Rural Sociology Commons^™

The Geography Of New Manufacturing Technology: Implications For The Nonmetropolitan South, David A. Mcgranahan

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

Despite the growth in services, manufacturing remains an essential part of the nonmetropolitan South's economy, responsible for 25 percent of total personal earnings. But low-education nonmetropolitan areas, which gained more than their share of manufacturing jobs in the 1970s and 1980s, lost jobs in the 1990s. Their manufacturing base is threatened not only by low-wage competition from abroad, but also by the spread of new technologies, which is raising the demand for production worker skills. Data from the Economic Research Service Rural Manufacturing Survey (RMS) show that labor quality is a central problem for adopters, particularly in low-education areas. The …

Industry Clusters And Rural Labor Markets, G. Andrew Bernat Jr.

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

Along with the recent resurgence of interest in the agglomeration and clustering of economic activity, there has been increasing interest in industry clusters as a potential economic development strategy. Ultimately, the question of whether or not clusters are an appropriate focus of economic development strategies for rural areas depends on the relationship between clusters and local economic growth. The primary purpose of this paper is to discuss some of the issues involved in measuring the relationship between clusters and rural economic growth. Preliminary evidence of a positive association between industry clusters and rural earnings growth are presented, supporting the notion …

Introduction To The Special Issues (Volumes 15 & 16) On Southern Rural Labor Markets, Lionel J. Beaulieu, David Freshwater

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

Introduction to the Special Issues on Southern Rural Labor Markets

Functional Skill Requirements Of Manufacturing Employment In The Rural South, Timothy R. Wojan

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

This analysis compares the functional skill requirements of manufacturing employment in rural and urban areas of six Southern states. The General Educational Development-Reasoning Scale provides information on the cognitive requirements of various work tasks while Specific Vocational Preparation provides information on the time of training needed for average performance in a job. The analysis identifies three distinct patterns of comparative skill requirements. Traditional Rural Production is characterized by substantial low-skill employment in both rural and urban areas-the modest number of high-skilled workers are found predominantly in urban areas. Spatial Division of Labor Production is characterized by a large share of …

Is Tonga's Mirab Economy Sustainable? A View From The Village And A View Without It, Mike Evans

Pacific Studies

The development implications of the now-classic MIRAB economic pattern for South Pacific microstates (with economies dominated by overseas remittances and foreign aid) have attracted considerable attention. Some scholars argue the MIRAB pattern is well entrenched and can be sustained with a minimum of undesirable social and economic outcomes. Others decry the acceptance of the dependency of South Pacific nations and argue for renewed effort toward the development of self-sustaining economies. I argue that the debate must directly address the underlying social relations that facilitate and shape migration and remittances. In Tonga, the movement of people from rural areas has wide-ranging …

Harrowing Heroines And Communist Plots: Krest'ianka And Rural Policy, 1946-1949, Rachael Preiss Susman

Dissertations and Theses

After World War II, women became very important to the Soviet plan to reassert control over the countryside and reestablish agriculture in those areas hard hit by war. This happened because long term migration trends to the city and wartime casualties had made women the majority in the countryside. There was a need for them to exceed their previous contributions to agriculture, even as they struggled to cope with wartime losses.

State propaganda encouraged rural women to regard employment in agriculture as their patriotic duty. This study analyzes one publication aimed at rural women, Krest'ianka, and examines the following …

Educational Quality And County Government Services: Rural Nebraskans' Perceived Impacts Of Recent And Proposed Legislation, John C. Allen, R. Filkins, Sam Cordes

Publications from the Center for Applied Rural Innovation (CARI)

Many changes have been occurring in rural Nebraska in the area of local finances. Recent school finance legislation has changed the formula that distributes state aid to schools (LB 806) and also imposed new property tax levy limits on school districts (LB 1114). Discussions have also arisen about consolidating county offices and services. Given all these changes, how do rural Nebraskans feel about these issues? How do they feel the new school finance legislation has affected the quality of education in their local school district? Do they support the consolidation of certain county government offices and services with a neighboring …

The Charm And Challenges Of Living In Nebraska’S Rural Communities, John C. Allen, Rebecca Filkins, Sam Cordes

Publications from the Center for Applied Rural Innovation (CARI)

Nebraska’s rural communities have experienced many changes in recent years. Depopulation and pressures to consolidate some of their services and government offices are only some of the challenges they are currently facing. How have these changes affected rural Nebraskans’ perceptions of their communities and the services available? Do their perceptions differ by the size of their community, the region in which they live, or by their occupation?

This report details results of 3,036 responses to the 1999 Nebraska Rural Poll, the fourth annual effort to take the pulse of rural Nebraskans. Respondents were asked a series of questions about their …

Review Of Social Work In Rural Communities. Leon H. Ginsberg (Ed.). Reviewed By Marie D. Hoff, Boise State University., Marie D. Hoff

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Leon H. Ginsberg (Ed.). Social Work in Rural Communities. Council on Social Work Education: Alexandria, VA. 1998. $17.00 papercover.

