development in accordance with their best cultural traditions, economic needs, and social idiosyncrasies”.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Poviña |first=Alfredo |date=1952 |title=Latin American sociology in the twentieth centrury |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000059487 |journal=International Social Science Bulletin |volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=471–480 |via=UNESCO.org}}</ref> This establishment catapulted a pilot project that would be explicitly tailored to the education of adults in rural communities. By the Fourth Inter-American Agricultural Conference in 1950 Montevideo, the United Nations departments of [[Food and Agriculture Organization]] and the [[International Labour Organization]] were given the responsibility of becoming more involved in those activities that would benefit rural welfare. As a combined force, they were also tasked with requesting that studies be performed on conditions of social, economic, and spiritual nature as they pertain to the well-being of rural communities.
There are five ways in which Latin American rural communities are differentiated from North American rural communities in 1958:<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=T.L. |date=1958 |title=The Rural Community with Special Reference to Latin America |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1290925572 |journal=Rural Sociology |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=52–67 |id={{ProQuest|1290925572}} |via=ProQuest}}</ref>
# '''Village Community''': Rural communities in Latin America are much more likely to be established around village communities. This type of community showed the highest prevalence in Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. This is due to these countries having stronger aboriginal elements where the villagers own the land.
# '''Church and State''': At this point in time, Latin American countries were reported as having a government with stronger ties to religion, ideals and decision-making processes falling in line exactly with the church parish. In this same vein, municipalities are drawn almost exclusively to account for the social and economic factors of the region in an attempt to create a more natural social environment.
# '''Social Organization''': The rural experience of Latin America is much more closely knit. Rather than being familiar or having some sort of affiliation with the entirety of the area in an “everyone knows everyone” manner, the social organization here reflects a more contained approach to relationships. Social circles extend strictly to those with which they have daily interactions, hardly straying outside. This approach means that if these few relationships do not produce a particular set of goods, then the group must go without.
# '''Trade and Commerce''': Keeping in line with the established relationship between church and state, the portions of a rural area that would be considered the trade center in North America are referred to as “ceremonial” or “church” centers. Bartering was the dominating form of economics among Latin American countries.
# '''Stable Environment''': Latin American rural communities did not face much in the way of threats against the sustainability of their lifestyles. Hardly any boundaries—administrative, legal, judicial, fiscal, or otherwise—obstructed the ability to maintain natural rural areas and the lives of the residents settled in them.
Mobilized peasants of the 1960s and 1970 attracted scholars to perform more in-depth studies on Latin American rural life.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kay |first=Cristobal |date=2008 |title=Reflections on Latin American Rural Studies in the Neoliberal Globalization Period: A New Rurality? |journal=Development and Change |volume=39 |issue=6 |pages=915–943 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-7660.2008.00518.x |via=EBSCO|doi-access=free }}</ref> Conflict struck between the Marxist lean of social science and neoclassical domination of economics. Rural class structure, agrarian reform, and capitalist modes of production were all topics of discussion as the peasantry navigated their revolutionary status. The turn of the 21st century introduced the concept of “new rurality”. The shaping of Latin America’s rural economy had finally become entrenched in the newfound neoliberalism and globalization of the 1980s and 90s. Researchers claim that this has been expressed through embracing non-farm activities, feminization of rural work, growing rural-urban relations, and migration and remittances. Though some argue that no change has occurred because social ills (e.g., poverty, social injustice) prevail.
