[...]... across the book is one that is informed by interactionist theory and ethnography, building upon the rising status of qualitative methods in rural geography, and offers an alternative to the popular approaches of political economy and postmodernism The emergence of rural sociology lies with the origins of the discipline of sociology itself towards the end of the nineteenth century The charge to explain the. .. to rural areas, and also to encourage students to explore the theory–method dialectic underpinning sociological studies of rural life The final chapter draws together the conclusions reached in each chapter to ask how the legacy left by rural researchers can further our conceptualisation of the discipline of rural sociology Fundamentally, the text challenges whether there is a future for a rural sociology. .. chapter considers their work, the implications of the decline in agriculture as the key employer in rural areas, counterurbanisation and the phenomenon of the suburbs The absence of rural research in one of the first American departments of sociology is also briefly considered and the growth of rural sociology in the 1930s and its emphasis upon social policy and empirical research are described The nature and... in the 100 years since the first analyses of rural societies emerged to the degree that one should now speak of rural sociologies? What future direction could a future sociology of the rural pursue? Learning Tools The text offers a series of learning tools at the end of each chapter to enable students to self-assess their knowledge These take the form of a number of questions, brief biographies of key... a sociology of the rural avoids theoretical and methodological stagnation The text concludes by drawing the debates in the preceding chapters together and looks, in an overview, at the future of rural sociology It considers, in the light of the preceding discussion and case studies, whether sociology has a contribution to make to rural studies and what principles could inform such a sociology Has sociology. .. evocative of a rural way of life: The use of the word ‘organic’ emphasizes the elision between the aesthetic and the ecological on the one hand and the social on the other It obviously derives in part from its connotations with the land and fertility (Newby 1977a: 16) There are, perhaps, a few reasons underpinning Newby’s (1980) interpretation, which inverts the romanticised view of traditional ways of life. .. context and the directions that UK rural sociology has most recently developed The particular concern is the long-term impact of the decline in the significance of the rural for sociologists and its implications for the future of a theoretically and methodologically sophisticated analysis of contemporary rurality Therefore, considering the importance attached to the rural by key, founding thinkers in the history... significance of the rural for sociology Nevertheless, several useful concepts have emerged: locality, local social system and communion, although the exact nature of their interconnections remains unclear These concepts and the attention of other important figures, such as Durkheim and Weber, in the development of sociology make the rural worthy – if ambiguously – of sociological attention Soc of Rural Life. .. well as the patrimonialization of the public authorities had grown gradually on the soil of ancient liberty of the people The east, on the other hand, was a territory of colonization (Weber 1970: 376) Weber (1970) therefore suggested that the traditions of these two regions were different and that, for example, these manifested themselves in the way the land and peasants were managed For example, the ‘eastern... the replacement of Gemeinschaft by Gesellschaft relationships was ultimately a prerequisite of the rise of capitalism and hence of the rise of nineteenth-century industrial society In this sense, Tönnies (1955) provided an early critique of the impact of capitalism Soc of Rural Life 28/4/07 8:38 am Page 9 The History of Rural Sociology • 9 upon human forms of association – the impact of macro structure . alt="" The Sociology of Rural Life Soc. of Rural Life 28/4/07 8:38 am Page i Soc. of Rural Life 28/4/07 8:38 am Page ii The Sociology of Rural Life Sam Hillyard Oxford • New York Soc. of Rural Life. 8) Newby sought a sociology of the rural that was also engaged with the business of theorising as ‘there can be no theory of rural society without a theory of society 1 Soc. of Rural Life 28/4/07. alternative to the popular approaches of political economy and postmodernism. The emergence of rural sociology lies with the origins of the discipline of soci- ology itself towards the end of the nineteenth