Food Nature & Society Rural Life in Late Modernity

Based on papers presented at the XVIII Congress of the European Society for Rural Sociology, this volume introduces the key themes and issues currently being addressed in rural sociology. It demonstrates the striking reorientation of the field in recent years by incorporating new concerns with consumption and society-nature relations alongside older concerns with the social and technical organization of food production, and with social relations and collective action in the countryside. Focusing on the distinctive ways in which rural, social, economic and political life is experienced in developed societies in late modernity, the chapters draw their empirical material from a wide range of countries within and outside the EU. It also incorporates comparative case studies from South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. The concerns of aspiring EU member states about the fate of their rural populations illuminate both the positive and problematic aspects of EU rural policy. Accounts of what it was to be rural under socialism and more recently in the post-socialist transition add essential new dimensions to our understanding of the modern European rural experience.'A broad range of social, economic and political issues are dealt with...Equally impressive is the diversity of countries from which case studies are drawn...Despite this diversity of topics and case studies, the book forms a reasonably cohesive collection and adds to our understanding of the meanings attaching to the rural as we enter the twenty-first century. This is greatly facilitated by an excellent editors' introduction synthesising the contributions. The various chapters display a useful blend of empirical and theoretical material as well as employing a wide variety of research methods.' Geography 'The in-depth study of the different themes makes it very valuable, not only for rural sociologists but also to agronomists, rural policy-makers and agricultural marketeers.' International Journal of Environment and pollution.