Recent advances in gas and oil drilling technology have led to dramatic boomtown development in many rural areas that have endured extended periods of economic decline. In Pennsylvania's Marcellus gas fields, the recent development of unconventional shale gas resources has not been without controversy. It has been variously framed as a major…

Recent initiatives from state and federal government agencies have helped foster the formation of community-based watershed organizations. Although there is a great deal of enthusiasm about the potential of these organizations to enhance water quality, relatively little attention has been paid to the impacts these organizations may have on the…

Draws upon community field theory and human ecology and uses data from 120 rural Pennsylvania school districts to examine the relative contributions of past community actions, development of solidarity, and ecological variables (socioeconomic status, remoteness, previous industrialization, and percentage of residents commuting to work) to the…

Rural sociologists figure prominently in the move towards public sociology. The paper takes up Michael Burawoy's call for public sociology and discusses what rural sociologists have to offer to publics and how we stand to gain as a discipline in working with publics. The paper argues that rural sociologists' ability to adopt a cosmopolitan view…

The research examines the structural and spatial features of Pennsylvania nonmetropolitan places with net outmigration, 1940-60, and net inmigration, 1960-70, in comparison with Pennsylvania nonmetropolitan places with net outmigration, 1940-70. A one-way analysis of variance and step-wise discriminant function analysis were used. (Author/NQ)