Rural Nebraska Tomorrow: The Gap Between The Preferred And Expected Future, John C. Allen, Rebecca Filkins, Sam Cordes

Publications from the Center for Applied Rural Innovation (CARI)

Many changes have occurred in rural Nebraska in the past twenty years. Globalization, centralization of agriculture, and an increase in telecommunication technologies have prompted many adjustments for rural Nebraskans. Given all these changes, what do they prefer to happen in the next twenty years? What do they prefer agriculture, their communities, their family structure and local government to look like? Also, are the futures they prefer similar to those they expect to see?

This report details results of 3,036 responses to the 1999 Nebraska Rural Poll, the fourth annual effort to take the pulse of rural Nebraskans. Respondents were asked …

Predicting Community Satisfaction Among Rural Residents: An Integrative Model, Rebecca Filkins, John C. Allen, Sam Cordes

Publications from the Center for Applied Rural Innovation (CARI)

Community satisfaction has often been linked to the level of satisfaction with a community’s infrastructure, job opportunities and social support networks. Yet, most empirical analyses of community satisfaction have focused on only one aspect of the available theory to predict community satisfaction. In this paper, we integrate multiple models to analyze community satisfaction of almost 4,000 rural Nebraskans. The integrated model indicates that social ties may have a greater role in predicting community satisfaction than had been previously thought.

The Quality Of Life Of Rural Nebraskans, John C. Allen, Rebecca Filkins, Sam Cordes

Publications from the Center for Applied Rural Innovation (CARI)

Nebraska’s economy has shown growth during recent years. However, the agricultural economy has been experiencing a decline in market prices for most commodities. How have these changes affected rural Nebraskans? How do they perceive their quality of life? Do their perceptions differ by the size of their community, the region in which they live, or their occupation?

This report details results of 3,036 responses to the 1999 Nebraska Rural Poll, the fourth annual effort to take the pulse of rural Nebraskans. Respondents were asked a series of questions about their general well-being and their satisfaction with specific aspects of well-being. …

A Study Of Community Satisfaction, Environmental Concern, And Attitudes Toward Development On Virginia's Eastern Shore, Tasha M. Brown

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

This study assesses community satisfaction, prodevelopment attitudes, environmental concern and intent to move on Virginia's Eastern Shore, an area that is experiencing population decline, high poverty levels, and competing interests of economic development and environmental concern. Poverty levels on the Eastern Shore differ substantially by race with 35 percent of Blacks compared to 12 percent of Whites living in poverty in 1990. Human capital theory suggests that rural residents, and rural minorities in particular, have lower incomes and more unemployment because they are not increasing their human capital through education and training. A review of previous research led to four …

Global Competition And Community: The Struggle For Social Justice, Donna Chollett

Anthropology Publications

The above two quotations embody disparate worldviews with regard to the neoliberal project that has enveloped much of Latin America in the past decade. Globalization intensifies the region's integration into the world economy through neoliberal reforms such as market opening, privatizations, and rationalization of production. These reforms are transforming rural societies, raising important questions concerning policies that selectively favor new strategies for capital investment and production oriented toward market expansion, as they marginalize surplus workers and "inefficient" forms of production. This paper contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the contradictions brought about by globalization and local people's struggles to …

The Charm And Challenges Of Living In Nebraska’S Rural Communities, Rebecca J. Vogt

Nebraska Rural Poll

Nebraska’s Changing Agriculture: Perceptions about the Swine Industry

The Quality Of Life Of Rural Nebraskans, Rebecca J. Vogt

Nebraska Rural Poll

Community Life in Rural Nebraska: Trends and Comparisons

Educational Quality And County Government Services: Rural Nebraskans' Perceived Impacts Of Recent And Proposed Legislation, Rebecca J. Vogt

Nebraska Rural Poll

The Quality of Life of Rural Nebraskans

Rural Nebraska Tomorrow: The Gap Between The Preferred And Expected Future, Rebecca J. Vogt

Nebraska Rural Poll

Rural Nebraskans’ Perceptions of Tax Restructuring and Local Schools

Rural Social Work Bibliography (1999), Roger A. Lohmann, Nancy Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

This bibliography was assembled in response to a request from OUP for a rural bibliography on their website prior to publication of our edited book on Rural Social Work Practice (Oxford University Press. 2005).

Agricultural Concentration: An Analysis By Commodity, Don E. Albrecht

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

One of the most striking consequences of the industrialization of agriculture in the United States is the extent to which production is becoming increasingly concentrated on a relatively few farms. In this study, a human ecological perspective and nationwide census data at the county level from 1982, 1987, and 1992 were used to explore concentration in the dairy, hog, and beef cattle industries. Wide differences were found in the extent of concentration from commodity to commodity and from county to county. It was found that in counties where the production of one commodity is highly concentrated, the production of other …

Editor's Note, Glenn D. Israel

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Geographic Information Systems: A Tool For Rural Community Research, Sarah Dewees, Timothy Collins

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

Because of their traditional application in the environmental and geological sciences, geographic information systems are not usually considered to be useful tools for rural community research or analysis. The 1990 census made socio-economic data available at the block-group level, however, and this has facilitated the mapping of socio-economic variables in small areas. Insight, explanation, and understanding can come from seeing data in their spatial context. Citizen researchers in the Jackson County, KY, Empowerment Zone used block-group level data in maps of their county to study socio-economic patterns in their communities. This paper provides an example of a way to use …

