Critical Rural Theory: Structure, Space, Culture [Paperback]

Critical Rural Theoryis an attempt to bring together the concepts of structure, space, and culture in order to explain the relationship between rural communities and urban society. The overarching theme revolves around the many ways-structural, spatial, and cultural-in which urban systems create and maintain a hegemonic relationship with rural areas and people. Central to this theme is the concept of urbanormativity: the cultural assumption of the dominance and superiority of urban communities and patterns of life. Urbanormativity is an outgrowth of the structural forces in an urban society that favor the interests of cities over those of the countryside, of a generally exploitative relationship between the two. The structure of a society is encoded in the settlement space, which in turn influences one's experience. The experience of social space produces cultural dynamics that are reproduced from generation to generation. These mechanisms are explored through popular culture, physical patterns of urban expansion, and historical patterns of social change.

Alexander R. Thomasis associate professor of sociology at SUNY College at Oneonta. He is also the author ofThe Evolution of the Ancient City: Urban Theory and the Archaeology of the Fertile Crescent.
Brian Loweis assistant professor of sociology at SUNY College at Oneonta.
Greg Fulkersonis assistant professor of sociology at SUNY College at Oneonta.
Polly Smithis assistant professor of sociology at Utica College.

With regard to the discipline, the authors give a nice overview of the somewhat puzzling retreat from the rural of mainstream sociology in the early 20th century and the resulting urban bias. They focus somewhat less on the parallel development and divergences of rural and regular (urbancentric) sociology as quasi-independent fields, complete with separate scholarly organizations and intellectual orientations. Interestingly they also pointl³³