https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/15490831/2022/87/4
Articles
Rural/Urban Differences: Persistence or Decline
Recent Transformation of Marginal Rural Areas in the Sudetes Mountains in Poland—Drivers and Effects of Changes in Perception of their Inhabitants
Katarzyna Kajdanek, Agnieszka Latocha, Dominik Sikorski, Przemysław Tomczak, Robert Szmytkie, Paulina Miodońska
Community-Based Social Enterprises as Actors for Neo-Endogenous Rural Development: A Multi-Stakeholder Approach
Lucas Olmedo, Mary O'ShaughnessyHeirs Property, Critical Race Theory, and Reparations
Conner Bailey, Ryan ThomsonHow Gender Dynamics Shape Off-farm Work in Upland Southwest China
John Aloysius Zinda, Amit AnshumaliThe Stories We Tell: Colorblind Racism, Classblindness, and Narrative Framing in the Rural Midwest
Teresa Irene Gonzales, Elizabeth M. Thissell, Soumitra ThoratMigration Behaviors and Educational Attainment of Metro and Non-Metro Youth
“You’re Poor, so you’re Not Going to Do Anything:” Socioeconomic Status and Capital Accumulation as a Means to Access Higher Education for Rural Youth
Phillip D. Grant, J. Kessa Roberts“It Wasn't Like a Big Light Bulb Moment”: Factors that Contribute to Changing Minds on Climate Change
Kristin Haltinner, Dilshani Sarathchandra, Amber Ziegler, Randolph StuartPerspectives of Agroforestry Practitioners on Agroforestry Adoption: Case Study of Selected SARE Participants
Olga Romanova, Michael A. Gold, Damon M. Hall, Mary K. HendricksonBook Reviews
Jim Crow Sociology: The Black and Southern Roots of American Sociology
Framing Prior Consultation in Brazil: Ethnographic Perspectives on Limits of Participation and Multi-Cultural Politics
The Cambridge Handbook of Environmental Sociology
Rural/Urban Differences: Persistence or Decline
Abstract: A long line of sociological research has found that rural residents tend to be more conservative than urban residents in the U.S. on a wide range of attitudes and behaviors. Two primary arguments have been utilized to understand why these differences exist. First, rural/urban differences were thought to be largely a function of rural isolation and differences in types of employment. As rural areas have become less isolated and employment differences have diminished, rural/urban differences are thought to diminish as well. Any remaining rural/urban differences can largely be explained by social class variations. Second, differing interaction patterns in rural areas resulting from fewer people and lower population densities continue to make rural areas unique. This manuscript found strong support for the second argument that rural areas remain unique. Even when statistically controlling for race/ethnicity and social class, rural residents were much more likely to vote for Trump in the 2020 presidential election, were more likely to choose the conservative side on six controversial political issues than urban residents. These findings have important implications in understanding our deeply divided nation. The need for quality social science research to understand modern rural America is apparent.Recent Transformation of Marginal Rural Areas in the Sudetes Mountains in Poland—Drivers and Effects of Changes in Perception of their Inhabitants
Katarzyna Kajdanek Agnieszka Latocha Dominik Sikorski Przemysław Tomczak Robert Szmytkie Paulina MiodońskaAbstract: The study aims to analyze inhabitants' perceptions vis-a-vis the actual demographic, economic, functional, and land use transformation taking place in the peripheral area of Kłodzko County in the Sudetes Mountains in southwestern Poland. Recently, new socio-economic processes can be observed in the region, suggesting a revival after a period of stagnation. It employs qualitative data from semi-structured interviews and observation, and quantitative data from an online survey. Findings on inhabitants' perception are discussed against evidence from diverse statistical databases based on the literature. Results show that changes to physical built environment are most perceived, but tourism is seen as the main positive driver. The most acute negative change is depopulation, which is also considered to have a damaging effect on the transformation. The results show some disparities in perceptions across different socio-demographic and spatially defined categories of inhabitants, as well as ambiguity of assessment of rural transformations that are interpreted in relation to the socio-economic context of interviewees. The study contributes to discussion on perceived and actual change in rural areas by pointing to patterns of perception. It provides social feedback on changes and depicts collective attitudes towards rural revival—knowledge that is necessary to formulate policies tailored to site-specific preconditions.Community-Based Social Enterprises as Actors for Neo-Endogenous Rural Development: A Multi-Stakeholder Approach
