All kinds of potential: Women and out-migration in an Atlantic Canadian coastal community

Rural researchers have found that women leave rural communities at a higher rate than men. Rural education researchers have also found that young women are significantly more successful in formal education than their male counterparts. Few studies though attempt to explain why this is so. This work presents data and analysis from two studies of education and out-migration from a rural-coastal community in Nova Scotia Canada. The questions I investigate in this session are: (1) why are women more likely to leave rural communities? (2) how have contemporary change forces like globalization and network society influenced the gender balance regarding rural out-migration? and (3) how has young rural women's relative success in formal education related to their higher rates of out-migration? Given the recent concern about boy's education, I raise some critical questions about the parallel notion that girls are doing just fine.     

Growth and Locational Impacts for Housing in Small Communities

Abstract Many Americans believe that small rural communities are ideal places to live. They assume that small rural communities offer a safe environment, a supportive community, and affordable housing. In contrast, research indicates that rural households are more likely to live in unsuitable or inadequate housing and have lower incomes, making affordable housing difficult to obtain. Although there are data highlighting regional or urban-rural differences, very little research has been conducted on the housing situation among small rural communities. The research presented here explores housing availability and affordability in 589 Midwestern communities. Findings indicate that, based on the community's growth and location, there are significant quantitative housing affordability and availability differences among small communities. However, these differences were contradicted by focus group discussions that indicated key similarities of housing concerns across small communities. The findings have potential impacts for public policy implementation in small communities.     

Influence of Perceptions of Current and Future Community on Residential Aspirations of Rural Youth

Outmigration of youth has concerned rural communities and researchers for several decades. Yet not all communities experience extensive youth outmigration and some youth want to stay in their rural communities as adults. This article examines youth satisfaction with their current community and the importance of characteristics of the community in which they would like to live as an adult for youth preferences to leave or stay in their rural community. The data are for rural ninth‐grade youth in Pennsylvania from the Rural Youth Education Project. The results suggest that perceptions of available jobs and educational opportunities in both current and future community, parental and friend influences, and the quality of the natural environment and outdoor recreation are important in determining residential aspirations. In particular, identifying a clean natural environment and outdoor recreation as important in the adult community increases the likelihood that rural youth have residential aspirations to stay in their rural community. This research adds to our knowledge about factors important in determining youth residential aspirations by identifying attributes of community beyond jobs and educational opportunities that youth find attractive as they consider places to live as adults.     

Psychological Distress and Size of Place: The Epidemiology of Rural Economic Stress

Abstract Size-of-place differences in the distribution of psychological distress are examined. Residents in communities of less than 2,500 population are predicted to have higher levels of distress than persons living in farm, rural nonfarm, and larger places. A research instrument was designed to measure economic stress, personal resources, and psychological distress in a survey of adult householders in a midwestern state. Results support the interpretation that long-term demographic and social trends had a negative impact upon the psychological well-being of residents in rural communities. Residents of these rural communities have higher levels of distress than persons living on farms or in towns of up to 9,999 population. Levels of psychological distress are not significantly different between persons living in rural communities and those in small cities or urban centers.     

Rural communities and well‐being: a good place to grow up?

This study looks at young people's accounts of life in communities in rural northern Scotland, and considers in what ways affective and social aspects of community are bound up with well‐being, over and above young people's concerns for the future, rural youth transitions, and out‐migration. Interviews were held with 15–18 year‐olds in four study areas (16 groups, N=60+) and a parallel survey of 11–16 year‐olds was conducted in eight study areas (N=2400+). Themes to emerge from the interviews included: opportunities locally, the future and staying on, as well as local amenities and services; but older teenagers also spoke at length about their social lives, family and social networks, and their community, both as close‐knit and caring and as intrusive and controlling. Rural communities were seen as good places in childhood, but not necessarily for young people. In parallel with that, the survey data paints a picture where feelings of support, control, autonomy, and attachment were all associated with emotional well‐being. Importantly, links between emotional well‐being and practical, material concerns were outweighed by positive identifications of community as close‐knit and caring; and equally, by negative identifications as intrusive and constraining, where the latter was felt more strongly by young women. Certainly, beliefs about future employment and educational opportunities were also linked to well‐being, but that was over and above, and independently of, affective and social aspects of community life. Additionally, migration intentions were also bound up with sense of self and well‐being, and with feelings about community life; and links between thoughts about leaving and community life as controlling and constraining were, yet again, felt more strongly by young women. Thus, gender was a key dimension affecting young people's feelings about their communities with significant implications for well‐being, and out‐migration. The study illustrates the importance of understanding the experiences young people have of growing up in rural areas, and how they evaluate those experiences: particularly, how life in rural communities matters for young people's well‐being; and especially, for young women.     

