Rural Sociology Commons^™

Environmental, Economic, And Social Changes In Rural America Visible In Survey Data And Satellite Images, Joel N. Hartter, Chris R. Colocousis

Carsey Publications

This brief focuses on the changing landscapes of different types of rural America where social, economic, and ecological changes are occurring over large areas: the Northern Forest, Central Appalachia, and the Pacific Northwest. These three study sites embody varying historical reliance on land and natural resources and represent very different socioeconomic dynamics. Their common and unique challenges are explored, along with the far-reaching implications of land-cover change in their areas. Data used includes both telephone surveys and satellite imagery to illustrate the unique changes seen in rural America in recent years. (Please note that it is best to print this …

Enduring Ties To Community And Nature: Charting An Alternative Future For Southeast Alaska, Jessica D. Ulrich, Thomas G. Safford

Carsey Publications

Like much of rural America, Southeast Alaska is confronting the social implications of both population declines and the downturn in natural resource-based industries. Although many residents have chosen to leave Alaska in the last decade, the majority have stayed. Strong social cohesion and intimate ties to the natural amenities of the region are what sustain rural Alaskans. It is these connections to people and place that may ultimately enable residents to create renewed and more resilient Alaskan communities. Examining the challenges faced by Southeast Alaska, this brief discusses ways to encourage community groups and governmental agencies to work collaboratively to …

How Far Would You Drive For Fresh Food? How Some Rural New Hampshire Residents Navigate A Dismal Food Landscape, Jennifer J. Esala

Carsey Publications

Lack of access to food stores with healthy and affordable food is one of the central obstacles to eradicating hunger in America. Approximately 23.5 million Americans live more than a mile from a supermarket, which makes accessing healthy food more challenging. Among low income populations, especially those with young children and limited transportation, this distance can severely limit access to affordable and healthy foods. This brief reports the challenges that eighteen rural New Hampshire mothers face to secure healthy, affordable, and quality foods and suggests ways to help address these challenges.

No Place Like Home: Place And Community Identity Among North Country Youth, Genevieve R. Cox, Corinna J. Tucker

Carsey Publications

This brief explores the link between rural youths’ identification with their community, their self-esteem, and their future plans. The panel study of New Hampshire’s Coos County youth offers a snapshot into the dynamics of a population that is developing its identity in a region that is undergoing an identity transformation of its own. Place identity may be influential in how individuals think of themselves and their futures, particularly for youth in the process of forming an identity. The study reveals the importance of developing community programs and activities for youth that create social ties to form a positive identification with …

Warren County Citizens For Managed Growth (Mss 355), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid for Manuscripts Collection 355. By-laws, minutes, newsletters, correspondence and other material related to WCCMG, an organization founded to deter development of the Kentucky Trimodal Transpark, located near the rural community of Oakland in Warren County, Kentucky. Also includes information about Oakland, Kentucky. A bibliography of newspaper articles about the Kentucky Trimodal Transpark is included. To access the bibliography click on "Additional File" below.

Factors That Impact Service Delivery To Individuals Living With Hiv/Aids In Rural Northeastern Texas, Wilma Cordova, H. Stephen Cooper, Freddie L. Avant

Faculty Publications

This study surveyed participants in focus groups to identify factors that affect individuals living with HIV/AIDS in rural northeastern Texas. The average age of the respondents was 45.44. Participants included a diverse group of American Europeans, Hispanics/Latinos, and African Americans. Although results are inconclusive, other studies have supported similar results regarding factors that impact treatment and services (Zuniga, Buchanan, & Chakravorty, 2005). Some of the factors include lack of financial resources for the consumer, stigma and discrimination, and lack of understanding on the part of the consumer and the community. More studies in rural areas serving people living with HIV/AIDS …

Animal Welfare: Perceptions Of Nonmetropolitan Nebraskans: 2011 Nebraska Rural Poll Results, Rebecca J. Vogt, Randolph L. Cantrell, Bradley Lubben, Connie Reimers-Hild

Nebraska Rural Poll

Almost all rural Nebraskans recognize the importance of livestock and poultry production to the state’s economy and most rural Nebraskans are familiar with livestock care practices. In fact, many rural Nebraskans have experience raising beef cattle, poultry and swine. They have less experience with dairy production.

Most rural Nebraskans believe animal welfare means providing adequate exercise, space and social activities for the animals in addition to food, water and shelter. However, the vast majority of rural Nebraskans agree that animal welfare means at least providing adequate food, water and shelter to livestock animals.

