CLASS, POWER AND SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION - ISSUES OF THEORY AND APPLICATION IN 30 YEARS OF RURAL STUDIES

Thirty years have elapsed since Ray Pahl demolished the foundational d ichotomy of the rural-urban continuum of rural studies. This moment ha s been enshrined as the beginnings of a new approach to the field, an approach which has in turn attempted to cure the subdiscipline of its 'aversion to theory.' Since then there has been a great deal of activi ty in the area. Many researchers and authors have come to the fore, al l to some extent or other ready to engage with the issues of theory an d empirical application in the field of rural studies. This article as sesses the record of this activity and argues that the concern to rais e the 'theoretical' profile in the field has been a mixed blessing wit h some ominous harbingers of degeneration. It argues that the time is ripe for an urgent return to the hard task of analytical documentation of the rural scene in all its material and constructed manifestations , and that in this task we will need to give greater attention to mono graphs from history and historical sociology - and considerably less t o theoretical fads and gurus.