ABSTRACT
Three sets of survey questions dealt with the community: operators' evaluations of changes in community services, facilities, and economic conditions; how much regret operators and spouses expected to feel if they were forced to leave their community; and operators' and spouses' observations of changes in community solidarity. Changes in rural community conditions during the five-year period appear to be related to the industrial composition of the community and to its proximity to concentrations of population. To learn about the changes in community solidarity, the survey asked operators and spouses to indicate changes in neighboring, in helping neighbors with work, and in commonality of values. The results varied little over states; they showed that in general, people were doing less neighboring, including helping each other less. Rural communities in America were created when the extractive industries were more important to the economy and when travel and communication limited the geographic area of markets.