Most rural Nebraskans trust livestock farmers and …

Quality Of Life In Nonmetropolitan Nebraska: 2011 Nebraska Rural Poll Results, Rebecca J. Vogt, Randolph L. Cantrell, Bradley D. Lubben, Connie Reimers-Hild

Nebraska Rural Poll

Most rural Nebraskans are positive about their current situation. And, they continue to be generally positive about their future situation. Over one-half (52%) of rural Nebraskans think they are better off than they were five years ago and just under one-half (45%) think they will be better off ten years from now.

Certain groups remain pessimistic about their situation. Persons with lower household incomes, older persons, persons with lower educational levels and persons who are divorced or separated are the groups most likely to be pessimistic about the present and the future.

When asked if they believe people are powerless …

Community Life In Nonmetropolitan Nebraska: Current Perceptions And Future Strategies: 2011 Nebraska Rural Poll Results, Rebecca J. Vogt, Randolph L. Cantrell, Bradley D. Lubben, Connie Reimers-Hild

Nebraska Rural Poll

By many different measures, rural Nebraskans are positive about their community. Many rural Nebraskans rate their community as friendly, trusting and supportive. Most rural Nebraskans also say it would be difficult to leave their community. In addition, most rural Nebraskans disagree that their community is powerless to control its future.

Differences of opinion exist by the size of their community. Residents of smaller communities are more likely than residents of larger communities to rate their community favorably on its social dimensions and to have positive sentiments about their community. However, residents of larger communities are more likely than residents of …

The Digital Age: Nonmetropolitan Nebraskans’ Use Of Technology: 2011 Nebraska Rural Poll Results, Rebecca J. Vogt, Randolph L. Cantrell, Bradley D. Lubben, Connie Reimers-Hild

Nebraska Rural Poll

Most rural Nebraskans use the Internet or email from home. The groups most likely to use the Internet or email from home include: persons living in or near larger communities, residents of the Panhandle region, persons with higher household incomes, younger persons, females, married persons, persons with higher education levels and persons with management, professional or education occupations. The Internet applications used by the majority of rural Nebraskans include: research, looking for health information, purchasing a product, watching a video and social networking.

Most rural Nebraskans have positive opinions about shopping online: that the Internet is the best place to …

Nature, Domestic Labor, And Moral Community In Susan Fenimore Cooper's Rural Hours And Elinor Wyllys, Richard M. Magee

English Faculty Publications

Cooper's argument for a domestic ideal situated within a rural setting reinforces the importance of community connections through a shared sense of morality, as well as understanding of the natural world. Community alone—the human connections—never seems to be enough in Cooper's formulation, but must always exist with an awareness of the world outside the narrow confines of one's own domestic sphere. Concern for one's fellow-beings necessitates a concern for the world in which these beings live, and Cooper understands that when any bonds are broken—such as the bonds that connect us to the natural world—other bonds are threatened. Thus, when …

Alcohol And Other Drug Resistance Strategies Employed By Rural Adolescents, Jonathan Pettigrew, Michelle Miller-Day, Janice L. Krieger, Michael L. Hecht

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

This study seeks to identify how rural adolescents make health decisions and utilize communication strategies to resist influence attempts in offers of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs (ATOD). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 113 adolescents from rural school districts to solicit information on ATOD norms, past ATOD experiences, and substance offer response episodes. Rural youths’ resistance strategies were similar to previous findings with urban adolescents – refuse, explain, avoid, and leave (the REAL typology) – while unique features of these strategies were identified including the importance of personal narratives, the articulation of a non-user identity, and being “accountable” to self …

Nasis 2011: Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey Questionnaire, Bureau Of Sociological Research

Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey (NASIS)

[ About this Survey ] We need your help to learn about how Nebraskans' think, feel, and live. Your responses will help shape program and policy development in Nebraska now and into the future.

This survey includes questions on various topics, such as water issues, life processes, crime, and the media to name a few. Each section starts with a header to identify the topic related to the questions. We think you will find many, if not all, of the topics interesting and easy to answer.

