Reconstruction of Rural Community:Church Tradition in Early American Agricultural and Rural Sociology
Rural America during the Progressive Era experienced an overall crisis,while early agricultur-al and rural sociology in the United States.Unlike urban congestion,the primary issue for rural areas was isolation.At that time,research on rural issues was roughly divided into two schools:"ruralism"and"rurbanism".Ruralism believed that rural areas were self-sufficient social systems,while rurbanism be-lieved that rural areas and cities were essentially integrated,connected by towns and small cities close to county towns.At the same time,rural churches also encountered specific crises,because they could no longer fulfill their traditional function of soothing people's hearts.New forms and functions had to be de-veloped to meet the requirements of the new era.Pastors played a very important role in this process.A pastor needed to be a sociologist rooted in the countryside who would investigate community needs,stimu-late industrial development,and maintain community interests.Social topography is a sociological method of identifying rural community.Through the Christian rural movement,the early ideas of American agri-cultural and rural sociology were also spread to China,and church universities actively engaged in agricul-tural promotion and community transformation.They combined with China's local characteristics,develo-ping localized theories and methods suitable for Chinese society.
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
