Abstract
Rural communities in the United States have diversified and their dependence onagriculture has decreased substantially. In the 1980s, rural deindustrialization occurredand rural areas continued to become more service oriented: employment opportunitiesdeclined because of shifts in the world and U.S. economies, and anti-rural publicpolicies. In response, some rural communities have become entrepreneurial communities,whose characteristics include: healthy acceptance of controversy; a degree ofeconomic surplus to allow for risk-taking; willingness of community to tax itself tomaintain infrastructure and schools; the ability to define community broadly and tonetwork both vertically and horizontally to obtain resources; and dispersed communityleadership. Entrepreneurial behavior in the context of more favorable state and federalpolicies could help stabilize many rural communities.
Recommended Citation
Flora, Cornelia Butler and Flora, Jan L.
(1990)
"Developing Entrepreneurial Rural Communities,"
Sociological Practice: Vol. 8:
Iss.
1, Article 21.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/socprac/vol8/iss1/21
