Showing papers in "Rural Sociology in 2018"

Rural Conservatism or Anarchism? The Pro‐state, Stateless, and Anti‐state Positions

Abstract: Popular discourse today so weds rurality and conservatism together in the United States that one does not seem quite at home without the other. But what is it really about the rural that beckons slapjack labels of conservatism? Scholars and practitioners, only a handful of them rural sociologists, have suggested a variety of explanations: antigovernmentalism, religion, lack of education, manual labor, poverty, primitivism, and a culture of poverty, among others. Each of these approaches, though, misses a sustained agent of rural dispossession and depopulation: the state. This article theorizes rural politics through pro-state, stateless, and anti-state positions. I bridge literature that documents the state as an agent of industrialization, extraction, exploitation, consolidation, and corporatization in rural America and literature on politics and the rural. In the process of my review, I suggest anarchism can help explain the significance and potential of the stateless and anti-state positions in rural politics.

Soil as Social‐Ecological Feedback: Examining the “Ethic” of Soil Stewardship among Corn Belt Farmers

Abstract: In this article we examine in-depth interviews with farmers (n = 159) from nine Corn Belt states. Using a grounded theory approach, we identified a “soil stewardship ethic,” which exemplifies how farmers are talking about building the long-term sustainability of their farm operation in light of more variable and extreme weather events. Findings suggest that farmers' shifting relationship with their soil resources may act as a kind of social-ecological feedback that enables farmers to implement adaptive strategies (e.g., no-till farming, cover crops) that build resilience in the face of increasingly variable and extreme weather, in contrast to emphasizing short-term adjustments to production that may lead to greater vulnerability over time. The development of a soil stewardship ethic may help farmers to resolve the problem of an apparent trade-off between short-term productivist goals and long-term conservation goals and in doing so may point toward an emergent aspect of a conservationist identity. Focusing on the message of managing soil health to mitigate weather-related risks and preserving soil resources for future generations may provide a pragmatic solution for helping farmers to reorient farm production practices, which would have soil building and soil saving at their center.

The Spatial Concentration of America's Rural Poor Population: A Postrecession Update†

Abstract: This article examines changes in concentrated poverty in the rural United States between 2000 and 2012. Using data from the decennial census and American Community Survey, we address three main objectives. First, we document changes in the number and share of counties with poverty rates above 20, 30, and 40 percent, stratifying our sample by metropolitan status. Second, we use exploratory spatial methods to identify geographic patterns in county-level poverty dynamics between 2000 and 2012. Third, we estimate the share of the population living in high-poverty counties, and track changes over time and by race and poverty status. Overall, we find a substantial increase in concentrated poverty since 2000. Increases in both the number of high-poverty counties and the share of the population living in these counties were widespread, though spatially and temporally uneven in some cases. We also observe convergence in concentrated poverty between rural and micropolitan areas, and between non-Hispanic white and Hispanic populations. Overall, we observe a reversal of the declines in concentrated poverty that occurred in the 1990s, and find that in many cases this trend began prior to the Great Recession.

Fracking Fortunes: Economic Well-being and Oil and Gas Development along the Urban-Rural Continuum

Abstract: Oil and gas extraction, especially via unconventional means like hydraulic fracturing, is hailed as an economic boon by many commentators and political leaders. However, empirical evidence is limited. In this article, we consider the socioeconomic effects (particularly, related to poverty, employment, income, and wages) of unconventional oil and gas extraction using a national data set of U.S. counties. We use a novel between- and within-county random effects modeling strategy to capture both resource curse and boomtown dynamics. Further, we allow the effect of oil and gas development to be conditioned by county rurality. Broadly, our findings suggest that oil and gas development has very complex effects at the county level. Within-county growth in oil and gas production slightly improves most economic outcomes, but counties that specialize in oil and gas development tend to perform worse than other counties. We find that, in general, the effect of within-county oil and gas production is not significantly moderated by county rurality.

