Agrarianism in American Society

In: Rural sociology, Band 57, Heft 1, S. 48-64

Abstract

Abstract Sociological studies indicate that adherence to the tenets of agrarianism is still widespread in American society. But efforts to identify the structural roots of agrarianism have been only partially successful in that only a small portion of the variation in support of agrarianism can be explained thereby. The multidimensionality of agrarian beliefs and the linkages with underlying values prevalent in American society are explored with data drawn from a national sample of adults. Results indicate that tenets of the agrarian creed are widely endorsed by the American public as a whole. Moreover, beliefs are organized in the form of attitudinal (factor) dimensions corresponding to four of the five tenets of agrarianism identified by Flinn and Johnson (1974): family farm, agrarian fundamentalism, yeomanship (independence), and farm life style. The analysis of scale scores for the first three dimensions indicates that each expresses a different social ethic that is revealed in the unique configuration of American values to which it is significantly related.