Rural sociology is a field of sociology associated with the study of life in small towns and the country. It is a scientific study of social arrangements and behaviour amongst peoples that are distanced from points of concentrated activity. Much of rural sociology involves the examination of statistical data. Social interactions of people and their consequences are the subject of sociology studies. ... Statistics is a type of data analysis whose practice includes the planning, summarizing, and interpreting of observations of a system possibly followed by predicting or forecasting of future events based on a mathematical model of the system being observed. ...

Agribusiness is the predominant focus of rural sociology and much of this field is dedicated to the economics of farm production. In agriculture, agribusiness is a generic term that refers to the various businesses involved in the food production chain, including farming, seed, agrichemicals, farm machinery, wholesaling, processing, distribution, and retail sales. ... Economics (deriving from the Greek words οίκω [okos], house, and νέμω [nemo], rules hence household management) is the social science that studies the allocation of scarce resources to satisfy unlimited wants. ... Farming, ploughing rice paddy, in Indonesia Agriculture is the process of producing food, feed, fiber and other desired products by the cultivation of certain plants and the raising of domesticated animals (livestock). ...

Definition of Rural

Sociologists define rural as those areas which are not urban. Rural sociology, then, contrasts with urban sociology. Urban areas are usually defined in terms of size and population density. The line between urban and rural is quite arbitrary. However, rural settlement patterns tend to be, relatively, small in scale and low in density. A city is an urban area, differentiated from a town, village, or hamlet by size, population density, importance, or legal status. ... Urban sociology is the sociological study of the various statistics among the population in cities. ... Density (symbol: ρ - Greek: rho) is a measure of mass per unit of volume. ...

In the US, a rural region is one with fewer than 2,500 people. In Japan, a rural region is one with fewer than 50,000 people. Meanwhile, some places with 1,000 people seem quite urbanized while other places with 15,000 people seem quite rural. Also, many "rural" areas are adjacent to very large metropolises. Wikiquote has a collection of quotations by or about: United States Wikinews has news related to this article: United States United States government Official website of the United States government - Gateway to governmental sites White House - Official site of the US President Senate. ... A metropolis (in Greek metera = mother and polis = city/town) is a major city, which is an economical and cultural center for some country, and usually a hub for its international connections. ...

1995, there were 2,288 rural counties in the US, constituting 83% of the land and home to 21% (51,000,000) of the population. (1) 1995 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Originally, a county was the land under the jurisdiction of a count (in Great Britain, an earl, though the original earldoms covered larger areas) by reason of that office. ... The U.S. Department of Agriculture, also called the Agriculture Department, or USDA, is a Cabinet department of the United States Federal Government. ...

Rural Economic Trends

• Net cash farm income was projected at US$ 53.7 billion for 1999.

Currently, rural capital is flowing into either urban areas or some 33-40% of rural counties, namely the intermountain West, the Ozarks, counties along I-80 in Nebraska, and the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. The growth of wealth is concentrated near urban areas, transportation corridors, and scenic amenities. (2)(3). Capitalism has been defined in various ways (see q:Capitalism). ... Ozark redirects here. ... Interstate 80 as seen from an overpass in Davis, California Interstate 80 is the second-longest interstate highway in the United States. ... State nickname: Cornhusker State Other U.S. States Capital Lincoln Largest city Omaha Governor Dave Heineman Official languages English Area 200,520 km² (16th)  - Land 199,099 km²  - Water 1,247 km² (0. ... The Kansas City Metropolitan Area is the metropolitan area located on the border of Missouri and Kansas. ... Mark Drabenstott is a vice-president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and the director of the Center for the Study of Rural America (CSRA). ...

Rural America is also experiencing an economic slump, for instance in 1999 the prices for sweetcorn, wheat, and soybeans were all down about 33% from the 1995-1998 average. Food production is being subsidized by off-farm income. Working second and third jobs is the only way many farmers can survive. In 1974, 80% of farm operators were primarily farmers, by 1997 that had dropped to 60%. (4) 1999 is a common year starting on Friday of the Common Era, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... Sweetcorn (or sweet corn, also known as sugar corn), is a hybridized variety of maize (Zea mays), specifically bred to increase the sugar content. ... Species T. boeoticum T. durum T. monococcum T. spelta References:   ITIS 42236 2002-09-22 Wheat (Triticum spp. ... Binomial name Glycine max Soybeans (US) or soya beans (UK) (Glycine max) are a high-protein legume (Family Fabaceae) grown as food for both humans and livestock. ... 1995 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1998 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... In mathematics, there are numerous methods for calculating the average or central tendency of a list of n numbers. ... 1974 is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). ... 1997 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Manning is a city located in Carroll County, Iowa along IA-141. ...

Natural resource-based industries within rural areas are experiencing resource depletion. The economic importance of mining, light manufacturing, and agriculture are considered to be on the decline within these areas. Resource depletion is an economic term referring to the exhaustion of raw materials within a region. ...

