The sociology of agriculture
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The sociology of agriculture
（Contributions in sociology, no. 88）
Greenwood Press, 1990
Available at 48 libraries
Note
Bibliography: p. 197-241
Includes indexes
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Published to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Rural Sociological Society, this monograph analyzes the nearly 90 years of rural sociological research on agriculture and provides a comprehensive overview of changing research focuses and theoretical approaches. As the authors note at the outset, there are a good number of continuities between early-20th-century rural sociology and what is now called the sociology of agriculture. There are also, they note, very substantial differences between contemporary sociology of agriculture scholarship and that which preceded it. Their aim throughout is to convey both continuities and discontinuities in theory, method, and approach. Intended primarily as a straightforward exposition of major scholarly themes, the volume is designed to be useful to readers from a variety of theoretical persuasions. The authors do, however, point to areas of weakness in theoretical or methodological approach that should be addressed in future research.
The volume is organized around the three major eras of rural sociological conceptualizations of agriculture. The authors begin by examining the founding of U.S. rural sociology shortly after the turn of the century until the early 1950s, demonstrating that during this initial era the study of agriculture was largely construed as one of the many elements necessary for understanding the social fabric of rural community life. In the next section, they explore the social psychological/behaviorist tradition, which held sway from the early 1950s through the early 1970s and which conceptualized farmers as actors responding to stimuli such as new technologies and educational opportunities. The three chapters devoted to recent research in the emerging tradition of the new rural sociology address such topics as the political economy of agriculture, the environment of agriculture, and major theoretical trends in the sociology of agriculture. In their concluding chapter, the authors look toward the future of the sociology of agriculture and identify some potential problems as we move into the 1990s.
Table of Contents
Preface Introduction: Three Eras of Rural Sociological Research on Agriculture Rural Sociological Research on the Structure of Agriculture, 1900 to the Early 1950s Rural Sociological Research on the Structure of Agriculture, the Early 1950s to the Early 1970s: Behaviorism and the Social Psychology of Agricultural Activities The New Sociology of Agriculture, I: The Political Economy and Social Structure of Farms, Farm Households, and Farm Labor The New Sociology of Agriculture, II: The Environment of Agriculture The New Political Economy of Agriculture: An Evaluation Rural Sociological Research on Agriculture: A Backward Glance Toward the Future Name Index Subject Index
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