Rural Sociology (e-book) (used book) | Lowry Nelson | bookbook.eu

Description

Excerpt from Rural Sociology

Since the first edition of this book was published in 1948, the world has seen the results of World War II and of its aftermath, the Cold War, made manifest in human affairs. These events have had a serious impact upon rural life in the United States. In the main, the result has been to accelerate the rate of social change. All aspects of life, material and non material, seem to have been affected. The advances in agricultural technology have never been equaled in a comparable period in American history. For example, electricity has been brought to nearly all the farms of the nation for the first time; as late as 1935, only one in ten farms was served from a central electric generator. Farm production has steadily mounted, while the number of farms has steadily declined. The farm population has become thinner. Tractors have largely replaced horses; and the ingenious machines associated with the tractor have so reduced the need for human labor that migration from farms to cities, towns, and villages has become a spectacle rivaling the enclosures in Britain in the early stages of the Industrial Revolution. These changes have affected the social relations of rural people. The institutions of education, religion, government, and family have had important adjustments to make. Even so, the full effects of this New Industrial Revolution in agriculture have not been fully experienced and understood. More changes are yet to come. In this revision, the author has introduced facts to indicate the re markable changes that have taken place during the past decade and a half. Since the changes are still in process, it is impossible to do more than indicate the trends and suggest directions.