Persistence and Change in Rural Communities: A Fifty Year Follow-up to Six Classic Studies

In the 1930s and 1940s the US Department of Agriculture undertook detailed studies of six US rural communities representing various patterns of social and economic change that were affecting rural America. These studies became classics in the literature on rural communities, and for the past half-century have helped to develop major theoretical perspectives in community sociology. Fifty years later the same study areas were revisited by a team of rural sociologists, with the goal of assessing what changes have occurred and what community characteristics have persisted. This book provides a fascinating historical and contemporary perspective on patterns and processes of social and economic restructuring in these communities. It offers important insights into social changes affecting American rural communities over the last half of the 20th century.