ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses three issues: social theory, methodology, and the types of research and policy questions raised by work in the sociology of labor markets. It focuses on the application of the labor market perspective to rural areas. The chapter illustrates that the most labor market research is built around existing, largely unquestioned or unchallenged theory. Most sociological investigations into the characteristics and dynamics of local labor markets have been dependent upon the types of geographic areas available through the Bureau of the Census and other government agencies. Several promising avenues of inquiry remain for labor market sociologists to pursue that might lead to better understanding of attainment processes at the micro level and patterns of economic development at the macro level. Part of the reason why rural labor markets have seen the economic situations deteriorate has to do with the types of economic development policies and programs that were put into place at the national, state, and local levels.