=== Asia ===
Early studies of rural sociology in Asia appear to first occur and be written about in the mid 19th and early 20th century, though the records of ancient thought on the matter of agriculturalists and peasants in rural spaces appear much earlier.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2013-08-03 |title=Origin and Development of Rural Sociology in India (1463 Words) |url=https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/sociology/origin-and-development-of-rural-sociology-in-india-1463-words/4881 |access-date=2023-11-05 |website=Your Article Library |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Pitirim A. Sorokin |url=http://archive.org/details/systematicsource014430mbp |title=A Systematic Source Book In Rural Sociology Vol I |date=1930 |publisher=Minneapolis The University Of Ninnesota Press |others=State Central Library Hyderabad., State Central Library Hyderabad., Bis/chief Librarian Scl Hyderabad.}}</ref> India was a focus of many sociological studies in rural areas, with Henry S. Maine writing ''Ancient Law'' (1861), which studied some elements of Indian rural society.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=2014-04-11 |title=How Rural Sociology is Developed in India? |url=https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/sociology/rural-sociology/how-rural-sociology-is-developed-in-india/34922 |access-date=2023-11-05 |website=Your Article Library |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ancient Law {{!}} Online Library of Liberty |url=https://oll.libertyfund.org/title/pollock-ancient-law |access-date=2023-11-05 |website=oll.libertyfund.org |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> Similar texts from around that time were written by those with connections to the East India Company.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /> Holt Mackenzie and Charles Metcalf both wrote about village communities and village life in India, and the East India Company published general reports on Indian territories like, for example, the Punjab territories from the mid 19th and early 20th century.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/8239de9a-72dc-440d-bf9c-5b403b152949 |title=General report on the administration of the Punjab territories, comprising the Punjab proper and the Cis- and Trans-Sutlej states, for the years 1851-52 and 1852-53. Calcutta: Calcutta Gazette Press, 1854 |date=1854 |language=English}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Srinivas |first=M |last2=Shah |first2=A |date=September 10, 1960 |title=The Myth of Self-Sufficiency Of the Indian Village |pages=1375–1378 |work=The Economic Weekly |url=https://www.epw.in/system/files/pdf/1960_12/37/the_myth_of_selfsufficiency_of_the_indian_village.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Village Community In India, Cooperative movement in India, Rural Sociology, Sociology Guide |url=https://www.sociologyguide.com/rural-sociology/village-community-in-india.php |access-date=2023-11-05 |website=www.sociologyguide.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nagar |first=R. N. |date=1946 |title=Holt Mackenzie's Memorandum |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44137085 |journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress |volume=9 |pages=352–357 |issn=2249-1937}}</ref>
India, however, was not the only focus of early sociological literature on rural life in Asia. ''A Systematic Source Book in Rural Sociology'' by Pitirim A. Sorokin was published in 1930 and focused on European, Asiatic, and American literature and thought on rural sociology .<ref name=":1" /> Sorokin outlines ‘Ancient Oriental Sources’ from Assyro-Babylonia, China, Egypt, India, Japan, Palestine, and Persia.<ref name=":1" /> He argues that caste is important for understanding agriculture in ancient India, and that the government and its structure can be used to explain the importance of agriculture and rural life in China.<ref name=":1" /> Sorokin makes these conclusions by drawing on records from these countries, which indicate study and thought about the sociology of early agriculturalists and those in rural areas. The excerpts and records used “give the ancient evaluation of agriculture as being a means of group subsistence as compared with other occupations; they reflect the society’s view as to the relative rank of the cultivators in the social order; they depict ancient opinions concerning agriculture as an economic basis for the moral and social well-being of a society, as well as sever similar points. In addition, they depict in detail various laws concerning agriculture, much of the technique of ancient agriculture, the forms of ownership and possession of land, and, finally, the numerous rites and ceremonies connected with agriculture”.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sorokin |first=Pitirim A. |url=https://archive.org/details/systematicsource014430mbp/page/6/mode/2up |title=A Systematic Source Book in Rural Sociology Volume I |publisher=Minneapolis The University Of Minnesota Press |year=1930 |pages=6–7}}</ref>
It was not until later, often in the mid to late 20th century, that rural sociology as a systematic branch of academia and study appeared in Asia.