Lucas Olmedo Mary O'ShaughnessyAbstract: Rural shrinking is an ongoing phenomenon in many parts of Europe. Against this backdrop neo-endogenous rural development has been gaining support as a conceptual and policy approach which stress the combination of local and external actors, resources and forces for enhancing an integrated development of rural areas. Within this governance framework rural social enterprises have been stressed as potential key actors contributing to rural development. This paper explores, through 36 semi-structured interviews with diverse stakeholders of two Irish community-based rural social enterprises, the role of these organizations in contributing to a neo-endogenous development. Our findings show how their mobilization of the social attachment of their members, their collective character and their delivery of tangible results have been key to develop collaborative dynamics with stakeholders from different sectors and situated at various spatial scales. Moreover, these organizations have accommodated global-exogenous forces buffering their effects through locally-focused solutions which address the needs of their rural communities, despite their incapacity to address the causes of these global-exogenous trends. We conclude that rural community-based social enterprises can play a relevant role in contributing to neo-endogenous development, however, institutional frameworks that address the diversity of rural areas and that enhance balanced collaborations among different rural development stakeholders are a precondition to unlock their potential.Heirs Property, Critical Race Theory, and Reparations
Conner Bailey Ryan ThomsonAbstract: We use critical race theory (CRT) to examine the involuntary loss of land and homes among Black residents of the southeastern United States and in particular among the Gullah/Geechee. An Afro-indigenous population, the Gullah/Geechee have deep roots in the federally designated Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor, an area of sea islands and coastal Lowcountry within 25 coastal counties in North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. We identify legal vulnerabilities associated with heirs property, in particular tax sales and predatory partition actions, as mechanisms used within the legal system to dispossess owners of their land. Our use of CRT allows us to understand heirs property as a legacy of the Jim Crow era and to recognize material motivations behind continued racial discrimination that has led to involuntary land loss. CRT also leads us to consider the question of empowerment of the Gullah/Geechee population through a program of reparations for wrongful taking of land and homes since coastal development began roughly 70 years ago. One possible mechanism for reparations is to increase existing lodging taxes on coastal tourism along the Gullah/Geechee coast.How Gender Dynamics Shape Off-farm Work in Upland Southwest China
John Aloysius Zinda Amit AnshumaliAbstract: Gendered demands for productive and reproductive labor differently affect men's and women's decisions about not only whether to undertake off-farm work, but where. With data from a survey of households in southwestern China, we examine the effects of individual, household, and community attributes on decisions to take local or distant off-farm work. Men's and women's off-farm work decisions respond differently to care and farmwork needs. For women, the primary trade-off is between distant off-farm work and none. For men, the primary trade-off is between distant and local off-farm work. Women in households with more working-age members are more likely to take distant off-farm work rather than stay on the farm. Increased education and household labor make men more likely to take distant relative to local off-farm work. Household land holdings also have differing effects: for women, increased cropland area reduces odds of migration, while for men it increases odds of local relative to distant off-farm work. By disaggregating off-farm work location, we uncover gendered patterns that binary approaches to off-farm work or migration obscure.The Stories We Tell: Colorblind Racism, Classblindness, and Narrative Framing in the Rural Midwest
Teresa Irene Gonzales Elizabeth M. Thissell Soumitra ThoratAbstract: The stories we tell about ourselves and our communities have the power to impact perceptions of marginalized communities, both positively and negatively. Narratives affect how people view themselves, their town, and other members of their community and thus shape personal interactions, local culture, social situations, and even decisions about allocation of resources. When those stories are rooted in discursive frames—what we can understand as the links between ideology and narrative—they can also perpetuate and reify power inequities. Within rural America, local elites and residents alike use narratives and discursive framing to erase or exclude communities of color and, at times, poor whites in unique ways. This happens through explicit and willful ignorance of narratives of difference that could both complicate normative assumptions and highlight histories of dispossession within rural towns. Drawing on 30 interviews and 12 months of ethnography in the midwestern town of Moses, we provide a case study that demonstrates how narratives perpetuated by both decision makers and residents, across racial and class backgrounds, are rooted in colorblind racism and classblindness regarding African Americans, Mexican Americans, and poor whites. These narratives frame perceptions of residents and neighborhoods, influence town-level decisions, and erase local histories.Migration Behaviors and Educational Attainment of Metro and Non-Metro Youth