Food Self-provisioning in Europe: An Exploration of Sociodemographic Factors in Five Regions

Abstract: This article presents the results of an international comparative study on food self-provisioning, an activity still widespread in the countries of the Global North. We collected the data in a sociological survey done in 2010 as a part of the household energy use research project GILDED. We selected a region with urban and rural areas as a case study in each of the five EU countries, including Scotland, the Netherlands, Germany, the Czech Republic, and Hungary. Our article raises two main research questions: (1) What is the level of food self-provisioning in the regions? (2) Who participates in it? Additionally, we inquired into the motivations of self-provisioners using the results of analyses of sociodemographic and food consumption habits for their interpretation. We found that the level of self-provisioning varies considerably among the regions. Its share ranges from 13 percent in Dutch urban areas to 58 percent in German rural areas. The effects of some sociodemographic and geographic factors differ significantly among the countries. However, we can summarize that living in one's own property, living in a house or in a rural area, having a partner or children, being retired, or having a low income increases the probability of food self-provisioning.

Culture Clash? Predictors of Views on Amenity‐Led Development and Community Involvement in Rural Recreation Counties

Abstract: Development is contentious in high-amenity rural areas experiencing migration-driven population growth. While some residents welcome the associated economic, demographic, and social changes, others resist these changes. Using survey data, we examine the predictors of views on amenity-led development in rural recreation counties across the United States, including to what extent there is evidence of a “culture clash,” that is, whether values and attitudes of new and long-term residents differ about local development issues as is often assumed. In addition, we examine whether attitudes toward development impact an important community outcome—residents’ involvement in their community. We find that development broadly speaking is a divisive issue in rural recreation areas and that there is evidence for a culture clash over development. Newer residents are less likely to see development as a problem in their community than long-term residents, yet more likely to think existing rules to restrict development are good, providing mixed support for the “gangplank” hypothesis. We find that those who see development as a problem are more likely to be involved in local organizations. This research provides a better understanding of views of development in rural recreation counties and evidence of how these attitudes matter in broader community outcomes.

Busted amidst the Boom: The Creation of New Insecurities and Inequalities within Pennsylvania's Shale Gas Boomtowns

Abstract: In the mid-2000s new technological innovations newly enabled the extraction of natural gas through the use of hydraulic fracturing within gas-bearing shale and other unconventional reserves. As a consequence, many places, often in economically lagging rural areas, have seen dramatic change as they are transformed through “boomtown” development. Although scholarship on boomtown development has long explored social disruption associated with the sudden influx of workers and the rapid economic development, this literature has tended to overlook the ways in which such development can in fact create new poverty, inequalities and insecurity. This paper, through an examination of community change within Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale region, uses key informant interviews and institutional secondary data to explore the creation of new poverty and insecurity precisely as a consequence of rapid economic “boomtown” development. * This work has been funded in part by the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, the Penn State Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research, as well as by Penn State’s Children, Family and Youth Consortium. I wish to acknowledge the contributions of Daniella Hall, Ian BurfootRochford, Erin McHenry Sorber, Catharine Biddle, Leland Glenna, Brandn Green, Yetkin Borlu, as well as Kathryn Brasier and the members of the Penn State Marcellus Shale Impacts Project, all whom have in various ways importantly contributed to this work.

Groundwater Citizenship and Water Supply Awareness: Investigating Water‐Related Infrastructure and Well Ownership

Abstract: Due to increased demands for irrigation water, the availability of groundwater has been a growing problem in Kansas, where the future of the High Plains aquifer is in jeopardy. This article investigates the environmental stewardship of Kansas well owners, a key social group whose protection of water supplies is pivotal to prolonging groundwater formations. My guiding research question is: Does owning a well lead to a distinct form of citizenship? To answer this, I constructed one of the only data sets of well owners used in sociology by surveying 864 well owners and non–well owners throughout Kansas. My findings reveal that well owners are more aware of the state's water supplies than the general population, they express environmental motivations to conserve water, they deliberately conserve water more often than non–well owners, and well ownership is significantly correlated with highly ranking water security as a challenge facing Kansas. Furthermore, a majority of well owners check their well depth and test for water contamination, routines that connect them to their water supply. This suggests that well owners exhibit “groundwater citizenship” and can be conceptualized as aquifer stewards.