==== India ====
In India, the rise of rural sociology was, in part, due to the country’s gaining of their independence in 1947.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Sharma |first=Shamita |date=1992 |title=Social Science Research in India: A Review |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4399211 |journal=Economic and Political Weekly |volume=27 |issue=49/50 |pages=2642–2646 |issn=0012-9976}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-11-03 |title=Independence Day (India) {{!}} History, Date, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Independence-Day-Indian-holiday |access-date=2023-11-05 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> The government needed rural sociology to aid in its understanding of “the problems of extreme poverty of the people, overpopulation and general under-development of the economy”.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sharma |first=Shasta |title=Social science Research in India: A Review |publisher=Economic and Political Weekly |year=1992 |pages=2642}}</ref> Studies focused on the changing nature of the role of towns, rural-urban actions since independence, rural change and what might be driving it, demographic research, rural development, and rural economies.<ref name=":3" /> In 1953, A. R. Desai published the first edition of ''Rural Sociology in India''.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Desai |first=A. R. |url=https://handoutset.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Rural-sociology-in-India-Akshay-Ramanlal-Desai-.pdf |title=Rural Sociology in India |publisher=Vora & Co. Publishers |year=1961}}</ref> The foreword of the book underlines the importance of understanding each aspect of society so that the Indian government could create “a uniform line of action for building a better social milieu”.<ref name=":4" /> Due to the popularity of Desai's work and the expansion of the study of rural sociology in India, second and third editions of ''Rural Sociology in India'' were published in 1959 and 1961 to better represent new study foci and methodologies in this emerging field.<ref name=":4" /> Other popular researchers during the mid-20th century include S. C. Dube, M. N. Srinivas, and D. N. Majumdar.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last=Singh |first=Ravinder |date=January 2023 |title=Rural Society and Development in India: Through a Sociological Lens |url=http://www.ijciras.com/PublishedPaper/IJCIRAS1922.pdf |journal=International Journal of Creative and Innovative Research in All Studies |volume=5 |issue=8}}</ref> In India, rural sociological research and policies continued to be connected into the 21st century.<ref name=":5" />
==== China ====
Before 1949, China’s rural sociological studies focused primarily on the rural class and power structures.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rural sociology promotes reform and development in rural China-CSST |url=http://www.csstoday.com/Item/6697.aspx |access-date=2023-11-05 |website=www.csstoday.com}}</ref> Community studies by prominent sociologists like [[Fei Xiaotong|Fei Xiatong (Fei Hsiao-tung)]] were influenced by American rural sociology and were also popular in mid and early 20th century China.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Freedman |first=Maurice |date=1962 |title=Sociology in China: A Brief Survey |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/651784 |journal=The China Quarterly |issue=10 |pages=166–173 |issn=0305-7410}}</ref> All sociology programs in China were terminated in 1952 by Mao Zedong.<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal |last=Bian |first=Yanjie |last2=Zhang |first2=Lei |date=2008 |title=Sociology in China |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1525/ctx.2008.7.3.20 |journal=Contexts |language=en |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=20–25 |doi=10.1525/ctx.2008.7.3.20 |issn=1536-5042|doi-access=free }}</ref> It was not until 1979, when the Chinese Sociological Association was reestablished, that sociological studies in China began again.<ref name=":6" /> Influences from American sociologists were welcomed during this time and continued to impact Chinese rural sociological studies into the 21st century.<ref name=":6" /> However, there have been pushes from contemporary Chinese rural sociologists like Yang Min and Xu Yong to reconsider this western lens.<ref>{{Cite web |title=New opportunities for rural sociology studies in China-CSST |url=http://csstoday.com/Item/1805.aspx |access-date=2023-11-05 |website=csstoday.com}}</ref>
==== Japan ====
