612 RURAL SOCIOLOGY 



friendly visiting, the exchange of ideas, the discussion of com- 

 munity affairs, the removal of isolation and the promotion of 

 fellowship, the attendance on school and church and social or- 

 ganizations, the accessibility of entertainments and recreational 

 facilities. 



The sociologist thinks of people, not as separate individuals, 

 but in their group activities and relationships how they act in 

 the presence of one another and how they react on one another ; 

 what brings them together or holds them apart ; how each is 

 molded by his group ; and how he helps to mold the group ; 

 what is the motive force in any given group activity ; how strong 

 that force is and how it may be directed. 



The sociology of rural life is, roughly, then, the study of the 

 associated or group activities of the people who live in the coun- 

 try viewed from the standpoint of the effect of those activities 

 on the character of the farm people themselves. It recognizes 

 as the final term in the whole country -life enterprise the farmer 

 himself. It involves the consideration of the means, agencies, 

 and methods, by which the fanner can realize in himself the 

 best there is in human experience. Instead of subscribing to 

 the doctrine that we "raise more corn to feed more hogs to 

 buy more land to raise more corn" in endless succession, it con- 

 tends that we improve our farming that we may improve each 

 generation of farmers in endless succession. When we attain 

 the end of raising corn and pork and potatoes it is that these 

 may become the means for developing a more healthy, contented, 

 resourceful, intelligent, and upstanding farm people. Our ulti- 

 mate goal is a progressively finer rural manhood and womanhood, 

 not merely a greater or more paying output of farm products. 

 We cannot have a higher rural civilization except as we have 

 advancement in the material resources of life. We are under 

 necessity of improving agriculture by every device which art and 

 science can discover that we may promote human well-being. 



Conditions in the open country have not grown any worse 

 since we began talking about them. It is when thought is given 

 to how conditions may be improved that their shortcomings come 

 to light. Rural sociology, if we may use that term for tem- 

 porary convenience, takes cognizance of all of these shortcomings 



