Migration and the changing rural scene

Abstract

In a dramatic reversal of the long established trend toward urban concentration. Americas nonmetropolitan areas are now growing at a rate exceeding that of its metropolitan areas. What this population turnaround portends for the future of rural life the character and stability of rural communities and the viability of American agriculture is still uncertain. A brief overview of the current situation is provided here and some of the conditioning factors undergirding the reversal phenomenon are explored (demographic and economic trends changing preferences and motivational elements entering into decisions to migrate). A number of potential consequences are discussed (problems of social integration fiscal effects land utilization issues) and the analytic utility of a social systems perspective derived from earlier research on rural-to-urban migration is examined. Understanding the reversal phenomenon and its sociocultural impacts it is suggested represents a formidable research challenge for rural sociologists. (authors)