The world has been witnessing a long unfolding process of urbanization that not only has altered the structural basis of society in terms of political economy, but has also symbolically relegated rural people and life to a secondary or deviant status through an ideology of urbanormativity. Both structural and cultural changes rooted in urbanization are connected in complex ways to spatial arrangements that can be described in terms of inequality and uneven development. Through a focus on localities, Studies in Urbanormativity: Rural Community in Urban Society examines the implications of urbanization and its corresponding ideology. Urbanormativity justifies rural domination by holding urban life as the standard against which rural forms are compared and deemed to be irregular, inferior, or deviant. Urban production, as conceptualized in this book, is inherently exploitative of rural resources―natural, social, cultural, and symbolic. As this exploitation advances, a wake of entropic conditions is left behind in the forms of degraded landscapes, broken social institutions, and denigrated communities, cultures and identities.
Edited by Gregory M. Fulkerson and Alexander R. Thomas, Studies in Urbanormativity engages a topic on which scholars have been surprisingly silent. Designed for advancing theory and practice, the chapters provide new theoretical tools for understanding the complex relationship between the urban and rural. While primarily intended for scholars and practitioners interested in rural life, rural policy, and community development, the insights of this book will also be of interest to scholars studying various forms of cultural and social domination, as well as identity politics.
Alexander R. Thomas, Ph.D., is professor of sociology at SUNY Oneonta. He is co-editor, with Dr. Gregory Fulkerson, of the Urban-Rural Dynamics book series. He has published numerous books and articles on cities and their relationship with the countryside, including In Gotham's Shadow, The Evolution of the Ancient City, and Critical Rural Theory. He is also author of the newly released book The Sociological Predicament.
Gregory M. Fulkerson, Ph.D., is professor of sociology and chair of geography and environmental sustainability at SUNY Oneonta. Along with Dr. Alex Thomas, he is co-editor of the Urban-Rural Dynamics book series. He is the author of Community in Urban-Rural Systems, and co-author of City and Country, Urbanormativity, and Critical Rural Theory. His research focuses on social capital, community development, globalization, the environment, and urban-rural issues.
