The engines of change in resource-dependent communities

Social scientists have long attempted to understand change in natural resou rce-dependent communities. This article examines the relationship of three alternative "engines of change": local resource production, local historica l events, and broad societal trends. Regression models were used to examine the relationships between four dimensions of community social change (size , structure, cohesion, and anomie) and the alternative "engines of change" in seven resource-dependent communities in the Pacific Northwest for over 5 0 year time periods. Included in the group were four timber towns, as well as communities dependent upon fishing, tourism, and mining. The data sugges t that broad societal trends followed by local historical events explain th e largest proportion of the variation in community social change dimensions of size and structure. Local resource production has modest explanatory po wer when combined with the other "engines of change".