68 questions; 12 pages

Factors That Contribute To Student Graduation And Dropout Rates: An In-Depth Study Of A Rural Appalachian School District, Ann Lyttle-Burns

Online Theses and Dissertations

There has been a wealth of research conducted on the national epidemic of high school dropouts spanning several decades. It is estimated that the class of 2009 cost the nation $335 billion in lost wages, taxes and productivity over their lifetimes (Alliance for Excellent Education, 2009). The citizenry of the country suffers not only because of the loss in revenue but also as a result of the education level of the population. Individuals who choose to drop out of high school are not prepared for the most basic minimum wage jobs available, much less well paying jobs that sustain livelihoods. …

Becoming A Teacher And Staying One: Examining The Complex Ecologies Associated With Educating And Retaining New Teachers In Rural Australia?, Margaret Plunkett, Michael Dyson

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The problem of teacher retention has intensified in Australia, particularly in rural areas, with a number of studies suggesting that beginning teachers are not entering the profession with a commitment to remaining there. This paper reports on a study of 102 new teachers graduating from a rural campus of a major Australian university. Utilising a self devised survey over a 3 year period, graduate reflections were captured on what it meant for them to become a teacher. The research sought to determine graduates’ goals and aspirations for working in the profession in both the long and the short term. Participants …

Boundaries And Breaches: Complexities And Strategies Down On The Farm, Debra S. Kershaw

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Employing a wide range of theoretical and methodological tools, practitioners within an array of disciplines have attempted to gain new understanding about the structural changes in the agricultural system in the United States and around the world. From Agricultural Economists to Sociologists, quantitative and qualitative research has attempted to shed light on structural change in agriculture and its implications for the real lives of farmers, their families, and consumers of their goods. The current research adopts a comparative-historical approach to examining the particular affects of structural change in six counties in central Nebraska. The general theoretical frame on which this …

Nutrient Management Record Keeping Calendar, July 2011-December 2012, Leslie J. Johnson, Charles Shapiro, Charles Wortmann, Chris G. Henry, Larry Howard, Tamilee D. Nennich

Nebraska Cooperative Extension: Faculty and Staff Publications

Records for Nebraska Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations

Record the initials of the person performing the inspection each time. Check marks will not satisfy the record-keeping requirements.

Record any maintenance and/or repairs.

Correct all deficiencies within 30 days.

Factors Influencing Community Response To Locally Undesirable Land Uses: A Case Study Of Bluegrass Stockyards, Terry Logan Lunsford

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Community development is an ongoing issue that faces communities as they develop. This is a case study where two communities where faced with an identical development proposal involving Bluegrass Stockyards. Bluegrass Stockyards a prominent livestock marketing business, located in Lexington, KY needed to relocate its facility and looked at communities in Lincoln and Woodford County Kentucky as possible new locations.

By looking at the case of Bluegrass Stockyards this study is able to use Conflict Theory, Growth Theory and Frame Analysis to look at the development process and issues that was associated with this development proposal. With the two communities …

“You’Re Surviving But I Don’T See How You’Re Living” Appalachian Women Talk About Tanf And Employment In Their Communities, Pon-Chu Tsou

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

This thesis studies qualitative data to examine the lived experiences of Kentucky Transitional Assistance Program (K-TAP) recipients in Appalachian Kentucky. This research suggests that PRWORA legislation utilize the importance of place-based analyses to implement and evaluate poverty policy. For women who are attempting to meet PRWORA’s goals, the local services available to the women and the barriers they face to employment highlight the role place has in this national policy discussion. Of the women interviewed, recipients who resided in economically distressed areas had fewer opportunities to participate in employment activities than women in at-risk or transitional areas. While many strived …

Assessing Rule-Based Governance Mechanisms In An Era Of Scientism, Maki Hatanaka

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

With neoliberal reforms and economic globalization, much of the regulation of food and agriculture is shifting from the state to the private sphere. Building on Busch’s work on science, the state, and the market, this paper examines the ways in which the governance of food and agriculture has become increasingly scientized with the use of third-party certification (TPC). TPC is a rule-based governance mechanism that consists of technical rules and procedures, which are based on scientific norms and practices. Using longitudinal research on an organic shrimp project in Indonesia, this paper examines the practices of TPC. Specifically, the focus is …

Constructing Credibility: Using Technoscience To Legitimate Strategies In Agrifood Governance, Carmen Bain, Elizabeth Ransom, Michelle R. Worosz

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

Agrifood scholars working within a political economy framework increasingly draw upon the concept of governance to analyze the regulation of global agricultural and food systems. An important limitation of this approach is that it fails to explain how governance strategies are legitimated. Drawing on three diverse cases that span three continents, our paper examines how standards makers appeal to technoscientific norms and values to establish both credibility for their standards and their authority in constructing them. These cases explore the development and implementation of a standard requiring complete elimination of a tart cherry insect pest in the United States; the …

Food, The Environment, And Democracy: A Case Study Of The Marine Conservation Movement's Shift From State-Centered To Market-Based Approaches, Jason Konefal