Violence Prevention In Georgia's Rural Public Schools: Perceptions Of School Superintendents, Chet Ballard

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

A survey of school superintendents in 81 public school systems in rural Georgia was conducted to describe strategies being pursued to prevent school violence and promote a safe and disciplined learning environment. Among the surveyed superintendents, there was widespread recognition of school safety as a high priority item and evidence of use of law enforcement and technology to deter violence in schools. Descriptive data analysis suggests that school size and county economic conditions relate to school superintendents’ assessment of school safety and potential for violence. This research addresses a void in the literature on violence in rural schools and provides …

The Challenge Of Welfare Reform: Earnings And The Cost Of Living In Rural Kentucky, Julie N. Zimmerman, Lorraine Garkovich

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

The passage in 1996 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunities Act may well mark the single most consequential social legislation of this decade, especially for rural southern families, for it marked a fundamental shift in the welfare system in the U.S. No longer focused on hardship relief, cash assistance now has a work-first focus, with mandatory work requirements and lifetime limits for recipients. Underlying this legislation have been four assumptions about the nature of the labor market and welfare recipients' characteristics and opportunities. This article examines the utility of these assumptions, especially in the context of the regional and …

Perceived Barriers To Labor Force Participation Among Welfare Recipients In West Virginia, Melissa Latimer

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

This research utilizes data collected by the Children's Policy Institute (CPI) of West Virginia in 1993 to identify perceived barriers to labor force participation for families with children receiving AFDC and/or Food Stamps. By merging data on West Virginia from several county-level data sources with the CPI data, this multi-level research identifies the major barriers West Virginia welfare recipients perceive as limiting their labor force participation (i.e., as explaining their current unemployment status). This research also examines how the barriers identified vary among welfare recipients.

A Sociological Perspective Of The Mobile Home In Appalachian Eastern Kentucky, Travis Lance George

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A thesis presented to the faculty of the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences at Morehead State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Sociology by Travis Lance George on December 2, 1998.

Leaving The Good Life: Predicting Migration Intentions Of Rural Nebraskans, Rebecca Filkins, John C. Allen, Sam Cordes

Publications from the Center for Applied Rural Innovation (CARI)

Much has been written about the population turnaround in the nonmetropolitan United States in the 1990's. While only 45% of the nonmetropolitan counties experienced population growth during the 1980's, it was estimated that nearly 74% of the these counties grew between 1990 and 1994 (Johnson, 1996). However, over one-half of Nebraska’s nonmetropolitan counties have continued to experience population declines between 1990 and 1997 (Population Estimates Program, Population Division, U.S. Bureau of the Census, Washington, DC). The question then remains, “Why are people moving from nonmetropolitan counties in Nebraska?” This paper attempts to answer that question by analyzing the migration intentions …

First-Class Versus Pre-Canceled Postage: A Cost/Benefit Analysis, R. Filkins, John C. Allen, Sam Cordes

Publications from the Center for Applied Rural Innovation (CARI)

This paper examines the costs and benefits of using first-class postage compared to non-profit, pre-canceled postage in inducing response to a self-administered mail questionnaire. An experiment was conducted with the outgoing postage for the 1998 Nebraska Rural Poll. Twenty-five percent of the outgoing questionnaires were mailed with first-class postage, with the remaining seventy-five percent having non-profit, pre-canceled postage affixed. The results showed that there was no statistically significant difference in response rates between the two groups, there were no differences in demographic characteristics between the two postage groups, and the use of non-profit, pre-canceled postage resulted in substantial cost savings.

Nebraska’S Changing Agriculture: Perceptions About The Swine Industry, John C. Allen, Rebecca Filkins, Sam Cordes, Eric Jarecki

Publications from the Center for Applied Rural Innovation (CARI)

The livestock industry has been restructuring during the past several decades, resulting in fewer and larger farms as well as some vertical integration. One particular livestock sector, hogs, has received much attention in Nebraska during the past year. An increase in the applications for new hog confinement facilities has caused concern for some rural residents. Some are worried about environmental damage, while others are concerned about economic implications for smaller farms. However, supporters of these facilities point to additional jobs and other economic benefits they can bring to a community. Given these issues, how do rural Nebraskans feel about large-scale …

Rural Nebraskans’ Perceptions Of Tax Restructuring And Local Schools, John C. Allen, Rebecca Filkins, Sam Cordes, Eric J. Jarecki

Publications from the Center for Applied Rural Innovation (CARI)

School finance in Nebraska has been altered dramatically in recent years. School districts have been required to reduce their property tax levy to $1.10 per $100 in valuation this year. In addition, the formula for state aid has been changed. Many schools are scrambling to make changes to reach this levy lid. Some are considering cutting programs, cutting staff or even consolidation to deal with the limited funding. Many of these changes in school funding have resulted from a demand by Nebraskans for lower taxes and controlled government spending. Given these issues, how do rural Nebraskans feel about the current …