Emerging Patterns of Hispanic Residential Segregation: Lessons from Rural and Small‐Town America

The past two decades have ushered in a period of widespread spatial diffusion of Hispanics well beyond traditional metropolitan gateways. This article examines emerging patterns of racial and ethnic residential segregation in new Hispanic destinations over the 1990–2010 period, linking county, place, and block data from the 1990, 2000, and 2010 decennial censuses. Our multiscalar analyses of segregation are framed by classical models of immigrant assimilation and alternative models of place stratification. We ask whether Hispanics are integrating spatially with the native population and whether recent demographic and economic processes have eroded or perpetuated racial boundaries in nonmetropolitan areas. We show that Hispanic residential segregation from whites is often exceptionally high and declining slowly in rural counties and communities. New Hispanic destinations, on average, have higher Hispanic segregation levels than established gateway communities. The results also highlight microscale segregation patterns within rural places and in the open countryside (i.e., outside places), a result that is consistent with emerging patterns of “white flight.” Observed estimates of Hispanic‐white segregation across fast‐growing nonmetropolitan counties often hide substantial heterogeneity in residential segregation. Divergent patterns of rural segregation reflect local‐area differences in population dynamics, economic inequality, and the county employment base (using Economic Research Service functional specialization codes). Illustrative maps of Hispanic boom counties highlight spatially uneven patterns of racial diversity. They also provide an empirical basis for our multivariate analyses, which show that divergent patterns of local‐area segregation often reflect spatial variation in employment across different industrial sectors.     

Paradoxes of Providing Rural Social Services: The Case of Homeless Youth

Abstract Economic and demographic changes in rural areas continue to introduce big‐city problems in small towns. These communities' ability and willingness to respond are likely to be influenced by the geography, culture, and array of organizations in rural places. But how these characteristics of rural places shape local response is hard to predict and as yet unexplored. This article reports data from interviews with social‐service providers and homeless youth in a rural county in the northwestern United States, drawing insights from both groups about the challenges of providing social services in rural places. Findings about drug use, sexual abuse and prostitution in rural communities illustrate how aspects of a rural context can influence the way small towns address social problems.     

The Architecture of Rural Life: The Dangers of Dense Collective Efficacy for At-Risk Girls

Dense ties and acquaintanceship result in small communities that deal with issues on an individual, informal basis. When issues such as sexual assault arise, if a victim is willing to seek services, studies have found that rurality negatively impedes on this process. The current study takes place in a primarily rural state, representing social control mechanisms somewhat different from cityscapes. The project relies heavily on in-depth interviews from incarcerated girls and women, as well as contributions from community actors, to assess collective efficacy in rural communities, influence of gender dynamics, and the impact on at-risk girls. Tracing participants' community roots, the study gathers structural and cultural characteristics of the locale, assessing social control practices as reported by local professionals. Results challenge literature proclaiming solely positive results from high levels of collective efficacy, finding that strong collective efficacy in nonurban areas gathers close insider ties, but “outsiders,” which includes girls identified in this research, are defined quickly and negatively, placing them in significant peril. Policy recommendations include broader cultural shifts coupled with local involvement with school personnel and church-involved patrons serving the needs of families and at-risk girls.     

