{"title":"“Long‐Term Temporary” Disaster Recovery Housing: Living in RVs Post‐Wildfire","authors":"Haisu Huang, Claire W. Herbert","doi":"10.1111/ruso.70019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ruso.70019","url":null,"abstract":"Sociological research has begun to examine how individuals and communities stabilize, recover, and rebuild post‐disaster, highlighting the importance of housing through the broader recovery process, which often takes multiple years. Wildfire impacts and losses have been increasingly studied by sociologists, but the recovery process has not been well examined in the rural context. This article builds on the nexus of housing, rural, and disaster recovery scholarship to explore the use of recreational vehicles (RVs) as an informal, post‐disaster housing strategy. Using qualitative research conducted with a rural community in Oregon post‐wildfire, we explain why residents choose RVs and what the experience is like for them. Although RV living is affordable and bolsters long‐time place‐based and RV community connections, it also exacerbates pre‐fire vulnerabilities and creates new sources of hardship and stress. RVs may function as a quick coping strategy for post‐disaster housing and reflect rural self‐reliance and community resilience, but we argue they are also a source of future disaster vulnerability that requires institutional intervention.","PeriodicalId":47924,"journal":{"name":"RURAL SOCIOLOGY","volume":"10 12 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144930319","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Rural Life, Rural Healthcare, and Telehealth: An Interpretive Phenomenology Study","authors":"Meghan Rowe Ferrara, Susan A. Chapman","doi":"10.1111/ruso.70016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ruso.70016","url":null,"abstract":"Telehealth may help ameliorate rural healthcare shortages and related negative health outcomes for rural populations in the United States. However, telehealth utilization has been lower among rural than urban populations. Patient experiences are an essential determinant of healthcare utilization and effectiveness. To inform efforts to address disparities in telehealth utilization, we sought a situated, contextual understanding of patient experiences with telehealth among rural‐dwelling adults in California. We used Interpretive Phenomenology qualitative methods. In‐depth semi‐structured interviews explored rural life contexts, rural healthcare experiences, and valuations of telehealth among 16 rural‐dwelling adults who used telehealth at a distant urban medical center. Themes of scarcity and fragmented care characterized participants' rural healthcare experiences. Participants placed high value on their rural settings, despite limitations imposed by rural living. Informed by these contexts, participants offered highly positive assessments of telehealth and its utility for rural patients. Telehealth emerged as a positive tool for participants to support healthcare access and a rural way of life. However, findings point to a need to explore whether telehealth may contribute to rural healthcare bypass behaviors. Ongoing research is also needed to understand the telehealth experiences and preferences of underserved and minoritized rural populations.","PeriodicalId":47924,"journal":{"name":"RURAL SOCIOLOGY","volume":"116 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144915490","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Reviving Rural America: Toward Policies for Resilience. By AnnM. Eisenberg, Cambridge University Press, 2024. 224 pp. $34.99 (paperback). ISBN: 978‐1‐10‐898440‐9","authors":"Jessica A. Shoemaker","doi":"10.1111/ruso.70018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ruso.70018","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47924,"journal":{"name":"RURAL SOCIOLOGY","volume":"23 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144910578","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Impact of Rural Development Policy on Social Capital: Measurement, Heterogeneity, and Implications for Collective Action","authors":"Shinichi Kitano","doi":"10.1111/ruso.70014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ruso.70014","url":null,"abstract":"In rural development research, social capital (SC) complements the causal gap between the endowment of resources and other capital in a community and the performance of collective actions, such as common‐pool resource management. However, the concept of SC is ambiguous and its measurement is controversial. This study focuses on rural SC and attempts to measure it inductively using data from 994 Japanese communities related to various collective actions (22 types), rather than deductively piling up the detailed components of SC, as in prior studies. In particular, we evaluate the impact of Japan's Multifunctional Payment System (MPS)—a rural development policy designed to support collective agricultural activities such as the maintenance of farm roads and irrigation facilities—on the accumulation of SC. To this end, we employ hierarchical latent variable models to capture the multidimensional and hierarchical structure of SC, and spatial regression models to assess the policy's causal impacts on SC accumulation while considering spatial heterogeneity. The results show that SC has spatial heterogeneity and a hierarchical