What Is Local Food Entrepreneurship? Variations in the Commercially and Socially Oriented Features of Entrepreneurship in the Southeastern Arizona Local Food System

Abstract: Entrepreneurial activities are sometimes framed as market-based strategies that compromise the integrity of the movement against the global agrifood system. Other times, scholars have argued that entrepreneurship is a critical component of local food system viability. This study helps reconcile these conflicting views through a qualitative exploration of the variations in the commercially and socially oriented features of local food entrepreneurship in the southeastern Arizona local food system. Researchers gathered data between August 2014 and December 2016 through semistructured interviews with and direct observations of 36 southeastern Arizona local food entrepreneurs. A conceptual continuum that articulates the variations between commercial and social entrepreneurship according to market condition, mission, resource mobilization, and performance measurement guides the exploration. The findings reveal commercial and social variations in local food entrepreneurship to be assorted, yet synergistic enactments of the economic, environmental, and social conditions and principles that characterize the southeastern Arizona local food system. The findings push the local food entrepreneurship narrative beyond the limitations of a rigid activist-market dichotomy by illuminating the synergistic complexities that influence the form and function of local food systems. The article discusses implications for both local food practitioners and scholars.

“It's Definitely a Good Time to Be a Farmer”: Understanding the Changing Dynamics of Successor Creation in Late Modern Society†

Abstract: This paper considers the implications of the wider systemic shift from modernity to late modernity, on the process of intergenerational farm transfer. The paper argues that the shift from the collective to the individual, indicative of late modern society, is particularly pertinent in the context of intergenerational transfer, which has long been rooted in collective thinking. Drawing on the perspectives of incumbent farmers and potential successors, the paper utilises results from semi-structured interviews with 29 farmers and 19 potential successors in Devon, England. Using a thematic analysis, the paper provides a nuanced understanding of the impact of the systemic shift and the associated emphasis on the individual on successor identification. Although the paper reaffirms understanding of successor creation as a collective process, determined by factors such as gender and birth order, it also identifies an emergent cohort of younger potential successors, for whom succession was the outcome of an evaluation of farming as a career. It concludes that, within the case study area, modernization is changing the way in which farm children are identifying themselves as ‘the successor’. The paper suggests how this increasingly judicious approach to succession, leaves reproduction of the family farm increasingly vulnerable to negative externalities.

Women's Work? The Relationship between Farmwork and Gender Self‐Perception

Abstract: Women have long been involved in agricultural production, yet farming and ranching have been associated with masculinity and men. In recent years women have become more involved and more likely to take active and equal roles on farms and ranches and thus increasingly are doing tasks that have been associated with masculinity. Prior work indicates that women are perceived by others as more masculine when they do these tasks, but less work has focused on the association between women’s involvement in farming and women’s own perceptions of their gender (i.e., how masculine or feminine they feel). Using 2006 survey data from a random sample of women in livestock and grain operations in Washington State, we find that women’s involvement in farm and ranch tasks is associated with their gender selfperception, with more involvement being associated with a more masculine self-perception. Women who view their primary role as independent agricultural producers or full partners also perceive themselves as more masculine than women who view their primary role as homemaker. We discuss the implications of these findings for women’s experiences in agriculture. digitalcommons.unl.edu Smyth, Swendener , & Kazyak in Rural So c iolo gy (2018) 2

“People Will Bury Their Guns before They Surrender Them”: Implementing Domestic Violence Gun Control in Rural, Appalachian versus Urban Communities

Abstract: Though gun violence is a global issue, the risk of firearm death is substantially higher in the United States than in other high-income nations. Guns are deeply rooted within American culture; however, different subcultures exist along the urban-rural divide. Such differences between urban and rural communities related to gun culture have been dubbed “firearm localism.” We investigated firearm localism in a state that has the highest proportion of firearm-related domestic violence homicide and a large rural area representing a subgroup of rural culture: Appalachia. Specifically, key professionals reported issues related to domestic violence gun control in their communities. We conducted phone and in-person surveys with a sample of community professionals (N = 133) working in victim services and the justice system in urban and Appalachian communities. Despite evidence of a strong gun culture in the rural communities, both urban and rural professionals estimated that about two-thirds of their community would support restricting abusers' firearm access. Additionally, rural professionals were more likely to show concern for abusers' Second Amendment rights when discussing unintended negative consequences of gun confiscation; urban professionals were more likely to point out that gun confiscation can provide a false sense of security for victims. Policy implications are discussed.

