Rural Sociological Society Annual Meeting July 27-29, 2003 Montreal

rhetoric of the enterprise culture and present a more contextualized account of individuals' experience of entrepreneurship training/development. Vanessa Casanova, Auburn University Reforesting Alabama: Guest Workers in the Forest Industry Driving through rural, heavily forested areas of Alabama during the winter months, one may be surprised to find that small dilapidated motels, houses and trailers are temporarily occupied by migrant tree planters and forest workers. For at least the past ten years, migrant workers from Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras have been recruited to work reforesting the Southeastern United States. Through a guest worker program known as the H2-B program, these migrant workers are brought into the country on temporary work visas. Though largely an invisible workforce, the work of these temporary migrants helps to sustain the dominant industry in rural Alabama, the forest products industry. These migrant workers are in a unique situation: they work in the U.S. at wages set for U.S. workers, but are able to return to their home countries and spend their earnings there. [Full abstract exceeded the 150 word limit] Christina Vasquez Case and Rex Campbell, University of Missouri, Columbia Hispanics in Mid-Missouri: The Rules of Survival This article examines the Hispanics influence in rural Missouri. Community resources are challenged with the demographic shift to the heartland of America. Hispanics were the fastest growing population in the United States from 1999-2000. According to the 2000 Census figures, the Hispanic population grew from 22.4 to 35.3 million. During that decade, Hispanics expanded their movement from the traditional Southwestern states to a Midwestern expansion. The Hispanic presence in rural Missouri has challenged the predominantly Euro centric (white), English speaking communities. The influences of culture, language and other non-traditional beliefs are dichotomies that have increased community tensions. Service providers and newcomers alike are unable to effectively communicate and/or interact with each other, much less provide or receive safe, quality services. The demographic landscape of Missouri is changing and communities find themselves ill equipped to handle the rapid demographic shift. Learn the rules and survive. Emery Castle, Oregon State University Intermediate Decision-making: A Building Block for a Rural (place-based) Public Policy Kyong Hee Chee, Elizabeth E. Brown, and Karen McCurdy, Georgia University Stratification in Community Leisure Participation in Rural South Georgia Table 2 This study examines stratification in the patterns of community leisure participation. Community leisure participation refers to participation in a program or activity sponsored by a local parks and recreation department and/or spending leisure time in a park in one’s local area. The purpose of this paper is to understand if and how gender/race/class/age inequalities, and other structural or perceived barriers to participation stratify community members’ leisure participation. Analysis is based on data from a telephone survey completed by 714 residents from 5 communities within a county in South Georgia. The results based on analysis of variance indicate that the level of interest in various leisure opportunities varies significantly by gender, race, and age group. Results also support the notion of stratification in community leisure participation based on age group as well as the presence of children in family. Omer Chouinard, Eric Forgues, Pierre-Marcel Desjarins, and Jean-Paul Vanderlinden, Université de Moncton Cooperation and Mutual Aid: The Comparison of Urban and Rural Credit Unions The credit union, of Neguac and Moncton in Acadian areas, were created in the 30s. The first one is located in an urban area and the second in a rural area. During the last decade, within the context of the closure of banks, in order to provide better service to the membership, these credit unions decided to merge. In spite of their merger, did keep their local services. This allowed the credit unions to minimize layoffs and to keep the loyalty of their membership. But the factors which contributed to the community embeddness are the donations by the credit union for projects. This type of activity help to sustain the social capital of these communities and contribute to tight the social link between membership and the local credit coop. We want to demonstrate the role of credit union for the social cohesion in minority groups in Eastern Canada. Omer Chouinard, Pierre-Marcel Desjardins, Eric Forgues and Jean-Paul Vanderlinden, Université de Moncton Community Business Development Center: The Case of the Province of New-Brunswick In the mid-eighties, the Canadian government decided to create a program named Community Business Development Center (CBDC). This program was targeted toward rural communities facing devitalization. These centers have two goals: the creation of enterprises to create jobs and to maintain jobs. In New Brunswick ten were created. These CBDC were designed with a board of directors that are representative of the different sectors of activities in the area. The major services are: i) helping to build a business plan to get capital from financial institution; ii) and a technical assistance to the enterprises. The CBDC have contributed to the creation of small and medium size enterprises which would not exist today because more traditional financial institutions had refused