A variety of ecological, economic, and social changes are now reshaping rural America. The deterioration of the economic structures and perceived quality of social life in large metropolitan centers of the United States has stimulated the dispersal of population and economic resources throughout rural America. During the last decade almost three million more people moved out of metropolitan areas than moved in and three-fourths of all nonmetropolitan U.S. counties gained population. This growth in rural population and the accompanying technological and economic growth of rural America have led to severe difficulties for rural areas as they attempt to maintain the relative lack of pollution and the land availability of the rural environment. Rural America is characterized by an increasing racial and ethnic variability. In addition, recent evidence indicates that the aspirations and values of rural people are, in general, as pluralistic as those of metropolitan people of the same region, ethnicity, and social class. Contemporary changes in the population and nature of rural America must be considered by social scientists and government policymakers and operatives. (Related reports on rural development in America are available through ERIC--see note.) (MN)