Rural and Urban Differences in Gender‐Sentencing Patterns of Pennsylvania

Research on criminal punishment and judicial decision making consistently reveals that female offenders receive more lenient treatment than similarly situated male counterparts. A major shortcoming in this body of research, however, is the lack of studies on whether the effects of gender on sentencing differ across geographic localities, such as in rural versus urban courts. Using a rich database on recent sentencing practices in Pennsylvania from 2003 to 2010 (N = 186,634), this study addresses this gap by investigating and comparing the effects of gender on sentence outcomes across six types of locality categorized by their level of rurality. Consistent with the focal concerns theory of punishment decision making, the results indicate robust gender effects on sentencing outcomes across places. When other factors are held constant, female defendants consistently receive more lenient treatment; they are less likely to be incarcerated and receive short sentences if incarcerated. The magnitudes of gender disparities are consistent across levels of the rural‐urban continuum, with one exception: female leniency in shorter jail or prison sentences is greater in the smallest and most rural localities than in other areas. The article discusses implications of the study findings for research on sentencing and rurality.     

(Un)Knowing the Rules of the Game: Young Men’s Precarious Talk About “Territory Marking” in Rural Aotearoa/New Zealand

Research strongly suggests that the social conditions characteristic of rural communities impact gendered experiences of and beliefs about (hetero)romantic relationships. Largely, this is argued because of the privileging of heteronormative-gendered roles within rural areas. What also is argued is that this privileging of heteronormativity correlates with the statistically higher rates of oppressive strategies that men are able to use to control their romantic partners. This article contributes to this body of work by analyzing how younger men from a rural high school in Aotearoa/New Zealand talked about the practice of “territory marking,” which involves men using physical violence against one another over women. What was most striking about their talk was how they spoke about this practice, as it was littered with a range of precarious elements. This meant that while it appeared cogent in places, it was also decidedly unknowing, fanciful, and ambiguous. This article will consider what this precarious talk says about how these young men cultivated a rural habitus, motivating them to articulate how idealized masculine bodies should function within public rural spaces. It will also be discussed how the precarious features of their talk signal how such idealized versions of masculinity could be destabilized.     

Voluntarism as a mediator of the experience of growing old in evolving rural spaces and changing rural places

This paper examines voluntarism as a response to the challenges faced by people growing old in rural communities that are themselves being transformed in fundamental ways, both socially and demographically. Informed by evolving theorisations within the rural aging and geographies of voluntarism literatures, we outline the key processes in space and consequent impacts in place that have affected the experience of growing old in rural communities. We identify the changes in service systems that have led to concerns about ‘vulnerable people in vulnerable places’ and explore this idea in regional contexts ranging from the agricultural heartland to the resource hinterland of Canada. We argue that a distinction needs to be made between the impacts of long and short cycles of change flowing across rural space and attention paid to voluntarism as a critical process at the intersection of broad shifts in service and settlement systems and particular changes in rural communities. Specifically, we suggest that the ‘local dynamics of voluntarism’ involving the activities of voluntary organisations, community groups and individual volunteers in particular communities can be understood, at once, as a ‘barometer of change’, a ‘mechanism of adjustment’ and a ‘space of resistance’, and we draw on recent case studies of rural voluntarism to illustrate this three-part distinction. In considering the transformative potential of voluntarism for the experience of aging in place, our findings suggest that public discourse, as reflected in media coverage, tends to romanticise voluntarism at the expense of a more nuanced and critical appreciation of its importance to the future of aging rural communities and their elderly residents. The research raises timely questions about academic-versus-popular conceptions of aging in evolving rural spaces and changing rural places.     

Social Capital in Rural and Urban Communities1

Abstract Conventional wisdom says that social capital is more common among families in rural communities than urban communities. Using data from the 1988 wave of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we compare the prevalence, type, and extent of social exchanges in these places. Results indicate that families living in rural areas are more likely to exchange exclusively with kin than are families living in urban areas. In particular, families living in rural areas are more likely to receive money help from kin than families in urban areas. Results on patterns of giving are more complex, with rural origin families with younger household heads more likely to give support to kin, and rural origin families with older heads less likely to provide such support, as compared to otherwise similar families of urban origin. Finally, only modest urban-rural differences in amounts exchanged (in dollars) are found among otherwise similar families. Overall, some of the urban-rural differences in patterns of exchange are explained by different family characteristics; however, key urban-rural differences remain, probably reflecting differences in norms and the availability of institutional support services in different areas.     