to finance them before. Also, the CBDC established a mentor network in poor regions. By doing this it helps sustaining social capital that is an essential ingredient to develop. Greg Clendenning and Donald R. Field, University of Wisconsin, Madison Seasonal and Year Round Residents: Conflicting Views of Growth Controls and Public Land Management? Amenity rich rural areas in the United States have experienced rapid population growth and dramatic social and economic transformations over the past 30 years. Growth and development is sometimes characterized not only by population growth but also by dramatic increases in seasonal homes. The literature on community has extensively examined the impacts of rapid growth and development on rural communities. However, the literature largely ignores the impacts of a rapidly increasing seasonal homeowner population on community social structure, institutions, and views towards resource management and growth controls. This paper explores these issues by focusing on one particular amenity rich region: the Pine Barrens of northwestern Wisconsin. Using data from a mail survey administered to 800 households, this paper examines the extent to which there are similarities and differences regarding growth management regulations and the management of public lands between seasonal homeowners and permanent residents. Rodney E. Cluck and Harry Lutton, Department of Interior Minerals Management Service Social Impact Assessment and Offshore Oil and Gas in the Gulf of Mexico This paper discusses social impacts of offshore oil and gas development on human communities in the Gulf of Mexico. It will describe the findings of selected Minerals Management Service research efforts. Impacts from oil and gas development on communities, families, and individuals are difficult to identify for several reasons. First, many social forces impinge on the family and individual such as mass communication, changes in education, and increasing community heterogeneity, just to name a few. Second, most impacts of oil and gas are not unique to that industry. It is a complex array of different operators, local business people, port directors, fabrication operators, etc. Therefore, change and effects vary from one community to the next in the same geographic region. However, commonalties do exist. The nature of these effects suggest that “classic” social impact assessment techniques can be improved and made more explicit by developing a “multilevel” conceptual framework. Eric Cohen, Pennsylvania State University Informal Economies in Rural America: A Review and Sketch of Life in a Deindustrialized PA Community In many Appalachian communities and other deindustrialized areas of the Northeastern United States, informal economic activity has become a very important part of community life. Most studies of the economies of Appalachia have focused on economic activity that involves a "formal" reality including reported, regulated or waged labor. A focus on the formal economy overlooks the pervasive influence of informal work in regions of Appalachia that are rural and persistently poor. Many households in this region often employ multiple economic strategies to survive, particularly in the face of the dominance of low wage work in a predominantly service economy. In this paper, I review the notion of informal economies in persistently poor rural communities, and present an ethnographic sketch of different types of informal economies in a chronically poor deindustrialized region of southwestern Pennsylvania. David J. Connell, University of Guelph Community Is Spatial Inequality Community can be viewed as a form of social organisation at a distinct spatial scale. On this basis, community can be understood only as a form of spatial inequality. Less abstractly, community is an intimate relation among people sharing meaningful space. Meaningful in this sense is understood as a difference that makes a difference. That is, spatial inequality is a difference formulated on the basis of inclusion and exclusion. In support of this position, the paper introduces the foundation of Niklas Luhmann’s theory of social systems. Using difference (=distinction) as a point of departure, the paper examines community and its relations with space, change, and stratification. David J. Connell, University of Guelph Community Theory: A Problem of Self-Reference Sam Cordes, Purdue University; John Allen, University of Nebraska; Richard Bishop University of Wisconsin; Gary Lynne, University of Nebraska; Vern Ryan, Iowa State University; Ron Shaffer, University of Wisconsin Social Capital, Attachment Value and Rural Development: A Conceptual Framework and Application of Contingent Valuation Sam Cordes and Ron Schaffer, University of Nebraska Working at the Interstices of Ag Econ and Rural Sociology: The Process Jeralynn Cossman, Mississippi State University Access to Care in Rural Mississippi Mississippi is currently facing a medical crisis in the forms of both a Medicaid, as well as a legal, crisis. Tort reform, low physician retention and high rates of poverty are combining to result in poor access to care for those living in poverty. This research uses data from the licensure bureau and professional organizations to examine the spatial distribution of physicians within the state, along with the distribution of those living in poverty. Physicians are studied within specialty and age groups, to indicate impending critical shortages either through retirement, lack of recruitment of lack of specific specialties, particularly for those in