Though rural sociology is thought to have an earlier origin in Japan than in the United States, it was not until the end of the 1930s that sociologists in the country were introduced to the methods and viewpoints of American rural sociologists.<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal |last=Odaka |first=Kunio |date=1950 |title=Japanese Sociology: Past and Present |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2572250 |journal=Social Forces |volume=28 |issue=4 |pages=400–409 |doi=10.2307/2572250 |issn=0037-7732}}</ref> This introduction was primarily made by Eitarō Suzuki, who is considered one of the pioneers of Japanese rural and urban sociology.<ref name=":7" /><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9781405165518 |title=The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology |date=2007-02-15 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-1-4051-2433-1 |editor-last=Ritzer |editor-first=George |edition=1 |language=en |doi=10.1002/9781405165518.wbeoss307}}</ref> Other prominent Japanese rural sociological researchers of this time include Kitano Seiichi, Kizaemon Ariga, and Yozo Yamamoto.<ref name=":7" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tokuno |first=Sadao |date=2016 |title=The Genealogy and Memorandum of Practical Rural Sociology in Kyushu, Chugoku and Shikoku District, Japan |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320259792_The_Genealogy_and_Memorandum_of_Practical_Rural_Sociology_in_Kyushu_Chugoku_and_Shikoku_District_Japan |journal=Journal of Rural Studies}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tominaga |first=Ken'ichi |date=1970 |title=Continuity and Change in Japanese Sociology: Past, Present, and Future |url=https://core.ac.uk/reader/4466040 |journal=Rice Institute Pamphlet - Rice University Studies}}</ref> The rapid decrease in farming populations in Japan in 1955 shifted the focus of rural sociological studies in the mid 20th century to second jobs among farmers, farming cooperative associations, and the impact of community development policies on villages. Hiroyuki Torigoe of Kwansai Gakuin University was the leader of the Asian Rural Sociology working group, which was established in 1992 and later led to the development of the Asian Rural Sociological Society.<ref name=":8">{{Cite web |date=2019-03-10 |title=History |url=https://arsasocio.wordpress.com/about-us/history/ |access-date=2023-11-05 |website=ARSA - Asian Rural Sociology Association |language=en}}</ref>
==Mission statements==
Line 28 ⟶ 95:
== Associations ==
Scholarly associations in rural sociology include:
* The '''[[Rural Sociological Society]]''' (RSS), of the United States, was formed in 1937 after years of discussion as a spinoff of the [[American Sociological Association|American Sociological Society]]. It publishes the scholarly quarterly journal ''Rural Sociology.''<ref>See [http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/%28ISSN%291549-0831 webpage]</ref> The full run of back issues is online from 1936
* The '''European Society for Rural Sociology''' (ESRS) was founded in 1957. It says it is "the leading European association for scientists involved in the study of agriculture and fisheries, food production and consumption, rural development and change, [[rurality]] and cultural heritage, equality and inequality in rural society, and nature and environmental care."<ref>See [http://www.ruralsociology.eu/ homepage]</ref>
* The '''International Rural Sociology Association''' (IRSA) has as its mission, to "foster the development of rural sociology; further the application of sociological inquiry to the improvement of the quality of rural life; and provide a mechanism whereby rural sociologists can generate dialogue and useful exchange." It published the '' International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food.''<ref>See [http://www.irsa-world.org/ homepage]</ref>
* The '''International Association for Society and Natural Resources''' (IASNR) publishes the journal, ''Society & Natural Resources.''<ref>See [http://www.iasnr.org/ homepage]</ref>
* '''Asociación Latinoamericana de Sociologia Rural''' (ALASRU) as an organization founded in 1969, much of the rural sociology findings that come out of Latin America today is the work of the Asociación Latinoamericana de Sociologia Rural (Latin American Rural Sociological Association).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Latin American Rural Sociological Association {{!}} UIA Yearbook Profile {{!}} Union of International Associations |url=https://uia.org/s/or/en/1100041823 |access-date=2023-10-27 |website=uia.org}}</ref> With a combined effort of inter- and non-governmental organizations, the ALASRU aims to “promote rural development in the region; foster the dissemination and advancement of rural sociology; support the creation of national centres to carry out research in the field.”