structure, depending on the internal (bonding‐type) and external (bridging‐type) components, as well as on the difference between general activities and collective agricultural actions. The SC accumulation is strongly correlated with traditional and agriculture‐related activities. Furthermore, policies increase comprehensive SC by approximately 20% but are more effective for internal SC than for external SC. These results suggest the need for policy options such as agglomeration bonuses when expanding the range of collective actions. They also imply that soft projects to strengthen linkages between rural and urban residents (bridging‐type SC) will be important in the future. Other findings indicate that the reinforcement of agricultural corporations and educational facilities are also effective in accumulating SC.","PeriodicalId":47924,"journal":{"name":"RURAL SOCIOLOGY","volume":"26 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144899024","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Elena Maria Pojman, Florence Becot, Zuzana Bednarik, Carrie Henning‐Smith
{"title":"Does Caregiver Well‐Being Differ by Rurality and State Policy Environment? Identifying a Well‐Being Typology for Rural, Suburban, and Urban Caregivers","authors":"Elena Maria Pojman, Florence Becot, Zuzana Bednarik, Carrie Henning‐Smith","doi":"10.1111/ruso.70015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ruso.70015","url":null,"abstract":"Despite caregiving making up a considerable portion of how individuals and governments spend their time and money, its impacts on caregivers' well‐being are not well understood. In this article, we identify the various manifestations of caregiver well‐being, test rural–suburban–urban differences, and explore the role of state‐level family policy. Drawing on responses from 4620 caregivers of adults and children to the STAT Caregiving surveys from the North Central and Northeast Regions of the United States, we use latent‐class analysis to develop a caregiver well‐being typology. We identify three latent classes of caregiver well‐being: high, medium, and low, and describe the composition of each class. Next, we use multinomial logistic regression to test differences between rural, suburban, and urban caregivers in their probability of being in each well‐being class, while accounting for individual‐level characteristics and the state‐level context of care infrastructure. We find that rural and suburban caregivers are overrepresented among the low and medium well‐being classes and underrepresented among the high well‐being class relative to their urban counterparts. Additionally, caregivers' own characteristics vary more across well‐being than does the state‐level family policy context. Our findings speak to the importance of robust family care policies that are attuned to differences in social and built infrastructure across rural, suburban, and urban residence.","PeriodicalId":47924,"journal":{"name":"RURAL SOCIOLOGY","volume":"25 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144899019","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kristen Olson, Angelica Phillips, Jolene D. Smyth, Rachel Stenger
{"title":"The Urban–Rural Digital Divide in Internet Access and Online Activities During the COVID‐19 Pandemic","authors":"Kristen Olson, Angelica Phillips, Jolene D. Smyth, Rachel Stenger","doi":"10.1111/ruso.70012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ruso.70012","url":null,"abstract":"The COVID‐19 pandemic rapidly shifted traditionally in‐person interactions to online. Because rural residents historically have lower rates of broadband internet access, they may have been less likely to conduct activities online than their urban counterparts, reflecting geographic digital inequalities. We examine whether residents of rural areas are less likely than residents of urban areas to have internet access, conduct various activities online, and use videoconferencing software during the COVID‐19 pandemic using a probability survey of Nebraskans conducted in late 2020. We find that rural residents were less likely to have broadband internet access, a pattern that persists after accounting for characteristics of the residents. We also find that rural residents were less likely than their more urban counterparts to order food and groceries online, to stream movies or TV, or to use video conferencing for work and medical care, reflecting likely infrastructure differences in rural areas. Rural residents were also less likely to engage in online education activities, play games online, use social media, or use video conferencing to stay in touch with friends and family, but these geographic differences were explained by resident characteristics, suggesting that these differences in behaviors may be due to preference rather than lacking infrastructure.","PeriodicalId":47924,"journal":{"name":"RURAL SOCIOLOGY","volume":"66 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144577682","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
José Manuel Álvarez‐Montoya, Esteban Ruiz‐Ballesteros
