Sociology  Ext. 101 ( Rural Sociology)

Dr. Yagya  Prasad  Giri

Lecture – 3.

Topic: Development of Rural Sociology as a Major field of Sociology

Rural sociology is a new branch of sociology with studies being carried out from 19th century. The prominent scholars engaged in rural sociology during this period were- Sir Henry Maine, Etton, Stemann, Baden Powell, Slater and Pallock etc.

The period of 1890-1920 in America saw the rural societies facing many socio-economic problems which attracted the attention of the intelligentsia thus establishing study of rural society as an academic discipline.

President Theodore Roosevelt appointed a Commission known as Country Life Commission (CLC) in 1907 to study American rural social life. During that time, American rural life was affected by mass poverty and economic crisis. The social problems of rural US had increased to a significant extent, and CLC was to study these rural social problems and make recommendations for the improvement of rural life.

After an elaborate investigation, CLC submitted its report, which provided a bench­mark data for rural sociology. The findings were referred to the members of American Sociological Society in its annual meeting held in 1912. This reference motivated sociologists to take up the study of rural society in a massive way. Consequently, huge data on rural life was collected in the form of research, monographs and dissertations. In 1917, a separate department of rural sociology was set up by American Sociological Society.

In 1916 the first text book on sociology was published by J.N Gillettee.

The Second World War caused heavy destruction and damage to human society which needed reconstruction. As a result rural sociology got an impetus in USA. The main concern of rural sociology came to be the understanding and diagnosing of the social and economic problems of farmers. More emphasis was placed on issues such as the internal structures of community life and the changing composition of rural populations than on their relationships with land or the social aspects of agricultural production. Theoretically rural sociology remained caught up in bipolar notions of social change whereas rural often got defined as the opposite of urban. Rurality was conceptualized as an autonomous sociological reality. The identification of rural sociology with rural society has also raised questions about its relevance in the western context where no rural areas were left anymore and almost the entire population had become urbanized.

In response to these critiques of rural sociology a new sub-discipline of sociology emerged that operated largely within the functionalist paradigm and was preoccupied with the study of the community life of rural people. This sub-discipline known as sociology of agriculture focused its attention on understanding and analyzing the social framework of agricultural production and the structures of relations centered on land. It raised questions about how and on what terms the agrarian sector was being integrated into the system of commodity production and about the unequal distribution of agricultural incomes and food among the different social categories of people.

The sociology of agriculture also distinguished itself from peasant studies on the grounds that its focus was on capitalist farming where the production was primarily for the market, not on peasants producing for their own consumption by using family labor. Thus it claimed more kinship with the tradition of the political economy of agriculture or agrarian studies. At the methodological level, historical inquiries became as relevant as ethnographic/empirical studies. This conceptual shift during the early 1970s also helped in bringing sociologists working on agrarian issues in the western countries closer to those concerned with agrarian transformations in the third world.

Rural sociology became prominent, during the late industrial revolution in France, Ireland, Prussia, Scandinavia and the US. As urban incomes and quality of life rose, a social gap was noticed between urban and rural dwellers. After the World War II, mod­ern rural sociology began to appear in France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and UK. However, rural sociology in its systematic was originated in the US.

Rural sociology, as a separate subject of study, started in US in 1820. Some of the important contributors for the development of rural sociology are Charles Anderson of Chicago University, Butterfield of Michigan University, Ernest Burnholme of Michigan State College, John Moris Gillin of North Dakota University, Markin H. Giddings of Columbia University and Thomas Nixon Carver of Harvard University. These scholars contributed a great deal to the subject and produced most of the literature in rural sociology. Their works, however, did not make rural sociology as a separate branch, but studied it as a part of sociology.

मिलाउनुपर्ने

In 1919, the Bureau of Agricultural Economics established rural sociology Department under the supervision of Dr. C. J. Galpin, who later wrote ‘The Social Autonomy of the Agricultural Community.’ In 1916, Professor John M. Gillette, pioneer in writing a textbook, published ‘Rural Sociology.’ Subsequently, Social Science Research Council of America started paying attention to the subject, which not only encouraged but also helped in its development.

In 1930, whole world witnessed economic depres­sion, which considerably increased the economic problems of rural population; there­fore, more attention was paid to them. In the same year, a book titled ‘A Systematic Source Book in Rural Sociology’, which later proved significant, was published. In 1935, for the first time in US, a journal titled Rural Sociology was launched. Later in 1937, the Rural Sociological Society was founded in the US.

The outbreak of the World War II in 1939 brought a great deal of destruction and devastation. Both the rural and urban societies faced the problem of reconstruction, which resulted in deeper study of rural problems.

At the end of the war in 1945, the task of rural reconstruction started in full swing, further encouraging rural sociology. America, under its four-point program , sent rural sociologists to work in underde­veloped countries, where the rural problems were still more serious. UNO, UNESCO and FAO have conducted several studies on rural conditions of various countries and highlighted many rural problems.

Reputed sociologists, such as James Michel Williams, Warren H. Wilson, and Newell L. Sims contributed substantially to the study of American Rural Society. The early rural sociologists used statistical and historical data, along with field interviews to find out the empirical reality of rural life in America.

Warren Wilson elaborately studied rural church life. During that time, much attention has been paid towards the study of rural life not only in the US but in other parts of the world. This has contributed to the rapid development of rural sociology.