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Abstract Despite demographic and economic trends away from rural societies and from agriculture, a consideration of rural areas remains important for two reasons. First, a substantial number of people will continue to live and work in rural areas, even as urbanization spreads across the world. Second, social processes have different consequences in urban and rural areas. Rural sociology must make global restructuring a key concern, it must provide information about social and economic processes in rural and urban areas, and its geographical scope must become truly international.

Fieldwork conducted 1991 in Schlossberg County, East Germany, informs a discussion of the effects of postcommunist transformation on East German agriculture. The county has a population of 25,000, 16,000 of whom live in the town of Schlossberg. Agriculture accounted for 17% of total employment in 1989. Interviews were conducted with all major policymakers & key bureaucrats & a survey of the county's mostly dairy agricultural cooperatives (former collectives). The dismantling of the collective farms & its effects on agricultural production & employment are emphasized. Specific laws & market forces impacting the newly established cooperatives are discussed. It is argued that the main obstacles facing the cooperatives are the same ones faced by Western farmers: the limits of agriculture as an activity, government regulation of production quotas, market prices, etc. It is also contended that the cooperatives are a valuable form of production, but one that is not appreciated by government policies. Discussed in conclusion are wider community social change (eg, increase in retail goods, growing right-wing sympathies among youth) & the political economy of East German development. 23 References. E. Blackwell

In dem Beitrag wird untersucht, inwieweit die wachsende Bedeutung des tertiaeren Sektors zu Veraenderungen in der Beschaeftigungsstruktur fuehrt und Ausgangspunkt fuer einen sozialen Wandel sein koennte. In Auseinandersetzung mit den Thesen fuehrender Wirtschaftswissenschaftler und vor dem Hintergrund einer Fuelle statistischen Materials kommt der Verfasser zu dem Ergebnis, dass die vom tertiaeren Sektor ausgehende Nachfrage nach hoeheren Qualifikationen auch zu einer Verbesserung der Arbeitsbedingungen fuehren koenne. Indessen sei aber nicht abzusehen, dass die Verschiebung der beruflichen Qualifikation ein anhaltender Trend ist, so dass allzu hohe Erwartungen an einen von diesem Sektor iniitierten sozialen Wandel verfrueht seien.

In this paper, we examine poverty in three regions in the United States and Germany and discuss its causes and demographic consequences. The three regions are those with the highest rates of poverty in the two countries: the Mississippi Delta and Texas Borderland in the United States and the Northeastern Border Region in Germany. We show that standard models to explain poverty need to be placed in the historical legacies of the three regions in order to understand their current levels of poverty. While our results show many common factors for poverty in the three regions, they also point to important differences. Similarly, we identify differences among the regions in their demographic responses to poverty, in part reflecting their different historical legacies. Thus, one implication of the paper is the importance of place-based poverty-mitigation strategies for successful policy planning. ; In this paper, we examine poverty in three regions in the United States and Germany and discuss its causes and demographic consequences. The three regions are those with the highest rates of poverty in the two countries: the Mississippi Delta and Texas Borderland in the United States and the Northeastern Border Region in Germany. We show that standard models to explain poverty need to be placed in the historical legacies of the three regions in order to understand their current levels of poverty. While our results show many common factors for poverty in the three regions, they also point to important differences. Similarly, we identify differences among the regions in their demographic responses to poverty, in part reflecting their different historical legacies. Thus, one implication of the paper is the importance of place-based poverty-mitigation strategies for successful policy planning.

"In this paper, we examine poverty in three regions in the United States and Germany and discuss its causes and demographic consequences. The three regions are those with the highest rates of poverty in the two countries: the Mississippi Delta and Texas Borderland in the United States and the Northeastern Border Region in Germany. We show that standard models to explain poverty need to be placed in the historical legacies of the three regions in order to understand their current levels of poverty. While our results show many common factors for poverty in the three regions, they also point to important differences. Similarly, we identify differences among the regions in their demographic responses to poverty, in part reflecting their different historical legacies. Thus, one implication of the paper is the importance of place-based poverty-mitigation strategies for successful policy planning." (author's abstract)