* The '''Asian Rural Sociology Association''' (ASRA) was established in 1996.<ref name=":8" /> Their mission is to “cultivate the development of the science of rural sociology, to extend the possible application of results of scientific inquiry to the improvement of the quality of rural life, and to exchange and generate meaningful scientific founding for the rural development in Asia. As a non-profit organization, ARSA strives for scientific and educational purposes only”.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-03-10 |title=Constitution |url=https://arsasocio.wordpress.com/statues/ |access-date=2023-11-05 |website=ARSA - Asian Rural Sociology Association |language=en}}</ref> ASRA hosted their first council meeting in Seoul, Korea in 1997 from March 7 through the 9th.<ref name=":8" /> It was at this council meeting that the ARSA ratified the constitution and made the decision to hold the First International Conference of ARSA in Thailand in January 1999.<ref name=":8" /> The overarching theme of this first conference was “Globalization and Rural Social Change”; 200 participants from 11 countries attended, and 33 papers were presented and subsequently published in the society’s first volume of the Journal of Asian Rural Sociology.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-01-27 |title=Asian Rural Sociology I |url=https://arsasocio.wordpress.com/asian-rural-sociology-i/ |access-date=2023-11-05 |website=ARSA - Asian Rural Sociology Association |language=en}}</ref> The society has hosted six total conferences, with the last one in 2018 focusing on food systems.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-01-26 |title=Conferences |url=https://arsasocio.wordpress.com/portfolio/conferences/ |access-date=2023-11-05 |website=ARSA - Asian Rural Sociology Association |language=en}}</ref> The journal has continued to publish twice a year in January and July.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Journal of Asian Rural Studies |url=http://pasca.unhas.ac.id/ojs/index.php/jars/index |access-date=2023-11-05 |website=pasca.unhas.ac.id}}</ref>
== Journals ==
Line 38 ⟶ 107:
* ''[[Agriculture and Human Values]]''
* ''[[Journal of Agrarian Change]]''
* [https://arsasocio.wordpress.com/journal/ ''Journal of Asian Rural Studies'']
* ''[[Journal of Peasant Studies]]''
* ''[[Journal of Rural Studies]]''
Line 56 ⟶ 126:
{{reflist}}
* Brunner, E. d. ''The Growth of a Science: A Half-Century of Rural Sociological Research in the United States'' (Harper & Brothers, 1957). ▼
{{Further|Rural history#Bibliography}}
▲* Brunner, E.
* [[William H. Friedland|Friedland, W. H.]] "The End of Rural Society and the Future of Rural Sociology." ''Rural Sociology'' (1982) 47(4): 589–608.
* Desai, A.I. ''Rural Sociology in India'' (1978) [https://archive.org/details/ruralsociologyin0000unse/page/n6/mode/1up online]
* Desai, Akshaya R. ''Introduction to Rural Sociology In India'' (1953) [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.268227 online], with reading from scholars
* Goreham, Gary A. ed. ''The Encyclopedia of Rural America: The Land and People'' (2 Volume, 2nd ed. 2008), 1341pp
* Hanson, Victor Davis. ''The Other Greeks: The Family Farm and the Agrarian Roots of Western Civilization'' (1999) [https://www.amazon.com/Other-Greeks-Agrarian-Western-Civilization/dp/0520209354/ excerpt and text search]
Line 67 ⟶ 141:
* Sorokin, Pitirim A. and C. C. Zimmerman ''Principles of Rural-Urban Sociology'' (1929), world perspective
* Thomas, William I., and Florian Znaniecki. ''The Polish Peasant in Europe and America'' (2 vol. 1918); classic sociological study; [http://chla.library.cornell.edu/c/chla/browse/title/3074959.html complete text online free]
* Wyman, Andrea. ''Rural women teachers in the United States '' (1997) [https://archive.org/details/ruralwomenteache0000wyma/page/n6/mode/1up online]
==External links==
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