poverty-stricken areas. Preliminary results indicate that without further recruitment and retention programs for physicians in the state of Mississippi nearly all rural patients will run the risk of not having reasonable access to medical generalists and specialists. Mindy Crandall and Bruce Weber, Oregon State University The Impacts of Labor Markets and Public Policy on Poverty in High Poverty Rural Census Tracts Laura D. Crank and Kenneth E. Pigg, University of Missouri, Columbia Successful Rural Economic Development: Driven by Deployment and Capacity for Technology Current literature focuses upon the importance of deploying advanced telecommunications in rural communities to achieve various objectives, including economic development. Once advanced ICTs are present, this literature argues that communities will be better prepared to participate fully in the “information economy” and attract new business development. This literature neglects two essential points of successful economic development; one--rural community leaders who play an important role in technological change must become aware of the capacity for new ICTs among local organizations, institutions, and businesses, and two—-the specific manner in which ICTs are deployed may have some effect on the outcomes in the local economic sector. After reviewing the operationalization of these points, we turn to Flora’s E.S.I. framework to understand how ICT infrastructure and social organization are related regarding the achievement of economic development outcomes in three rural communities. Michaeline A. Crichlow, University of Iowa Privatization and the Reorganization of Public Identities in a NeoLiberal Era Echoing the debates about socioeconomic transformations shaping the transition from nonmarket to market economies, the panel examines the impact of state transformation on agri-cultures in this era of economic neoliberalization. I discuss the new forms of sociality that have emerged in rural spaces, as land-based working people struggle to reconstitute production in the light of the new neoliberal requirements. Unlike the great transformation inherent in the transition from nonmarket to market economies that Polanyi brilliantly analysed; current transformations involve new forms of privatization replacing older ones within the context of intensely marketized economies. New relationships between states and nonstate arenas have emerged, marking a turning point in notions of citizenship and rural citizenship specifically. For example, in Africa and the Caribbean, forms of land privatization embedded in specific family arrangements have given way to forms which function now primarily to maintain certain kinds of market relations, thus, the reconstitution of families and rural communities. [Full abstract exceeded the 150 word limit] Sarah Day Crim, Mark Dubois, and Conner Bailey, Auburn University Underserved Forest Landowners in a Rural Landscape: A Case Study of Two Alabama Counties During the late 1990’s a class action suit was taken against the United States Department of Agriculture. This suit alleged that the USDA engaged in discriminatory practices against minority farmers. As demonstrated by the court settlement these landowners, commonly referred to as ‘underserved’ typically did not receive equal attention or equal representation by the USDA. This paper provides an assessment of whether minority forest landowners also should be considered underserved. The paper is based on semi-structured interviews with African-American forest landowners, female forest landowners, and key natural resource community members in two rural Alabama counties. Hale County is a part of the demographically defined Black Belt and has a minority population representing 60% of the total county population. Clay County, in contrast, is largely white, with a minority population accounting for less that 20% of the total county population. Jennifer E. Cross, Colorado State University Conceptualizing Community Attachment What is community attachment? Social scientists interested in the concept of community attachment have generally defined it as a sense of belonging or rootedness in a community. But, what does it mean to be rooted in a place? Community attachment is most often measured by three variables "feeling at home", "feeling sad about moving", and "interest in what happens in the community." Through analysis of 90 depth interviews with residents of a rural county in California, I explore the various aspects that residents describe as contributing to their community attachment. Other significant aspects of community attachment include: future expectations, degree of residential choice/constraint, identification with place, interpretation of place, and source of attachment (emotional, spiritual, social, ideological, economic, and historic). I propose a revised definition of community attachment, describe the relationship between various aspects of community attachment, and develop new measures to capture the complexity of community attachment. Ika Darnhofer, Institute of Agricultural Economics, Austria Mapping Farmers’ Perceptions of Conversion to Organic Farming. A Case Study The case study examines the perceptions of Austrian farmers towards conversion to organic farming. Cognitive maps are used to represent graphically an individual's beliefs concerning conversion. The concepts, values and beliefs stated during the in-depth interviews offer insight into the decision maker's knowledge structure through which he/she perceives and interprets events. The focus is on