324 RURAL SOCIOLOGY 



becomes a mere machine for making money ; but the woman, de- 

 prived of them, tends to -become a mere drudge. 



THE PROBLEM OF THE CHANGING RURAL HOME * 



GEORGIA L. WHITE 



THE committee on Rural Home Making begs to submit the fol- 

 lowing report of its plans for work for the coming year. In 

 looking over the available material for a study of the problem of 

 the rural home and its relation to the rural community and rural 

 life, the committee finds little that can be utilized for a careful 

 study of the present problems. There has been much generaliza- 

 tion concerning the rural home but this generalization has been 

 based upon material which is inadequate and seemingly contra- 

 dictory. 



This lack of reliable material about the home seems to be 

 due to several causes. 



(1) The tendency we all have to take for granted the things 

 with which we are most familiar and to assume that the condi- 

 tions with which we are acquainted are typical. 



(2) The intimacy of home relations which makes a study of 

 the conditions in the home, except possibly of the economic con- 

 ditions, seem to be an intrusion. 



(3) The fact that many of those who in recent years have been 

 interested in studying rural conditions and the rural home have 

 been town or city born and bred and, therefore, when they have 

 attempted to make a survey they have used the town home as the 

 standard and have interpreted the phenomena which they found 

 in terms of the town home. 



(4) The fact that many investigators have studied the home 

 with reference to some particular reform which they wished to 

 introduce into rural life or with reference to some social scheme 

 which they wished to justify. 



(5) The inability of many of those interested in country life 



i Adapted from Proceedings 1st Natl. Country Life Conf., Baltimore, 

 1919, pp. 117-119. National Country Life Assn., Dwight Sanderson, Ex. 

 Secy., Ithaca, N. Y. 



