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Sex, Lies, and Statistics: Can Rural Sociology Survive Restructuring? (or) What Is Right with Rural Sociology and How Can We Fix It 1
Author(s) -
Tickamyer Ann R.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
rural sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.083
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1549-0831
pISSN - 0036-0112
DOI - 10.1111/j.1549-0831.1996.tb00608.x
Subject(s) - conceptualization , restructuring , sociology , vitality , social science , empirical research , discipline , rural sociology , postmodernism , positive economics , epistemology , economic growth , economics , political science , law , rural development , ecology , philosophy , theology , artificial intelligence , computer science , biology , agriculture
Rural Sociology faces increasing threats of marginalization from social and economic restructuring of academia and of the larger society in which it is embedded. Contrary to some recent analyses, the problem lies more in the inadequacies of data conceptualization, production, and collection than in the theoretical vitality of the discipline. The failure to match theoretical and conceptual advances with appropriate data leaves sociologists grappling with “modern data to study a postmodern world.” Research on the impact of restructuring on social and spatial divisions of labor and the contributions of feminist theory and research to the conceptualization of work and household illustrate the theoretical advances and the empirical deficiencies faced by the discipline. Disciplinary survival and development depend on meeting the challenge of matching theoretical progress with an appropriate empirical base.