Land Tenure Legacies, Household Life Cycles, and Livelihood Strategies in Upland China

Abstract: Land tenure regimes shape how households use labor and other resources to construct livelihoods. Within a given tenure regime, shifting land-labor relationships over the household life cycle present households with changing trade-offs. In China, alongside growing market exchange of labor and produce, the legacies of land distribution following decollectivization—in particular, secure access to land and constraints on land transfers—create distinct patterns connecting livelihood strategies to household life cycles. Drawing on a household survey conducted in upland southwest China, we use latent class analysis to identify clusters of households with differing livelihood strategies. With multinomial logistic regression analyses, we evaluate the effects of household demographic composition, household resources, and community human ecological attributes on cluster membership. Households that had recently been established at the time of decollectivization have not divided their holdings. Their large labor and land endowments support diversifying strategies that include relatively large scale farming. Among other households, partitioning has yielded middle-sized households with diversifying strategies and small households that specialize in on-farm production or deactivate from agriculture. These clusters vary in labor exchange practices and agricultural input use. Rather than a cyclical pattern, this configuration reflects time-bound relationships among national tenure institutions, local markets, and household processes.

Co-opting Authority and Privatizing Force in Rural Africa: Ensuring Corporate Power over Land and People

Abstract: Funded by Radboud University Nijmegen and the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland I would like to thank Radboud University Nijmegen for supporting the initial six months of fieldwork for this project with a faculty fieldwork grant in 2012, and the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland for supporting the follow‐up field trip in November−December 2013 with a Carnegie research grant.

Income Groups, Social Capital, and Collective Action on Small-Scale Irrigation Facilities : A Multigroup Analysis Based on a Structural Equation Model

Abstract: This article examines whether relationships between social capital characteristics and the willingness of farmers to cooperate in collective action is moderated by the farmers' income level. We employed a structural equation model to analyze the influence of social capital components (social networks, interpersonal trust, social reciprocity, and social participation) on the willingness of farmers to cooperate in collective small-scale irrigation in Guangling County, Shanxi Province of China. This analysis was complemented by a multigroup analysis to measure the potential variance effects across income groups. Our results show that low- and middle-income farmers give more importance to the aspects of social networks, social reciprocity, and social participation, while high-income farmers place emphasis on interpersonal trust and social participation. Accordingly, the willingness of farmers to cooperate for the different income groups was influenced in different ways in relation to the various social capital components. Therefore, social capital and income differences have complex effects on the willingness of farmers to cooperate. In this regard, our research provides an alternative way to understand the complex process involved in the formation of collective action under the presence of increasing economic heterogeneity in local communities.

Justice across Real and Imagined Food Worlds: Rural Corn Growers, Urban Agriculture Activists, and the Political Ontologies They Live By

Abstract: The article examines two seemingly disparate case studies, one involving conventional corn producers and agriculture professionals located in North Dakota, the other focusing on participants in a diverse urban agriculture cooperative in an anonymized U.S. city. Drawing on qualitative interviews and data-presenting devices known as “word clouds,” the article explores how, and to a lesser extent why, understandings of the terms “social justice” and “autonomy” varied between these spaces. While these imagined political ontologies differed greatly, the article describes each case as grounded in a shared neoliberal (“real”) world that negatively impacts both populations, a realization that could provide a source of recognition and reconciliation between groups. The article concludes by asking why those interviewed in the rural space failed to understand their marginalization to be an artifact of the neoliberal highly individualistic worldview that their articulated imaginaries appear to support, while also exploring how the divergent political ontologies between the groups can be brought into better conversation with each other.

