Small-Town America: Finding Community, Shaping the Future

519 Pages·2013·9.601 MB·English

by  Robert Wuthnow

Small-Town America

Small-Town America
Finding Community, Shaping the Future
Robert Wuthnow
Princeton University Press
Princeton and Oxford
Copyright © 2013 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 6 Oxford Street,
Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TW
press.princeton.edu
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wuthnow, Robert.
Small-town America : fi nding community, shaping the future / Robert Wuthnow.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-691-15720-7 (hbk. : alk. paper) 1. Cities and towns—United States.
2. Communities—United States. I. Title.
HT123.W88 2013
307.760973—dc23
2012042793
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available
This book has been composed in Sabon with Erazure for display
Printed on acid-free paper. ∞
Printed in the United States of America
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
CONTENTS
List of Figures vii
List of Profi les ix
Preface xi
1- Introduction 1
2- You Have to Deal with Everybody:
The Inhabitants of Small Towns 17
3- Going to Be Buried Right Here:
How Residents View Their Towns 51
4- Community Spirit:
Small-Town Identities That Bind 101
5- The Frog Pond:
Making Sense of Work and Money 139
6- Leadership:
Earning Respect, Improving the Community 177
7- Habits of Faith:
The Social Role of Small-Town Congregations 217
8- Contentious Issues:
The Moral Sentiments of Community Life 263
9- Washington Is Broken:
Politics and the New Populism 291
10- Keep Your Doors Open:
Shaping the Future 319
11- Concluding Refl ections:
Community in Small Towns 341
vi • Contents
Afterword 361
Methodology 365
Notes 391
Selected Bibliography 449
Index 469
LIST OF FIGURES
1.1 Distribution of nonurban towns and people 9
2.1 Income diversity by size of place 19
2.2 Population age sixty-fi ve and older by town size 38
2.3 Interviewers’ ratings of dwellings 48
3.1 Residents raised in small town or rural area 54
3.2 Crime rate by size of town 66
3.3 Ambience by town size 67
3.4 Amenity scores of small nonurban towns 73
3.5 Towns losing population 80
3.6 Decline by amenity ranking 81
3.7 Decline by economic type 83
3.8 Walmart shoppers by size of county 88
3.9 Percent who work outside county by town size 90
3.10 White Anglo population by town size 93
3.11 Towns with foreign-born residents 94
3.12 Hispanic versus Anglo income and poverty 97
4.1 Decline in schools and enrollment 105
4.2 Who you could count on 112
4.3 Trust of neighbors and shop clerks 113
5.1 Employment in professions and management 140
5.2 Farmers and farm income 166
5.3 Farms by farm size 167
6.1 Nonprofi t associations per thousand residents 183
6.2 Membership in selected organizations 184
6.3 Neighboring towns by town size 204
6.4 Effect of size of nearest town 205
6.5 Effect of fi ve neighboring towns 206
7.1 Churches per thousand residents 220
7.2 Religious adherence and membership 221
7.3 Church attendance by education level 224
7.4 Attendance by town size and amenities 227
7.5 Change in churches and adherents 244
8.1 Prolife sentiment by town size 269
8.2 Attitudes toward abortion 271
8.3 Support for antigay amendment 279
9.1 Concern about government spending 294
9.2 Trust by population density 304
viii • Figures
9.3 Relative political party identifi cation 309
9.4 Red state voting by incidence of small towns 310
9.5 Tea Party movement support 314
10.1 Geographic mobility by education 321
10.2 Effects of early marriage on college attainment 326
11.1 Building blocks of community 342
LIST OF PROFILES
Wellsville, New York 45
Millen, Georgia 84
Lexington, Nebraska 96
Shepherdstown, West Virginia 109
Picher, Oklahoma 116
Crystal, North Dakota 169
Mayville, Wisconsin 186
North Stonington, Connecticut 197
McCamey, Texas 250
Ellis, Kansas 273
Sheridan, Wyoming 317