Following the cultural turn within the social sciences, recent debates on how to conceptualise "the rural" have focused on "rurality" as a phenomenon produced by processes of social construction. This paper presents an empirical account of the outcome of these social construction processes through an analysis of how teenagers…

A study in two Norwegian villages focused on the local gas station and the Internet cafe as "technospaces" for rural youth cultures--spaces at the intersection of technology and human interaction. The car and the Internet were given different symbolic and utility values in various youth subcultures. Local contexts influenced technology…

The structuring of educational ambition among rural youth in Norway, Germany, and the United States was compared. The research thrust was to specify linkages between scholastic rank and educational plan. Social class origin, sex, residence place, and regional context were introduced as additional considerations. (Author/NQ)

Some of the structural barriers to the upward educational mobility of rural young people in Norway and the United States wereexplored in this study. Inquiry was focused on the degree to which perceived parental interest, academic performance in school, and social class origin influence plans for further academic education. The study population was…

The extent to which regional variations in socioeconomic circumstances influence the educational mobility patterns of rural youth and the nature of those influences is explored in this cross-national comparative study. The study drew upon data from 3 modern, industrialized societies: Germany, Norway, and the United States. The study population is…

Interviews with rural Norwegian youth about wolves and related environmental controversies found a range of viewpoints related to education and social class. The results reveal a conflict between dominant and subordinate forms of knowledge and between abstraction-oriented and production-oriented cultural forms. Modernization is removing many rural…

Comparing survey responses of U.S. rural youth (1,142 males and 1,148 females) with those of Norwegian rural youth (660 males and 650 females at the comprehensive school level and 237 males and 192 females at the secondary level), youth career orientations were analyzed in terms of career desiderata and sex differentials, social class origins, and…

Using data obtained from recent cross-national and longitudinal studies, the link between family influences and the traditional patterns of school achievement were assessed in terms of rural educational mobility and sex differentials within the context of the "sponsored" system of Norway's schools and the "contest" system…

A report of 1 phase of a larger cross-cultural project, this paper is primarily concerned with the interrelated influences of perceived parental support and social class origins on the educational plans of comparable populations of American high school seniors and Norwegian "ungdomskole" students. The data was obtained via a…

Focusing specifically on teaching as a career goal among rural youth in Norway, Germany, and the United States, this cross-national comparative study took into account the general patterning of career ambitions in each society--upward mobility opportunities, status attainment strategies, and organizational character of the educational systems…

Suggests that young women migrate from rural to urban areas in northern Scandinavia because the rural "periphery" is dominated by male economic and leisure activities. A study in northern Norway indicates that more young women than young men valued higher education and highly qualified careers, both of which were more attainable in urban…