America's Heartland: A Case for Social Resilience?
Issue Date
2014-01-01Author
Wuthnow, Robert
Publisher
Department of Sociology, University of Kansas
Type
Article
Article Version
Scholarly/refereed, publisher version
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Much has been written in recent years about the decline, problems, distinctive traditions, and political conservatism of
small rural “heartland” communities. I discuss the important place that rural communities occupied in the development of
modern sociological theories, the focus of recent empirical studies of these communities, and the arguments that have
been advanced about population decline and the stultifying effects of closed social networks. I then describe evidence that
supports arguments about social resilience in small rural communities, including recent demographic figures about
population stability, data on social capital and open networks, and qualitative information about small-town values and lifestyles.
Collections
Citation
Social Thought and Research, Volume 33 (2014), pp. 21-44. DOI:10.17161/STR.1808.18444
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