Millions of Acres, Billions of Trees: Socioecological Impacts of Shifting Timberland Ownership†

Abstract: Over the past 30 years, ownership changes in the United States have affected more than 50 million acres of timberland. Corporations in the U.S. forest products industry either sold off most of their timberland or restructured themselves to take advantage of changes in the tax code. These changes were the result of broader economic shifts in the U.S. economy related to the process of financialization. As a result, ownership of timberland has been separated from manufacturing capacity tied to the production from that land. The central questions we address are how have these changes in ownership affected management of timberlands and what impacts have been experienced by people and places dependent upon this resource for their livelihoods. This study focuses on Alabama, one of the nation's leading states in the production of wood-based products. The study is based on 40 formal semistructured interviews with key actors in the industry, and frequent informal interactions with residents in timber-dependent regions throughout the state. Our research suggests that there have been significant changes, but that these are not necessarily catastrophic and are in keeping with longer-term trends associated with absentee ownership.

Crafting Mass Dairy Production: Immigration and Community in Rural America

Abstract: In many parts of rural America, agrofood producers compete for a larger share of global markets by mechanizing, deskilling, and flexibly relocating to reduce labor costs. They recruit new immigrant workers but sow transience rather than sustainable rural growth. The industrialization of U.S. dairy farming appears to be aligned with these processes, and yet the large-scale dairy farmers who have replaced small craft producers face a paradox: The more they rationalize production on their farms, the more vulnerable their herds become to stress and illness, compromising production. Focusing on three competing dairies in Kansas, I examine how farmers variously organize work among immigrant employees to promote herd health while expanding their operations. Evidence from 22 months of ethnographic research and repeated interviews with farm owners, managers, employees, and extension agents suggests that enhancing production requires promoting employee citizenship at work—especially among immigrant employees possessing the fewest citizenship rights outside of work. In contrast to the high labor turnover endemic to other forms of industrialized food production, the distinctive human-animal relations central to dairying encourage farm owners and employees to cooperate, with promising results for farms and rural communities.

Psychological and Behavioral Predictors of Rural In‐migration

Abstract: In recent times, many studies have been conducted to understand those who migrate to rural areas. However, few have investigated the psychological and behavioral factors that affect people's decisions to migrate to rural areas. This study identifies the psychological and behavioral factors that have been suggested in the psychology literature and in rural studies as factors affecting people's decision to move to rural areas. The study is unique in that it categorizes the psychological states during the process of rural migration decision into three levels and identifies how psychological and behavioral factors affect people at each level. Researchers collected data from 906 respondents in Japan, including 128 people who had migrated to rural areas. The findings show that environmental and health concerns were significantly associated with initiating the procedure of the rural migration decision, while motives related to spiritual growth and employment were strongly connected with completing the procedure by actually migrating to rural areas. These findings contribute to a better understanding of a question that attracts a great deal of political attention in Japan: Why are rural areas gaining popularity especially after the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011? This study represents the first time that the importance of psychological and behavioral traits, as measured by psychometrically sound scales, has been confirmed within a model explaining the decision to migrate to rural areas.

Fifteen Years after the Bellingham ISSRM: An Empirical Evaluation of Frederick Buttel's Differentiating Criteria for Environmental and Resource Sociology

Abstract: The sociology of natural resources and the environment constitutes a major field of inquiry in the research on human–environmental interactions. A constructive debate and dialogue on the relationships between environmental sociology (ES) and the sociology of natural resources (SNR) began at the 2000 International Symposium on Society and Resource Management (ISSRM) in Bellingham, Washington. Frederick Buttel argued that the two subdisciplines had different subject matters, levels of analysis, spatial focuses, theoretical orientations, policy relevance, and interdisciplinary commitments. These distinctive tendencies have been widely accepted in environmental and natural resource social science but have not been systematically analyzed. The primary objective of this research is to conduct an empirical test of Buttel's differentiating criteria through a systematic review of sample American sociological journal articles published in 2000 and 2014. The multivalue qualitative comparative analysis revealed that there was no clear-cut divide between the two subfields regarding the combinations of empirical research characteristics, while the general tendencies within both of them became more diverse over time. The overall lack of empirical research evidence for rigid ES–SNR distinctions also indicates that there is more potential than typically realized to build an integrative environmental and resource sociology in the American context and beyond.