David L. Brown & Kai A. Schafft 
Rural People and Communities in the 21st Century 
Resilience and Transformation

Rural people and communities continue to play important social, economic, and environmental roles at a time when societies are rapidly urbanizing. This unrivaled critical introduction, now in a comprehensively updated second edition, examines the causes and consequences of major social and economic transformations affecting rural populations in recent decades, explores policies developed to ameliorate problems or enhance opportunities, and highlights the resilience of rural people and communities.

In an engaging, reader-friendly style, the book explores both socio-demographic and political economic aspects of rural transformation through an accessible and up-to-date blend of theory and empirical analysis, with each chapter’s discussion grounded in real-life case-study materials. The new edition has been completely revised throughout, with new data and literature, and carefully updated to address emerging issues of direct relevance to rural people and places, including a whole new chapter on rural politics.

Rural People and Communities in the 21st Century will continue to be the standard reading of choice for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in rural sociology, community sociology, rural and/or population geography, community development, and population studies.

Table of Content

* Part I. Thinking About Rural Places in Metropolitan Society

* 1. Rurality in Metropolitan Societies

* 2. Urbanization and Population Redistribution

* 3. Rural Politics and Governance

* Part II. Rural Communities, Institutions and Environments

* 4. Understanding Community in Rural Society

* 5. Community Institutions in Rural Society

* 6. Natural Resources and Social Change

* Part III. Rural Populations

* 7. Youth, Aging, and the Life Course

* 8. Racial and Ethnic Minorities in Rural Areas

* Part IV. Rural Economy and Socioeconomic Wellbeing

* 9. Making a Living in Rural Communities

* 10. Farms, Farmers, and Farming in Contemporary Rural Society

* 11. Poverty Across Rural People and Places

* Part V. Conclusions

* 12. A Transformed Rural Society: Challenges and Opportunities for the Future

About the author

David L. Brown is Emeritus Professor of Development Sociology.

Kai A. Schafft is Associate Professor of Education and Rural Sociology, and Director of the Penn State Center for Rural Education and Communities at The Pennsylvania State University.