Spicing Up a 150-Year-Old Porcelain Factory: Art,Localism and Transnationalism in Arita's Happy Lucky Kiln

The Kouraku Kiln, a 150-year-old Japanese porcelain factory in the traditional rural pottery town of Arita, has been struggling with the economic decline brought by the burst of the bubble in the mid-1990s, rural migration and changes in lifestyle and tastes. Using ethnographic fieldwork, I look at the independent innovative activities that the Kouraku Kiln factory has put into place to overcome such problems: an artist-in-residence program and a treasure hunt, both coordinated by Brazilian ceramic artist and cultural agitator Sebastião Pimenta. By making use of the local history, identity, and infrastructure to attract visitors from all over the world to the production site, Kouraku Kiln has changed its focus from its products by selling knowledge and experiences. Besides contributing to the revitalization of the local economy, the constant presence of Pimenta and other international artists at the factory has added to the creation of multicultural exchanges in the local community, raising issues about social integration and local citizenship. With this case study, I aim to add to discussions about the revitalization of rural places and the regeneration of Japanese traditional crafts through the acknowledgment of globalization and mobility. By addressing issues related to the impact of transnational flows in rural communities, this article argues for the contributions of migrants in their communities of destination and examines the transforming relationships between art, society, and local development.     

Elementary School-age Children's Attitudes Toward Children in Same-Sex Parent Families

As numbers of families with same-sex parents increase in the United States, children are more likely to encounter diverse family structures. Given that young children can demonstrate in-group bias, prejudicial attitudes, and social exclusion, it is important to understand how children perceive their peers in diverse families. To our knowledge, no studies have assessed elementary-school-age children's attitudes about same-sex parent families. Here, 131 elementary school students (M_age = 7.79 years; 61 girls) viewed images of same-sex (female and male) and other-sex couples with a child and then were asked about their perceptions of these families, particularly the children. Results indicated participants' preferences toward children with other-sex versus same-sex parents. Developmental and practical implications about children's attitudes toward sexual minority parent families are discussed.     

‘It's good to live in Järva-Jaani but we can't stay here’: Youth and belonging in rural Estonia

In the broader context of post-socialist transition and rural decline, we examine the everyday lives of young people in rural Estonia. We focus in particular on key places of belonging for youths and the practices and experiences through which rural young people develop a sense of belonging to their local places. Our aim is to identify links between the everyday context and broader changes influencing young rural lives in Estonia. The findings indicate that in contrast to the mostly negative portrait that the statistics paint of rural Estonia, a focus on the everyday level reveals significant places and practices which can provide encouraging and supportive bases for young people to negotiate and respond to global changes. In addition, the results indicate that it is fruitful to focus on the everyday context, as a more nuanced picture of continuities and discontinuities associated with post-socialist transition may be revealed.     

Breaking Walls,Building Bridges: Expanding the Presence and Relevance of Rural Sociology*

Abstract Rural areas continue to face a series of challenges; many are likely to have profound impacts on the vitality of these places over the long term. Of central concern is whether the rural sociological enterprise, a potentially vital source of information and guidance on such diverse issues, will be able to effectively respond to such challenges. The author argues that in order to strengthen its relevance and viability in coming years, the rural sociological profession must embrace three important shifts. First, it must modify the manner in which it engages in the production of new knowledge by pursuing a more balanced portfolio of investments in disciplinary and transdisciplinary research. Second, it must take a bold step to build bridges to new entities whose missions, goals, and values closely align with those of the Rural Sociological Society. And third, it must take a more proactive role in generating quality, scientifically sound information that is aligned with the needs of federal and state policy communities, particularly information that can better articulate how policies are likely to impact rural people and places.     

