Lecture 1

Origin of Rural Sociology

 Origin of Rural Sociology
 Study of rural society is as old as the rural society.
 Social thinkers tried attempted to comprehend the
life process of the rural world & to generalize
solutions of the emerging problems.
 A comprehensive survey regarding rural life and its
problems as they merged in the changing rural
society in various stages of Development has been
made in the ‘Systematic source book in Rural
Sociology’ Vol I- Sorokin, Zimmerman & Galpin.
(1930)
• Subject matter of the book
 An exhausted survey of the field of Rural sociology as
discussed in American, European & Asiatic literature.
 It concerns on the institutional, the psychological & the
mental phase of rural organizations and the demographic
characters of rural & urban Sociology.
 The historical development of rural sociology is
systematically presented through selections from the
prominent social philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle,
Adam smith and Benjamin Franklin.
 It shows that rural problem made their appearance long
ago.
 Systematic Growth in 19 Century th

• More systematic growth – middle of 19th century.

• Attention of the scholar was the capitalist
industrial civilization upon the rural economy and
social structure throughout the world, to the
study of the trends of rural social development.
• A number of scholars working on rural society.
• This all has led to the growth of rich materials on
Rural Sociology.
 Studying Rural Sociology in the USA
• Rural Sociology in America- Organized & disciplined way.
• Rural sociology, as a separate subject of study, started in US in
1820. Some of the important contributors for the development
of rural sociology are Charles Anderson of Chicago University,
Butterfield of Michigan University, Ernest Burnholme of
Michigan State College, John Moris Gillin of North Dakota
University, Markin H. Giddings of Columbia University and
Thomas Nixon Carver of Harvard University.
• These scholars contributed a great deal to the subject and
produced most of the literature in rural sociology. Their works,
however, did not make rural sociology as a separate branch, but
studied it as a part of sociology.
• In America, Firstly, The American President Theodore
Roosevelt appointed a Commission known as Country Life
Commission (CLC) in 1907 to study American rural social
life. During that time, American rural life was affected by
mass poverty and economic crisis. The social problems of
rural US had increased to a significant extent, and CLC was
to study these rural social problems and make
recommendations for the improvement of rural life.
• Circulation of 5,00,000 questionnaire and received
1,00,000 replies & published a report.
• After an elaborate investigation, CLC submitted its
report.
• The findings were referred to the members of
American Sociological Society in its annual meeting
held in 1912. This reference motivated sociolo­gists
to take up the study of rural society in a massive
way. Consequently, huge data on rural life was
collected in the form of research, monographs and
dissertations.
• In 1917, a separate department of rural sociology
was set up by American Sociological Society.
• In 1919, the Bureau of Agricultural Economics
established rural sociology Department under the
supervision of Dr. C. J. Galpin, who later wrote ‘The
Social Autonomy of the Agricultural Community.
• In 1916, Professor John M. Gillette, pioneer in
writing a textbook, published ‘Rural Sociology.’
• In 1930, whole world witnessed economic depres­
sion, which considerably increased the economic
problems of rural population; there­fore, more
attention was paid to them. In the same year, a book
titled ‘A Systematic Source Book in Rural Sociology’.
• In 1935, for the first time in US, a journal titled
Rural Sociology was launched.
• Later in 1937, the Rural Sociological Society
was founded in the US.
• he outbreak of the World War II in 1939
brought a great deal of destruction and
devastation. Both the rural and urban societies
faced the problem of reconstruction, which
resulted in deeper study of rural problems.
• At the end of the war in 1945, the task of rural
reconstruction started in full swing, further
encouraging rural sociology. America, under
its four-point programme, sent rural
sociologists to work in underde­veloped
countries, where the rural problems were still
more serious.
• UNO, UNESCO and FAO started working on
Rural society.
Thank You