34 pages, A growing body of research lends support to opportunity theory and its variants, but has yet to focus systematically on a number of specific offenses and contexts. Typically, the more crimes and contexts to which a theory applies, the broader its scope and range, respectively, and thus generalizability. In this paper, we focus on agricultural crime victimization— including theft of farm equipment, crops, livestock, and chemicals—an offense that opportunity theory appears well-situated to explain. Specifically, we examine whether key dimensions of the theory are empirically associated with the likelihood of victimization and also examine factors associated with farmers’ use of guardianship measures. In contrast to much previous research, we combine multiple individual-level measures of these dimensions. We conclude that the theory partially accounts for variation in agricultural crime victimization, depending on the type of crime, and that greater work is needed investigating how key dimensions of opportunity theory should be conceptualized and operationalized in rural contexts. The study’s implications for theory and practice are discussed.
Bell, Michael M. (author / Department of Sociology and School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, New Haven, CT) and Department of Sociology and School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, New Haven, CT
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
1992
Published:
USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 90 Document Number: C06477
James F. Evans Collection, Today sociologists tend to doubt the rural-urban continuum, the idea that community is more characteristic of country places than cities. Based on an ethnographic study of an English exurban village, I argue that the continuum remains an important source of identity for country residents, one from which they derive social-psychological and material benefits. They root this conception of themselves as country people in nature, making this identity a particularly secure one. These real social consequences suggest that sociology should no longer doubt the reality of the rural-urban continuum, at least at the level of the definition of the situation. It, therefore, should remain an important topic of sociological study. (original)
Fliegel, Frederick C. (author / Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Illinois, Urbana) and Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Illinois, Urbana
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
1969
Published:
USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 43 Document Number: B05151
Evans, cited reference, This study is concerned with inter-community differences in social organization as these may affect the success of agricultural change programs in a sample of 108 Indian villages. With knowledge of the sociology of the community in its present state, it is not surprising that a number of the operational hypotheses posed were not supported by the data. Among these were hypotheses concerning agrarian structure, occupational structure, and the expected negative role of factional and religious cleavages. Local availability of farm labor and capital, plus a proliferation of formal organizations favor change program success. Traditional and modern elements of community organization seem to be intertwined in the modernization of agriculture, indicating a need for more systematic sociological knowledge of the community. (original)