Perceived density, social interaction and morale in New South Wales rural communities

This paper explores the relationships between population density, social interaction patterns, and morale in rural communities. It tests two apparently competing hypotheses concerning rural population density, social interaction patterns and overall levels of morale: one, that low (and rapidly declining) rural densities lead to feelings of isolation and low morale in response to contractions in local social interaction networks; or two, that communities facing the demographic scenario just provided might provide more social space for individuals to assume leadership roles, thereby developing their self-confidence. This situation could be expected to produce higher levels of morale and satisfaction with community life. Drawing upon quantitative and qualitative survey research conducted within the social catchment areas of three contrasting rural New South Wales (Australia) communities, the paper finds that some of the key hypotheses of ‘manning theory’ are confirmed: declining population densities can open up space for previously less self-confident individuals to assume important public roles. However, while overall levels of community morale are high across all three communities, regardless of population density, there is also obvious dissatisfaction in the community of greatest density decline with the declining local educational and economic opportunities, and the increasingly concentrated burden of community responsibility. This suggests that rate of change in actual measured density, and in perceived density, may be more influential than the level of density in affecting community morale.     

Car dependence in rural Scotland: transport policy,devolution and the impact of the fuel duty escalator

This paper examines dependence on the car in rural Scotland, assesses the impact of the fuel duty escalator on rural communities and discusses the role of the new Scottish Executive in shaping future rural transport policy. Questionnaires, interviews and travel diaries were used in five areas and revealed that households in rural Scotland enjoy high levels of car ownership, and that the car is used for over three-quarters of all journeys. Isolation and income levels are the most significant predictors of car use. Those living in ‘removed’ areas — i.e. locations distant from main roads and/or bus routes — are more likely to own vehicles and make a higher proportion of their journeys by car. Affluent households enjoy higher levels of car ownership, and make more journeys over greater distances by this mode than those on low-incomes. Less affluent households are also more likely to have disposed of a vehicle without replacing it, suggesting a more fluctuating dependence on the car. Although those living in rural Scotland appear to count on the car, a distinction is made between those who have no alternative (structurally dependent) and those who have alternatives but rely on their vehicles. It is difficult to predict the exact impact of the fuel duty escalator, but it is argued that the majority of households will cope with increases in the cost of motoring, while a significant minority of low income households in isolated areas will struggle to absorb the extra cost. The study highlights the need for the Scottish legislature to secure additional funding in order to sustain rural communities in the face of the rising fuel costs and suggests that an appropriate policy response might be to support isolated shops and services, i.e. subsidising alternatives to the journey as well as alternatives to the car.     

Choosing to Stay: (Im)Mobility Decisions Amongst Mongolia’s Ethnic Kazakhs

One of the defining characteristics of globalization is the increased flow of migrants across international borders. Fluctuating migration flows in rural communities of the Global South have the potential to significantly contribute to or undermine the livelihoods of local residents. Households that choose not to migrate, that remain immobile, play a key role in sustaining rural communities. Migration studies in the Global South, however, have largely neglected these households. Utilizing questionnaire and life history interview data collected between 2006 and 2009, we examine immobility amongst the Kazakh ethnic minority population in rural Mongolia. Our findings challenge the dichotomous portrayal of immobile households as either ‘left behind’ or ‘embedded’ within their community, providing evidence that immobility decisions are both fluid and flexible and require more interrogation from scholars. Our findings help broaden the social and cultural context in which immobility studies are conducted and the characterization of immobility amongst non-migrant populations. More broadly, this study contributes to our understanding of the implications to livelihood sustainability in rural communities.     

The Social Networks of Leaders in More or Less Viable Communities Six Years Later: A Research Note1

Abstract Using 1995 data, this study re-examines the social networks of leaders in five more and less viable rural communities in Missouri which were originally studied in 1989 (O'Brien et al. 1991; O'Brien and Hassinger 1992). In the six year period between the 1989 and 1995 surveys, four of the five communities were impacted by major events, including the introduction of corporate hog production in two places and flooding in two others. However, despite these events, there is a high degree of continuity in the relative viability scores of the five places in the two surveys. Leaders in more viable places continue to work with a larger number of fellow leaders and to be more involved in community development organizations than their counterparts in less viable places. These findings show the importance of social capital for rural community viability.