Rurale sociologie, een buitenplaats van de algemene sociologie?

Samenvatting

Argues that rural sociology as an autonomous sociological subdiscipline is not justified by the demographic or economic importance of the Dutch agrarian population. Rather, its relevance depends on the ongoing restructuring of the countryside due to the increasing diversity of competing interests on one hand & on theoretical connections with general sociology on the other hand. Historically, rural sociology has demonstrated a link between theory & ideology. Although such a tendency could obscure rural realities, it could also amplify the political relevance of rural sociology if sufficient empirical & critical rigor were applied. Two recurrent themes in this special issue of Sociologische Gids (see related abstracts in SA 44:4) include modernization & the actor-structure dilemma. Classical modernization theory emphasizes ruptures with the past, the increasing differentiation into subsystems, & the ongoing rationalization of such subsystems; applications to rural sociology are discussed. 11 References. Adapted from the source document.