[en] The hypothesis is put forward that a specific concept or category of 'the rural' has evolved. This occurred in the 1920s and 1930s in a manner specific to each country, although in all cases there was an attempt to reformulate both the relationship between town and country and the definition of agriculture, as a result of the changes facing the countryside and its inhabitants. The concept of the rural evolved by distinguishing the rural and the agricultural, and by defining the rural in relation to the social and cultural context created by industrial development, now the dominant element of the social system. Issues brought to the forefront of discussion are: the emergence of the rural and the development of rural sociology in Belgium; rural sociology: the repressed question of identity; what makes rural sociology possible; relationship to space and social position; the significance of physical or geographical space as a component of social life; rurality and social relations; towards a sociology of the rural; structural properties of rural space; the rural and partial identities; and strategic issues in rural-space management. It is concluded that the rural is a category that each society takes and reconstructs, and that this social construction, with all its implications, defines the object of a sociology of the rural.
Disciplines :
Sociology & social sciences
Author, co-author :
Mormont, Marc ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des sciences et gestion de l'environnement > Socio-économie, Environnement et Développement
Language :
English
Title :
Who is rural? or, how to be rural: towards a sociology of the rural.
Alternative titles :
[fr] Qui est rural ou comment être rural ? Regard sociologique
Publication date :
1990
Main work title :
Rural Restructuring. Global processes and their responses.
