Rural societies around the world are changing in fundamental ways, both at their own initiative and in response to external forces. The Routledge International Handbook of Rural Studies examines the organisation and transformation of rural society in more developed regions of the world, taking an interdisciplinary and problem-focused approach. Written by leading social scientists from many countries, it addresses emerging issues and challenges in innovative and provocative ways to inform future policy. This volume is organised around eight emerging social, economic and environmental challenges: Demographic change. Economic transformations. Food systems and land. Environment and resources. Changing configurations of gender and rural society. Social and economic equality. Social dynamics and institutional capacity. Power and governance. Cross-cutting these challenges are the growing interdependence of rural and urban; the rise in inequality within and between places; the impact of fiscal crisis on rural societies; neoliberalism, power and agency; and rural areas as potential sites of resistance. The Routledge International Handbook of Rural Studies is required reading for anyone concerned with the future of rural areas.

Table of Contents:
Framing Rural Studies in the Global North, (David L. Brown and Mark Shucksmith) Part I: Demographic Change Demographic Change: Beyond the Urban/Rural Divide, (Neil Argent and Caitríona Ní Laoire) Migration and the Life Course in Rural Settings, (Aileen Stockdale) Ageing in Rural Places, (Thomas Scharf, Kieran Walsh and Eamon O'Shea ) Health and Rural Places, (Neil Hanlon and Robin Kearns) Rural Migration and New Patterns of Exclusion and Integration in Europe, (Bettina B. Bock , Giorgio Osti and Flaminia Ventura) The Impacts of Population Change on Rural Society and Economy, (David L. Brown and Neil Argent) Part II: Economic Transformations Economic Transformations: Understanding the Determinants of Rural Growth, (David Freshwater) The Changing Nature of Resource Economies: A Focus on the Example of Forestry, (Greg Halseth) The Emerging Contours of Rural Manufacturing, (Stuart A. Rosenfeld & Timothy R. Wojan) Rural-Urban in a Peri-Urban Context, (Joan Noguera and David Freshwater) Changing Dynamics of Rural Labour Markets, (Anne Green) The Death of Distance? Networks, the Costs of Distance and Urban-Rural Interdependence, (Bruce A. Weber and David Freshwater) Invigorating the New Rural Economy: Entrepreneurship and Innovation, (Jane Atterton) Part III: Food Systems and Land Food Systems and Land: Connections and Contradictions, (Geoffrey Lawrence) The Family Farm: Model for the Future or Relic of the Past?, (Gianluca Brunori and Fabio Bartolini) Industrial Livestock and the Ecological Hoofprint: Inequality, Degradation and Violence, (Tony Weis) The Financialisation of Agriculture and Food, (Jörg Gertel and Sarah Ruth Sippel) Supermarketisation and Rural Society Futures, (Jane Dixon and Cathy Banwell) Agricultural Science and Technology: Tensions and Contradictions, (Leland Glenna and Elizabeth P. Ransom) Food Systems Failure: Can we Avert Future Crises?, (Kiah Smith) Part IV: Environment and Resources Environment and Resources: New and Old Questions for Rural Landscapes, (Katrina Rønningen) Transformations of Rural Society and Environments by Extraction of Mineral and Energy Resources, (Jo-Anne Everingham) Changing Environmental Values: Beyond Production and Consumption, (Jo Vergunst) Land Use Planning in an Era of Hyper-Security, (Charles Geisler and David Kay) Multifunctionality, Rural Diversification and the Unsettlement of Rural Land Use Systems, (Katrina Rønningen) Industrialising the Marine Commons: Adapting to Change in Europe’s Coastal Fisheries, (Frode Flemsæter, David Symes and Jeremy Phillipson) Climate Change, Environment Hazards, and Community Sustainability, (Michelle A. Meyer) Part V: Changing Configurations of Gender and Rural Society Changing Configurations of Gender and Rural Society: Future Directions for Research, (Sally Shortall) Gender and entrepreneurship, (Jo Little) Leadership and Gender, (Lori McVay) Gender and Rural Governance, (Annette Aagaard Thuesen) Gender, Farming and Rural Social Research: A Relationship in Flux, (Chrysanthi Charatsari and Majda Cernic Istenic) Gender and Identity Formation, (Sally Shortall) Rural Masculinity, (Berit Brandth and Marit S. Haugen) Part VI: Social and Economic Equality Social and Economic Equality: A Territorial and Relational Perspective, (Bettina B. Bock) Social Exclusion in Rural Places, (Mark Shucksmith) Poverty and Welfare in Rural Places, (Paul Milbourne) Spatial Inequality and Rural Areas, (Gregory Hooks, Linda M. Lobao and Ann R. Tickamyer) Understanding the Association Between Rural Ethnicity and Inequalities, (Ruth McAreavey) Housing: A Lens to Rural Inequalities, (Menelaos Gkartzios and Ann C. Ziebarth) Part VII: Social Dynamics and Institutional Capacity Social Dynamics and Institutional Capacity: Structures, Mobilities, and Identities Beyond the Periphery of the Global Metropolis, (Kai A. Schafft) Farming Families in Rural Communities: Changing Rural Social Organisation in a Modern and Post-Modern World, (Krzysztof Gorlach and Pawel Starosta) Rural Communities and Responses to Climate Change, (Joseph T. Campbell, Ajay S. Singh and Jeff Sharp) Emerging Educational Subjectivities in the Global Periphery: New Worker Identities for New Times, (Michael Corbett and Unn-Doris K. Bæck) Indigenous Education and Self-Determination in a Global Context: The Case of New Zealand and the United States, (Susan C. Faircloth and Anne S. Hynds) Rural Literacies and Rural Mobilities: Textual Practice, Relational Space and Social Capital in a Globalised World, (Kim Donehower and Bill Green) Bodily Well-Being and the Visceral Geographies of the Rural, (Allison and Jessica Hayes-Conroy) Part VIII: Power and Governance Power and Governance: Empirical Questions and Theoretical Approaches for Rural Studies, (Lynda Cheshire) Power and Politics in the Changing Structures of Rural Local Government, (David J. A. Douglas) Governance, partnerships and power, (Áine Macken-Walsh) Confronting Globalisation? Rural protest, Resistance and Social Movements, (Michael Woods) Responding to Rural Change: Adaptation, Resilience and Community Action, (Nathan Young) The Rural-Agriculture Power Play, (Loka Ashwood and Michael M. Bell) Conclusion 55. Rural Studies: The Challenges Ahead, (Michael M. Bell and David L. Brown)