The Study of Rural Change from a Social Scientific Perspective
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The Study of Rural Change from a Social Scientific Perspective A Literature Review and Annotated Bibliography Michael Mackay, Harvey C. Perkins and Stephen Espiner The Study of Rural Change from a Social Scientific Perspective A Literature Review and Annotated Bibliography July 2009 Michael Mackay, Harvey C. Perkins and Stephen Espiner Department of Social Science, Parks, Recreation, Tourism and Sport Faculty of Environment, Society and Design P.O. Box 84 Lincoln University Lincoln University Lincoln 7647 New Zealand ISBN 978-0-86476-220-7 Preface This publication comprises a review of two decades of literature (1989-2009) on the social science of rural change. It was constructed as an aid to research on the changing nature of Central Otago, South Island, New Zealand, with particular emphasis on the Cromwell and Makarora Districts. In these areas the rural landscape has changed as a result of the introduction of a wide variety of new economic and social activities. Traditional pastoral agriculture remains but has been supplemented with activities associated with tourism, recreation, hospitality, heritage and nature conservation, amenity and retirement residence and new crops such as grapes and export grade cherries. The publication has two parts. Part 1 is a „Review Essay‟ (pp.1-20) which synthesises the 165 research articles included in Part 2 – the „Annotated Bibliography‟ (pp.21-99). The review essay will help the reader navigate through the many annotations (which are listed in Part 2 alphabetically by first author name, not by topics or themes). The bibliographic material was drawn from social scientific journals, government reports, book chapters and conference proceedings and covers work on: neo-liberal (rural) restructuring and the conceptual transition from productivist to post-productivist/multi-functional rural spaces, new rural governance, rural commodification, neo-endogenous rural development (and the culture economy approach to rural revitalisation), amenity migration and more recent theorising about the emergent global and hybrid countryside. Acknowledgements We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Faculty of Environment, Society and Design (Research Seed Fund), the Lincoln University Research Fund and the Building Research Capability in the Social Sciences (BRCSS) network. Contents Part 1: Review Essay ......................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 3 Post World War II productivism and neo-liberal (rural) restructuring .................................................. 3 Rural restructuring and change in New Zealand ................................................................................. 5 Post-productivism and multifunctional rural spaces ............................................................................ 6 The commodification of the countryside .............................................................................................. 8 Culture economies and neo-endogenous rural development ............................................................. 9 Rural place promotion and tourism development .............................................................................. 11 New rural governance ....................................................................................................................... 13 The global countryside ...................................................................................................................... 16 Amenity migration .............................................................................................................................. 17 Conclusion: the ‘hybrid’ countryside .................................................................................................. 20 Part 2: Annotated Bibliography (by Author) ................................................................................. 21 A ........................................................................................................................................................ 23 B ........................................................................................................................................................ 25 C ........................................................................................................................................................ 32 D ........................................................................................................................................................ 39 E ........................................................................................................................................................ 40 F ......................................................................................................................................................... 42 G ........................................................................................................................................................ 44 H ........................................................................................................................................................ 48 I .......................................................................................................................................................... 53 J ......................................................................................................................................................... 54 K ........................................................................................................................................................ 57 L ......................................................................................................................................................... 59 M ........................................................................................................................................................ 62 N ........................................................................................................................................................ 71 O ........................................................................................................................................................ 73 P ........................................................................................................................................................ 75 Q, R ................................................................................................................................................... 80 S ........................................................................................................................................................ 85 T, U, V, W .......................................................................................................................................... 89 Part 1: Review Essay Two decades of rural change research: a review of the social scientific literature (1989-2009) Introduction Over the last twenty years, a very significant international and New Zealand social science literature has developed around the effects of rural restructuring on rural economy, society and space (see, for example, Albrecht, 2007; Castle, 1995; Cloke, 1989, 1997; Fitchen, 1991; Ilbery, 1998; Perkins, 2006; Ray, 1998; Slee, 2005; Woods, 2009). The origins of this work can be traced to the mid 1980s when in many places around the world a range of pressures – including economic globalisation, neo-liberalism and associated rural policy reforms – initiated a social and economic „crisis‟ in the countryside. Central to this crisis, in many places, was the de-regulation of agriculture, the restructuring of local government and the privatisation1 of many rural services. Among primary producers and the rural community more generally, these changes created much unemployment, debt and a more general period of rural unease. Over time, many places and their people adapted to the change, some able to capitalise on an increase in non-agrarian/consumption-based activities in the countryside (such as rural tourism, outdoor recreation, and residential property development), while others worked hard to diversify into new areas of primary production. Other rural areas declined. For the last two decades, rural researchers across the world have closely examined the way in which this broad process of change – often called „rural restructuring‟ – has transformed the countryside from areas of agricultural production into arenas of both production and consumption, often involving new constellations of local and global actors. In this paper we discuss some of the key theoretical debates in the study of rural change and restructuring over this period (1989-2009). As such, the literature review moves from early structural accounts of agricultural deregulation and rural restructuring and the imminent „rural crisis‟, to more recent theorising about the commodified countryside (Perkins, 2006), post-productivism and multi- functional rural space (Holmes, 2002, 2006; Illbery & Bowler, 1998) and the emergent „global‟ and „hybrid‟ countryside (Woods, 2006, 2007, 2009; Murdoch, 2003). In our review we pay particular attention to the social science of rural change in New Zealand. Post World War II productivism and neo-liberal (rural) restructuring