farmers' views of factors (e.g. farming community, family, farm structure, market expectations, direct payments) that are taken into account when considering whether organic farming is an option for their farm or not. The aim is to uncover underlying values and attitudes as well as perceptions of problems, potentials and alternatives. The idiosyncratic maps of nine conventional and organic farmers are analysed individually as well as compared to assess differences and similarities in the content and the structure of the factors perceived to influence farm decisions. These insights can inform both extension and policy formulation. Javier de la Uz and Frank D. Beck, Illinois State University Analysis of Round I Rural EZ/EC Sites The EZ/EC Initiative is a locality-based approach to provide economic opportunity in a sustainable fashion through the promotion of a bottom-up ideology to community development. This initiative was begun in 1993 by the federal government, and this research project is an evaluative time series analysis of the progress of the Rural Round I designated sites by utilizing secondary data from the US Census Bureau’s 1990 and 2000 decennial censuses. The census variables were aggregated extensively and then compared according to the level of designation (EZs = $40 million, EC = $3 million, and CCs = no direct funding). The findings suggest that money is not the integral factor in alleviating persistent poverty and promoting social improvement, and there may be many other mitigating factors that are at work here in the observed changes of the social health of these rural places under severe distress. Gustavo del Castillo V., El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, A.C. Tijuana, B.C. Regional and Spatial Transformation after the Internationalization of Tequila Production The internationalization of tequila production has reconfigured the areas where blue agave is produced, moving into new areas and displacing more traditional crops in the process. These changes have generated spatial stratification among rural producers along with marked ecological effects. This fieldwork study (2001-02) reviews events in the municipalities of Jalostotiltan, Arandas and Teocaltiche in the Los Altos region of Jalisco. World demand for tequila has transformed traditional agave production systems, including land allocation and technologies. Agave production that took place mostly in marginal areas alongside staples like maize and beans, today dominates prime agricultural lands, supplanting staples but also industrial crops like linseed and wheat. These changes are affecting colonial ruralurban social constructions and endangering a system of small landowners and their economic and political clienteles. Forrest A. Deseran and Carl M. Riden, Sonoma State University Occupational Decision-Making and Social Capital in a Fishing Community: The Case of Louisiana Oyster Harvesters We examine conceptual and methodological issues arising from a study of the effects of social capital and ethnic identity on occupational decisions in the Louisiana oyster industry. Our initial findings suggested that those with the heaviest investment were the least likely to encourage their children to take up the profession. This precipitated additional research focusing on an ethnic enclave of Croatian harvesters. Social network and other qualitative data were collected to determine extant social capital and to assess how that may affect occupational decisions. By discussing our solutions to some of the problems we encountered in the field, we hope to contribute to the discussion about the viability of social capital as an empirical research topic. Katharine Donato, Rice University; Charles Tolbert, Baylor University; Alfred Nucci, and Yukio Kawano, U.S. Bureau of the Census Changing Places, Changing Faces: What do Internal Census Data Tell us about Immigrant Settlement in Nonmetropolitan U.S. Areas? Since 1990, many have documented a growing immigrant presence in U.S. communities not known to be common destinations for immigrants in the past. Despite the many case studies, few studies have systematically examined national shifts in the foreign born population of rural areas. A major limitation has been the absence of public data sets with detailed nonmetropolitan geography. In this paper, we go beyond existing anecdotal evidence by examining the foreign born presence in U.S. nonmetropolitan areas since1990. Using internal decennial Census data, we undertake a national study of the foreign born population in rural America that could not be done with currently published data. We evaluate empirically whether and how the foreign born population in nonmetropolitan areas has fluctuated since 1990, compare these shifts with changes in metropolitan areas, and examine the geographic and migration attributes of these settlements. [Full abstract exceeded the 150 word limit] Joseph F. Donnermeyer, Scott D. Scheer, and Holli A. Kendall, The Ohio State University Substance Use Among Rural Adolescents There was a time when research on rural adolescent substance use was sparse. Those days are over. Since 1990, over 140 peer reviewed articles have been published that focus on substance use among rural adolescents in the U.S. alone. The purpose of this paper is two-fold. First, it provides a comprehensive review of the literature on rural adolescent substance use since 1990. Second, it examines trends in rural adolescent substance use, based on data from the Monitoring the Future study conducted by the U. of Michigan, Institute for Social