Historically rural society has been viewed as being characterized by a concensus on a set of values unique to rural life. Data gathered from random samples of 15 communities in the intermountain West suggests, in general, that rurality and social stratification need to be integrated into a theory of values. (BR)

Sample populations from 15 Intermountain West communities (representative of population, ethnic, and employment variety) were surveyed to test the following hypotheses: (1) there is a greater degree of consensus in rural than in non-rural communities; (2) there are differences between values in rural and non-rural communities; (3) a model…