ABSTRACT
The concept of rural as a place of distinct peoples with distinct political cultures is fraught with difficulty. Technology and the technological ethic is the lifeblood of the administrative state. In order to lead in the development of the new administrative technostate, rural areas therefore must possess two qualities. Mississippi, Montana, and Vermont have all been isolated in one way or another from the mainstream of development in America: Mississippi, by the Civil War and the negatives that followed; Montana; Vermont, by an inhospitable topography and a rugged climate. In all three states, a less than optimum economic potential has continually thwarted attempts to urbanize. Part of the metro-bias that pervades American professional circles is the image of rural America as “backward.” Once the communications revolution of the 1950s and 1960s had run its course, techno-based life-styles were substantively in place in rural America. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