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

This paper examines the shift by the marine conservation movement from state-centered to market-based strategies and its implications for the democratization of food and agriculture. Using two theoretical frameworks form social movement theory – the opportunities approach and resource mobilization theory – three factors are identified as driving the shift by marine conservation organizations to market-based strategies. First, limited success using state-centered strategies created the impetus for marine conservation organizations to seek out alternative strategies. Second, changes in food and agriculture created opportunities for market based strategies. Specifically, the emergence of retailers as leader actors, the development of an economy …

Technoscience In Agriculture: Reflections On The Contributions Of The Msu School Of Sociology Of Food And Agriculture, Keiko Tanaka, Arunsa Juska

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

This paper argues that one of the most important contributions of the MSU School of Agrifood Governance and Technoscience (MSU-SAGT) was its focus on previously less explored and analyzed roles of technoscience in agriculture.The notion of technoscience was derived from the broader field of Science and Technology Studies, especially from Actor Network Theory.Studies conducted under Lawrence Busch’s direction conceptualized this notion to indicate networks/collectives of human and nonhuman actors implicated in production, distribution and consumption of food. While these studies analyzed the role of technoscience in transforming agriculture, they also examined ethical issues (e.g.,social justice and democracy)that arise from the …

An Interview With Dr. Lawrence Busch Of The Michigan State University School Of Agrifood Governance And Technoscience, Jason Konefal, Maki Hatanaka

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

An Interview with Dr. Lawrence Busch of the Michigan State University School of Agrifood Governance and Technoscience

Science, Standards, And Power: New Food Safety Governance In California, Diana Stuart

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

In 2006, an outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 associated with California spinach resulted in widespread illness across the United States. The magnitude of the outbreak and the resulting media attention demanded a change in the governance of leafy green produce. Drawing from more than 130 personal interviews, this paper critically examines how powerful players in the produce industry organized a strategic approach to governing leafy greens production in California. Networks are used to explore the evolution of new industry-led food safety standards and how they directly conflicted with and overpowered environmental agendas. This paper highlights serious concerns regarding participation and …

A Note On The Economy Of Qualities: Attributing Production Practices To Agricultural Practices, B. James Deaton, Lawrence Busch, Warren J. Samuels, Paul B. Thompson

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

Agricultural products are valued for many attributes including those that describe production practices. These production attributes are established through public and private efforts to promulgate standards and labels that differentiate products based on labor treatment, environmental impact, animal welfare, and other practices that occur during production. Organizations, like third-party certifiers, coordinate information and give credence to products in a way that enables consumers to differentiate products by production practices. Libertarian and utilitarian arguments may be used in the normative debate surrounding the appropriate role of government in sponsoring standards and labels that inform consumers about the modes of production.

Patrick J. Carr And Maria J. Kefalas, Hollowing Out The Middle: The Rural Brain Drain And What It Means For America, Peter A. Kindle

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

Review of Hollowing Out the Middle: The Rural Brain Drain and What It Means for America, by Patrick J. Carr and Maria J. Kefalas

Governance, Globalization, And The State, Alessandro Bonanno

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Sustainably Performed: Reconciling Global Value Chain Governance And Performativity, Allison Loconto

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

Merging theories of performativity with Global Value Chains (GVC) analysis, I explore how standards are used within GVCs to govern interactions among actors and to perform a multiplicity of ‘sustainabilities.’ Specifically, this paper presents four case studies of certified tea production in Tanzania (i.e., the Ethical Tea Partnership, Fairtrade, Organic, and Rainforest Alliance) to reveal how visions of sustainability are enacted by different actors in each certified value chain. This analysis reveals that, while the Rainforest Alliance and Ethical Tea Partnership ‘sustainabilities’ are ‘generically’ performed,the Fairtrade andOrganic ‘sustainabilities’ are ‘effective’ in enacting multiple versions of sustainability that have facilitated changes …

The Michigan State University School Of Agrifood Governance And Technoscience: Democracy, Justice, And Sustainability In An Age Of Scientism, Marketism, And Statism, Jason Konefal, Maki Hatanaka

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

In this article, we introduce the Michigan State University (MSU) School of Agrifood Governance and Technoscience. Centered on the work of Dr. Lawrence Busch, the MSU School examines how science, the market, and the state function in food and agriculture, and possibilities to make these institutions more democratic, equitable, and just. Research by the MSU School consists of four specific foci: (1) actor-network theory and commodity studies, (2) standards, (3) third-party certification and tripartite standards regimes, and (4) supermarkets and supply chain management. We review each of these areas and discuss how the research in each contributes to democratizing science, …