Rural space as a subject of sociology research in Latvia
2013
Kruzmetra, M., Latvia Univ. of Agriculture, Jelgava (Latvia). Faculty of Social Sciences
Rural sociology is one of those fields of sociology which has rather long history when compared with other fields or research. From today’s viewpoint it is possible to identify several periods in the development of rural sociology in Latvia: 1) up to 1940; 2) 70s–80s of the 20th century; 3) beginning of the 1990s up to the first decade of 21st century; and 4) recent years outline a new period. Each of these periods has its specific character as regards the organization and the problems because of the change of the political, economic and social conditions. The first stage focused on the peasantry as a class analysis, the second stage analyzed the problems of structure and functioning of rural society developed in the condition of socialism, the third dealt with the peasantry as a group revived as the basis of rural population moving to the individual farming, identifying favourable factors and obstacles of this movement. The research of the fourth period centres on the rural areas as a system and mosaic type formation. At the initial stage, research was carried out by agricultural specialists, at the second and third stage – by economists, historians, and philosophers, and now – by academically educated specialists in sociology, regional development, human geography. In the course of time, the Latvia University of Agriculture has developed a group of researchers with a focus on social problems of rural development considering that rural development is determined not only by the physical and financial, but also by human resources. The authors’ research overview is based on the perception of rural areas as space.
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