1st Edition
Rural Sociologists at Work Candid Accounts of Theory, Method, and Practice
This collection of original chapters, written by prominent social scientists, elucidates the theory and practice of contemporary rural sociology. The book applies lessons from the careers of sociologists and their field research endeavors, covering a wide range of topics: agricultural production, processing, and marketing; international food security and rural development; degradation of the bio-physical environment across borders; and the study of community, family, health, and many other issues in an increasingly globalized world. The authors’ candid accounts provide insight into possibilities for enhancing opportunity and equality and serving basic human needs.
Candid accounts by Rural Sociologists: Editor’s Introduction by Johannes I. (Hans) Bakker, Brandon University PART I: Background Accounts General Introduction by Lawrence Busch, Michigan State University 1. Rural Sociology: A Slightly Personal History by Stephen Turner, University of South Florida 2. "I Could Tell Stories ‘til the Cows Come Home:" Personal Biography meets Collective Biography by Julie N. Zimmerman, University of Kentucky PART II: Candid Accounts 3. An Accidental Rural Sociologist by Michael D. Schulman, North Carolina State University 4. From Estate Agriculture to the Industrial Diet: The Trajectory of a Canadian Rural Sociologist by Anthony Winson, University of Guelph 5. The Intersection of Biography and Work as a Rural Sociologist by Linda Lobao, The Ohio State University 6. Rural Sociologists at Work: Dual Careers, Single Focus by Cornelia Butler Flora and Jan L. Flora, Iowa State University PART III: Theory and Method 7. Rural Sociology: An Intellectual Crescent Wrench by Ralph Brown, Brigham Young University 8. Avoiding Burnout: All Who Wander Are Not Lost by Conner Bailey, Auburn University 9. The Accidental Rural Sociologist by Bill Reimer, Concordia University
Biography
Johannes I. ("Hans") Bakker is the Stanley Knowles Distinguished Visiting Professor at Brandon University, Manitoba, Canada, Emeritus lifetime member of the Rural Sociological Society, and Chair of the Senior Rural Sociologists Research Interest Group.
"This collection of autobiographical essays by prominent North American rural sociologists should be required reading for sociology students contemplating a career studying rural areas. It will also appeal to established sociologists interested in the historical development of rural sociology as a discipline. Some essays are personal stories about how the authors became involved in the field, but many chart the intellectual development that led rural sociology to break away politically from "mainstream" sociology. The essays cover a wide range of theoretical, empirical, and political issues. In style and substance, this work follows Phillip Hammond's Sociologists at Work (CH, Jan'65) and Matilda White Riley's Sociological Lives (1988). All rural sociologists will be familiar with most or all of these contributors and will appreciate the candor of the essays. Each chapter includes notes and a bibliography. The book will remind readers that all faculty enter their disciplines at a particular point in time, and these stories provide a perspective, both personal and historical, that often is left out of their training. Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates and above."--A. A. Hickey, Western Carolina University, in CHOICE
