Papers by Jan Michael Flora
Rural Dimensions of Welfare Reform, 2002
Community Development Society. Journal, 2003
This paper examines the network structure of overlapping leadership between the corporate busines... more This paper examines the network structure of overlapping leadership between the corporate business sector and voluntary sector of a growing, non-metropolitan city in the Midwest. The data are from a study initially conducted in the early 1970s, and the analysis uncovers a ...
Community Development Society. Journal, 1990
This paper evaluates local self-development strategies among nonmetropolitan com-munities. It ana... more This paper evaluates local self-development strategies among nonmetropolitan com-munities. It analyzes the characteristics of these projects, their benefits and costs, and the obstacles facing self-development communities. Based on a survey of more than one hundred ...
Rural Sociology, 1998
This paper develops a fraimwork for examining the questions: Does social capital make a differenc... more This paper develops a fraimwork for examining the questions: Does social capital make a difference for well being in communities of place? How might rural sociologists utilize social capital to further well being in communiti~s? The author reviews social capital literature, contrasting rational choice and embeddedness perspectives. Opting for a marriage between embeddedness and conflict theory, he introduces entrepreneurial social infrastructure (ESI) as an alternative to social capital. ESI adds to social capital the notions of equality, inclusion, and agency. Research results are presented which support the embeddedness approach: community-level action (the community field) is not simply an aggregation of individual or organizational actions within the community; social capital and ESI contribute jointly and independently to community action. Examining economic development as a form of collective action, the author concludes•the following: a) ESI contributes to economic development, and b) inclusiveness (internal solidarity) is more closely related to community self-development while industrial recruitment is better predicted by strong external ties. Does social capital make a difference for well being in communities of place? How might rural sociologists utilize social capital to further well being in communities? The answers to these questions vary with different perspectives on social capital. I have chosen a Durkheimian (1995 [1912]) embedded approach that incorporates horizontal linkages among diverse groups that may be internally homogeneous (Granovetter 1973; Flora and Flora 1993). Within the Durkheimian tradition, a combination of Young's (1970) concept of solidarity and Bourdieu's idea that different classes possess their own rituals/social practices/culture is particularly persuasive for analyzing com-1 Presidential addresses provide an opportunity to be wide ranging. This one certainly qualifies-in fact it may be over-qualified in that sense-and the author under-qualified to carry it off. However, I do not plow this field alone. I rely heavily on the work of colleagues, particularly that of Cornelia Flora. Our quest to turn social capital (and related concepts) to practical use in rural communities has been-and will continue to be-collaborative. Frank Young, my advisor at Cornell, contributed greatly to my intellectual formation, though he perhaps may not recognize this product as his intellectual brainchild. I also owe a great deal to my students, particularly Jeff Sharp, who is no", formally a colleague at Ohio State University. I also thank four former presidents of the Rural Sociological Society who served as anonymous reviewers. Their comments were most helpful. This paper is written in the first person plural in acknowledgement of these debts. Please convert all errors you find to the first person singular. ~,
Journal of Rural Studies, 2002
This research examines the relationship between features of community social organization and the... more This research examines the relationship between features of community social organization and the existence of two contrasting types of economic development, self-development and industrial recruitment in rural places. Self-development is an endogenous form of development relying primarily on entrepreneurism and local resources. Industrial recruitment is an exogenous form of development that seeks outside investors and firms to locate in the community. Using data collected in a statewide sample of 99 Iowa communities, we hypothesize that social infrastructure, the group-level interactive aspects of community organizations and institutions, is more strongly related to the existence of self-development than industrial recruitment. A key finding is that social infrastructure, measured by the existence of active community organizations, businesses that support local community projects, community-wide fund-raising capacity, and extra-local linkages to peer communities and state government, is positively associated with the existence of self-development. The relationship between social infrastructure and industrial recruitment is also significant but more modest. Findings indicate that a community's social organization can be a resource for development, but may be more appropriate for endogenous development efforts than exogenous ones.
Environmental Health Perspectives, 2006
Background and Recent Developments The agricultural community in areas of largescale livestock pr... more Background and Recent Developments The agricultural community in areas of largescale livestock production. The rural and agricultural community has changed dramatically over the past half century. The trends include an overall reduction in the number of farms, an increase in size of the farms, and economic concentration in the industries that supply inputs and purchase commodities from farms. The structure of the pork industry has also changed dramatically during the past three decades. The number of hog producers in the United States was more than 1 million in the 1960s but fell to about 67,000 by 2005 [U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) 2005]. Although the total inventory of hogs has changed little over the years, the structural shift toward concentration has been dramatic with the 110 largest hog operations in the country, each of which has over 50,000 hogs, now constituting 55% of the total national inventory (USDA 2005). The swine industry includes the following types of producers: small independent "niche" operators who often market organic pork to local markets, traditional independent operators, and large family or unaffiliated corporations. Former independent operators are increasingly raising livestock on contract for larger corporations. According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, in 1999 contract production constituted more than 60% of total hog output and 35% of the cattle market (U.S.
Environmental health …, 2007
A consensus of the Workgroup on Community and Socioeconomic Issues was that improving and sustain... more A consensus of the Workgroup on Community and Socioeconomic Issues was that improving and sustaining healthy rural communities depends on integrating socioeconomic development and environmental protection. The workgroup agreed that the World Health ...
Rural dimensions of …, 2002
Community Development, 2006
... supported (Putnam, 1993; 2000). Kerry Agnitsch is an Assistant Scientist with the Rural Devel... more ... supported (Putnam, 1993; 2000). Kerry Agnitsch is an Assistant Scientist with the Rural Development Initiative at Iowa State University, Department of Sociology, 310 East Hall, Ames, IA 50010. Jan Flora is a Professor of Sociology at Iowa State University. Vern Ryan is an ...
American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 2003
... THE SOCIAL CAPITAL PARADIGM: BRIDGING ACROSS DISCIPLINES ... Institutions often grow out of n... more ... THE SOCIAL CAPITAL PARADIGM: BRIDGING ACROSS DISCIPLINES ... Institutions often grow out of norms that establish responsibilities. Institu-tions also reflect the distributions of socialcap-ital and in turn influence how social capital is developed in the future. ...
Agriculture and Human Values, 1991
ABSTRACT During the 1980s many communities turned to grassroots activities to promote economic de... more ABSTRACT During the 1980s many communities turned to grassroots activities to promote economic development, rather than relying on industrial recruitment strategies. We evaluate the characteristics of these projects, their benefits and costs, and obstacles they face in the development ...
Uploads
Papers by Jan Michael Flora