Issues in Rural America

Rural society is faced with various problems including the environmental degradation and overuse of water resources, the establishment and inadequate regulation of toxic waste dumps, and poverty. The loss of rural population to urban areas is also an area of concern, especially in northern states, such as North Dakota. Toxic waste is a waste which is toxic. ... Poverty is the state of being without, often associated with need, hardship and lack of resources across a wide range of circumstances. ... State nickname: Peace Garden State, Roughrider State, Flickertail State Other U.S. States Capital Bismarck Largest city Fargo Governor John Hoeven Official languages English Area 183 272 km² (19th)  - Land 178 839 km²  - Water 4 432 km² (2. ...

Fred Buttel asks, "Will we witness a further erosion of commitment to improving the livelihoods of the rural poor?" Fred Buttel received a Ph. ...

History of Rural Sociology

Rural sociology became prominent during the late industrial revolution in France, Ireland, Prussia, Scandinavia, and the US. As urban incomes and quality of life rose, a social gap appeared between urban and rural dwellers. The Industrial Revolution was the major social, economic and technological change in the late 18th and early 19th century. ... The coat of arms of the Kingdom of Prussia, 1701-1918 The word Prussia (German: Preußen or Preussen, Polish: Prusy, Lithuanian: Prūsai, Latin: Borussia) has had various (often contradictory) meanings: The land of the Baltic Prussians (in what is now parts of southern Lithuania, the Kaliningrad exclave of Russia and... Scandinavia, Fennoscandia, and the Kola Peninsula. ... Wikiquote has a collection of quotations by or about: United States Wikinews has news related to this article: United States United States government Official website of the United States government - Gateway to governmental sites White House - Official site of the US President Senate. ...

Early works of Max Weber in the late 19th century has been concerned with rural sociology. In the 1920s, Edmund deS. Brunner studied some 140 villages as director of the Institute for Social and Religious Research, he reported that as agriculture mechanized, farms were growing larger. Maximilian Weber (April 21, 1864 – June 14, 1920) was a German political economist and sociologist who is considered one of the founders of the modern, antipositivistic study of sociology and public administration. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age or primarily in North America as the Roaring Twenties. // Events and trends Technology John T. Thompson invents Thompson submachine gun, also known as Tommy gun John Logie Baird invents the first working television system (1925) Charles Lindbergh becomes the first person to fly...

After World War II, modern rural sociology began to appear in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and the UK. Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km (over 11 miles) into the air, August 9, 1945. ...

Key Topics in Rural Sociology:

• agribusiness
• role homogeneity
• rural exodus
• types of rural communities

See also: List of literature on rural sociology, Important publications in rural sociology In agriculture, agribusiness is a generic term that refers to the various businesses involved in the food production chain, including farming, seed, agrichemicals, farm machinery, wholesaling, processing, distribution, and retail sales. ... In sociology, role homogeneity is the degree of overlap amongst the different roles performed by different members of a community. ... Rural exodus is a term used to describe the migratory patterns that normally occur in a region following the mechanisation of agriculture. ... Sociologists have identified a number of different types of rural communities, which have arisen as a result of changing economic trends within rural regions of industrial nations. ... By Author: Anthan, George -- Farmers cannot afford to give up their day job Danbom, David B. -- Why Americans Value Rural Life Davidson, Osha Gray -- In the wake of huge hog lots, what is replacing the heartlands family farms? Drabenstott, Mark -- Rural America in a New Century Hamilton, Neil -- How... Foundations The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism Max Weber Die protestantische Ethik und der Geist des Kapitalismus, 1904 Online version Description: In The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Weber puts forward a thesis that Puritan ethic and ideas had influenced the development of capitalism. ...

American Agricultural Economic Association, country life movement, European Society for Rural Sociology, Galpin, Charles J., granger movement, Hibbard, Benjamin, Morrill Act, populist movement, Purnell Act of 1925, report of the commission on country life (1911), Rural Sociological Society, Taylor, Henry, Turner, Jonathan Baldwin, US Department of Agriculture, Warren, George Grange Hall in Maine, circa 1910 The Grange movement in the United States involved the affiliation of local farmers into area granges to work for their political and economic advantages. ... The Morrill Land-Grant Acts are pieces of US legislation which allowed for the creation of land-grant colleges, which would be funded by the grant of federally-controlled land to each of the states which had stayed with the United States during the American Civil War. ... Sir Henry Taylor (October 18, 1800 - March 27, 1886) was an English dramatist. ... Jonathan Baldwin Turner (December 7, 1805 - January 10, 1899) Classical scholar, botanist, dedicated Christian, and political activist, Jonathan Baldwin Turner was perhaps the leading voice in the social movement of the 1850s that produced the land grant universities that pioneered public higher education in the United States. ... The U.S. Department of Agriculture, also called the Agriculture Department, or USDA, is a Cabinet department of the United States Federal Government. ... George Warren (unknown - 1892) worked as a prospector in Bisbee, Arizona U.S.A. during the late 19th century. ...

References

• 1 -- Understanding Rural America by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA-ERS) 1995
• 2 -- Rural America in a New Century by Mark Drabenstott 1999
• 3 -- Can Scenic Amenities Offer Rural Gain Without Pain? by Kendall McDaniel 2000
• 4 -- Farmers cannot afford to give up their day job by Jennifer Dukes Lee 2000