{"title":"Neo‐Rurals and Tourism in the Context of Rural Crisis in Southern Europe. Case Study in the Sierra de Aracena (Andalusia, Spain)","authors":"José Manuel Álvarez‐Montoya, Esteban Ruiz‐Ballesteros","doi":"10.1111/ruso.70010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ruso.70010","url":null,"abstract":"The role of newcomers in the contemporary rural world has been widely studied, but the variability of profiles they present (amenity migrants, classic economic immigrants, neo‐rurals…) suggests that not all these actors have the same effects on the rural world and its crises. This article examines specifically how neo‐rurals—a population that is politically committed to sustainable rural development—influence the socio‐environmental, socio‐economic and socio‐identity issues surrounding the rural crisis through their engagement with tourism, a key activity in shaping the rural world in southern Europe. To do this, we present an ethnographic case study conducted in Fuenteheridos, a village in the Sierra de Aracena (Andalusia, Spain) that has a significant neo‐rural population and a developed tourism sector. This case study allows us to reflect on the differential effects of neo‐rurals on the rural crisis.","PeriodicalId":47924,"journal":{"name":"RURAL SOCIOLOGY","volume":"25 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-06-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144341045","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Colonizing Canis lupus: Wolf Management as a Settler Colonial Project","authors":"Kristina Beggen, Richard York","doi":"10.1111/ruso.70009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ruso.70009","url":null,"abstract":"The hostility to wolves by segments of agribusiness and the general public in the United States is a puzzle, given that wolf predation is not responsible for a large number of cattle and sheep losses and has only a very modest economic effect on the livestock industry. Thus, the logic of profit‐seeking in capitalism, although playing a role, is insufficient to explain the outsized and partisan opposition to wolf recovery. We argue that the logics of settler colonialism are a foundational force that shapes the politics and management of wolves in the United States. We explain how settler colonialism seeks to eliminate both Indigenous people and wolves to appropriate and reshape landscapes for settler use. Contemporary wolf policy and management at the state and federal levels continue to reflect settler colonial logics. Our general aim is to show how theories of settler colonialism complement other prominent sociological theories and enhance our understanding of the forces leading to ecological crises. We conclude by highlighting examples of more just approaches to wolf management that include Indigenous kinship and relational values.","PeriodicalId":47924,"journal":{"name":"RURAL SOCIOLOGY","volume":"42 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-06-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144290171","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Producing but Not Consuming? Food Provisioning in Remote, Rural Areas of the UK☆","authors":"Isabel Fletcher, Ann Bruce","doi":"10.1111/ruso.70006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ruso.70006","url":null,"abstract":"This is one of the first studies of food provisioning in remote rural areas of Scotland and England, providing evidence of precarity in food access at the same time as agricultural products are exported from the region to the global food system. We interviewed residents of four remote and rural areas of the UK about their food shopping habits and their purchase of local foods. Using theoretical resources from social science literature on food shopping, alternative food networks, and resilience to identify the influence of daily routine on rural food shopping practices, the importance of local retailers, the limited availability of locally produced foods, and the distinct nature of remote and rural households' food and shopping practices. Our findings illustrate the greater fragility of these rural food systems, the challenges faced by residents of these communities who can be unusually dependent on long and sometimes unreliable supermarket supply chains for the bulk of their food purchases, and the ‘buffering’ practices that they adopt to guard against possible food shortages. We argue that these practices can be considered as a form of care for both individuals and communities, but that, on their own, they cannot fully address this fragility. Initiatives to support shorter supply chains could improve the resilience of rural food systems but would require investment in infrastructure such as abattoirs, market spaces, and polytunnels in order to increase production, meet existing demand for locally produced food, and keep that food within these areas for local consumers.","PeriodicalId":47924,"journal":{"name":"RURAL SOCIOLOGY","volume":"10 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-06-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144237378","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Who We Are Is Where We Are: Making Home in the American Rust Belt, by Amanda McMillanLequieu, New York: Columbia University Press, 2024. 384 pp. $32.00 (paper). ISBN: 9780231198752.","authors":"Ellie Martin","doi":"10.1111/ruso.70008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ruso.70008","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47924,"journal":{"name":"RURAL SOCIOLOGY","volume":"16 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143930693","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}