TY - JOUR
T1 - Understanding Rural Social Class in an Era of Global Challenge
AU - Jensen, Leif
N1 - Funding Information:
* Support during preparation of this article was provided by the USDA Hatch Multistate Project W3001, “The Great Recession, Its Aftermath, and Patterns of Rural and Small Town Demographic Change,” and its successor, W4001, “Social, Economic and Environmental Causes and Consequences of Demographic Change in Rural America.” I acknowledge support from various sources for research mentioned here including “Collaborative Research: A National Survey of Informal Work,” funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF Award 0718527); “Women in Agriculture Network (WAgN): Honduras,” funded by the Horticulture Innovation Lab, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)/University of California-Davis; and Women in Agriculture Network (WAgN) Cambodia, funded by the Sustainable Intensification Innovation Lab, USAID/Kansas State University. Research infrastructure support was provided by the Population Research Institute, Pennsylvania State University, which has core support from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute on Child Health and Human Development (P2CHD041025). I thank Carolyn Sachs and Ann Tickamyer for helpful comments on preliminary versions of this article. Remaining errors are mine alone. Address correspondence to Leif Jensen, 106 Armsby Building, University Park, PA 16802; telephone: 814-863-8642; e-mail: [email protected].
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, by the Rural Sociological Society
PY - 2018/6
Y1 - 2018/6
N2 - Social class is a foundational sociological concept that cuts across all domains of interest within rural sociology. Structured inequity rooted in social class and its intersectionalities also was the spark that drew many rural sociologists into the discipline. This article first considers definitions of social class and provides a rationale for its being the theme for the 2016 meetings of the Rural Sociological Society in Toronto, ON. It provides a brief sketch of social class in the rural and urban United States through an analysis of data from the General Social Survey. This leads into a discussion of four dimensions of social class that rural sociologists have helped to inform and on which more research is needed. These include class as a relational concept, class and economic livelihoods, expressions of class as signifiers of success, and the consequences of class stratification. Along the way, a sampling of RSS members are given voice as they describe in their own words the spark that ignited their pursuit of our discipline.
AB - Social class is a foundational sociological concept that cuts across all domains of interest within rural sociology. Structured inequity rooted in social class and its intersectionalities also was the spark that drew many rural sociologists into the discipline. This article first considers definitions of social class and provides a rationale for its being the theme for the 2016 meetings of the Rural Sociological Society in Toronto, ON. It provides a brief sketch of social class in the rural and urban United States through an analysis of data from the General Social Survey. This leads into a discussion of four dimensions of social class that rural sociologists have helped to inform and on which more research is needed. These include class as a relational concept, class and economic livelihoods, expressions of class as signifiers of success, and the consequences of class stratification. Along the way, a sampling of RSS members are given voice as they describe in their own words the spark that ignited their pursuit of our discipline.
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U2 - 10.1111/ruso.12230
DO - 10.1111/ruso.12230
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85048885068
SN - 0036-0112
VL - 83
SP - 227
EP - 243
JO - Rural Sociology
JF - Rural Sociology
IS - 2
ER -