Abstract: While research has consistently demonstrated a positive relationship between migration from rural areas and educational attainment, it is unclear whether migration is the driver of educational attainment or merely a mediator. The “rural brain drain” perspective suggests that young people leave rural areas if they have greater academic potential than their peers. A “migration gain” perspective implies that people, regardless of prior achievements, may move to invest in human capital, thereby gaining more education than those who do not move. This article uses data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 97 to test these competing predictions with multilevel/mixed-effects models. Consistent with previous research, the study found that youth attained the least education if they stayed in non-metro areas. By contrast, they gained more education if they moved not just from but also to non-metro areas, consistent with the “migration gain” hypothesis. Academic performance alone did not explain the association between education and migration, contradicting the “rural brain drain” theory. However, academic performance and college enrollment, which are also influenced by available educational opportunities, together explain the association between migration and education significantly, suggesting that the educational outcomes of migrants are influenced by a combination of individual and institutional characteristics.“You’re Poor, so you’re Not Going to Do Anything:” Socioeconomic Status and Capital Accumulation as a Means to Access Higher Education for Rural Youth
Phillip D. Grant J. Kessa RobertsAbstract: This qualitative phenomenological study sought to understand rural students' college-going decisions through the lens of socioeconomic status, social capital, and Perna's nested model of college choice. The sample included 18 students who were undergraduates at a selective R1 university in the Southeastern United States. Rural first-generation students reported that they received little practical advice from adults in their family, school, or community. Rural students' choice to take adult advice seemed to be dependent on their family's education background. Family connection was the most common reason for students to choose to attend a selective university if they were not a first-generation college student. Distance to institution was not a major factor in the participant's decision to attend the university. The students in this study were highly influenced by the policy environment of the state in which they live; a state-wide merit-based scholarship provided all the students, regardless of first-generation status, a motivation to attend what they considered to be the best public school in the state, while still receiving a significant discount on their tuition.“It Wasn't Like a Big Light Bulb Moment”: Factors that Contribute to Changing Minds on Climate Change
Kristin Haltinner Dilshani Sarathchandra Amber Ziegler Randolph StuartAbstract: This article uses interview data with people who were once skeptical about climate change but have come to accept climate science to assess the factors that contribute to their shifts in perspectives. Our findings show two trajectories of change for skeptics, depending on the nature of their skepticism. For those who move from actively denying climate change, shifting beliefs about climate change occur via a profound need to reconcile what emerges as cognitive dissonance due to challenges to their religious identities. For skeptics who move from being unsure about climate change, moving to accept climate science happens through either encountering new information from a trusted source or personally observing the effects of climate change. This extends existing scholarship on the factors that contribute to changing minds on climate change.Perspectives of Agroforestry Practitioners on Agroforestry Adoption: Case Study of Selected SARE Participants
Olga Romanova Michael A. Gold Damon M. Hall Mary K. HendricksonAbstract: Agroforestry practices offer a compelling addition to conventional agriculture as they provide a broad range of economic, ecological, and social benefits. Despite its recognized potential, broad on-the-ground adoption of U.S. agroforestry remains limited. Factors influencing agroforestry adoption and dissemination bottlenecks by actual practitioners are underexplored. While previous studies have focused mostly on landowner and farmer interests in agroforestry, without them necessarily being practitioners, this research details the perspective of those who have actively implemented some agroforestry practices. Early adopters of agroforestry represent an essential catalyst for future agroforestry diffusion. Better understanding of the factors influencing their decisions and reasons behind agroforestry practice adoption will help to support and promote wider adoption. This research study documents the what and why questions of early-stage agroforestry adoption and the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that influence both adoption and discontinuation decisions. Recommendations are offered to target and attract more agroforestry practitioners.
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