Why Americans Value Rural Life
David B. Danbom is a professor of history at North Dakota State University.
Employment History
Danbom spent nine years on the Fargo Historic Preservation Commission.
Writings by David B. Danbom
Why Americans Value Rural Life
is an article written by David B. Danbom in Rural Development Perspectives (vol. 12 no. 1).
"The European Christians believed that the city was the province of God while the wilderness was the domain of Satan. This was challenged by thinkers such as the Physiocrats".
"During the 19th Century, America became more urban and industrial. This stimulated unease and a concept of materialism and individualism as the ills of urban living. Social critics began to celebrate rural living as a counterweight to urban existence."
Danbom quotes Bolton Hall, "There is needless want and misery in the cities."
Danbom quotes Hyde Bailey, "The damned cities are parasitic...elaborate and artificial."
"In 1931, scholars associated with Vanderbilt University published I'll Take My Stand, a condemnation of urban society and a celebration of rural life. They argued that urban life was industrial, scientific, and materialistic."
"Many agrarians of this period damned the city for its corrosive effect on family life."
"Urban industrial capitalist culture is so pervasive and hegemonic that it has overwhelmed rural society."
Danbom quotes Wendell Berry, "The family farm is failing because of industrial values."
"The United States lacks a critique of industrial capitalism and has never been congenial to the Marxist critique."
Referenced By
List of literature on rural issues | List of literature on rural sociology | List of literature regarding rural economics | Physiocrat | Physiocrats
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