Jeffrey C. Bridger

Toward an interactional approach to sustainable community development

Abstract During the 1980s, the concept of sustainable development emerged as a popular solution to the problem of meeting the material needs of a rapidly growing population while minimizing environmental damage. Rather than pitting economic growth against environmental protection, proponents of sustainability focus on development which meets the needs of both present and future generations. This new legitimacy has prompted scholars to broaden the range of issues to which sustainability can be applied. A potentially important development along these lines has been the growing body of literature surrounding the concept of sustainable community development. In this paper, we delineate the central features of the sustainable community, assess obstacles to achieving sustainable communities, and present a conceptual framework for sustainable community development based on an interactional approach to community.

The Association of Forest Recreation with Environmentalism

Associations of forest recreation with environmental concern and proenvironmental behavior are explored using telephone survey data from samples of forest landowners and nonowners in Pennsylvania. Frequency of visits to forest areas and forest recreation activities are moderately associated with proenvironmental behavior but only weakly associated with environmental concern.

Place, Community Development, and Social Capital

Over the past decade, the concept of social capital has become an important component of many community development strategies. In this article we argue that social capital is predicated on assumptions that raise a number of questions about its usefulness in a variety of different settings. The most important features of social capital—trust and norms of reciprocity—emerge from repeated and regularized interactions that are bounded in space and time. They depend on an existing, relatively unproblematic relationship between place and social interaction. In many communities, this is not a tenable assumption. We conclude by suggesting that an interactional approach to community development can be a useful alternative.

Assessing rural tourism efforts in the United States

Abstract This study reports on a survey of state-sponsored rural tourism programs contacted by phone in 1991. Analysis reveals that 30 states had tourism programs specifically targeted for rural areas; 14 states included rural areas as part of their overall tourism packages; and only 6 states had no specific rural component to their state programs. Using this program data and various contextual factors, a series of multivariate discriminant analyses were conducted. These results identify characteristics of states with multiple rural tourism programs. Possible implications of these findings for rural development research are discussed.

Narratives, community and land use decisions

Abstract This article explores the narrative character of community, arguing that communities are intrinsically storied. Narratives are conceptualized as social acts and are thereby of inherent importance to social scientific endeavor. Following Weber, narratives also are seen to be entrenched in institutions and in the political economy of communities. State tourism and land use decisions are suggested as ideographic situations in which such entrenchment is found.

An Interactional Approach to Place-Based Rural Development

Rural America is in the midst of the most far-reaching transformation in our history. Globalization and other forces are fundamentally altering the economic landscape and erasing many traditional sources of employment and income; in such an uncertain environment, economic development has become more important and more complicated than ever. Unfortunately, rural policies have not kept pace with the times, and there is growing recognition that what worked in the past is not effective in a global economy. In place of traditional approaches to rural development, there is an emerging consensus that we must create strategies that enhance regional/place competitiveness. In this paper, we explore this strategy, identify some of its most serious shortcomings, and propose an interactional approach that integrates economic, environmental, and social well-being.

Narrative Structures and the Catholic Church Closings in Detroit

We distinguish narrative structures as master frames from stories as actual telling of events, and show how they operated in the case of the Catholic church closings in Detroit in the late 1980s. Narrative structures drawn from Detroit industrial history and from reform in the Catholic church were imposed on the actual events constituting the closing process, and powerfully defined the terms of public discussion and debate about the meaning of the closings.

A community systems approach to substance abuse prevention in a rural setting.

The Community Health Demonstration Project developed a community systems model of program development and interventions which provides consistent, ongoing prevention messages and services across multiple delivery systems and service providers. This model has brought together various sectors of a rural disadvantaged Appalachian community in Pennsylvania to plan, implement, and evaluate a community-wide campaign addressing the prevention of alcohol, tobacco, and other drug (ATOD) problems. The model for this community prevention effort focused primarily on the development of community awareness, resources, and programming—capacity building—all of which provides a foundation for continuing attitude and behavior change. Preliminary evaluative data indicate that awareness of local ATOD problems has increased. Moreover, new programming has been implemented and interaction and cooperation among services providers have improved dramatically during the course of the project.

Ideology and Growth Promotion.

Abstract Molotchs ‘growth machine’ hypothesis [Molotch H. (1976) The city as a growth machine: toward a political economy of place. American Journal of Sociology 82, 309–332] argues that under many circumstances, local growth constitutes a transfer of quality-of-life and wealth from the local general public to a certain segment of the local elite. In order to preclude a critical examination of the impacts of growth, this local elite must necessarily convince the general population that growth is in the localitys best interest. In this paper, we expand Molotchs framework to examine the dissemination of a pro-growth ‘ideology’ at the local level. This expansion is accomplished by explicitly utilizing the concept of ideological hegemony to analyze a local elites efforts to ‘sell’ growth to the residents of a community. Three ideologists — property, progress and community — are seen as central to this hegemonic process. Case study data comprised of newspaper reports and editorials, as well as interviews with key informants are used to illustrate our elaboration of the ‘growth machine’ hypothesis.

Promoting Fair Local Organizing for Broadband Delivery: Suggestions for Community-Level Action in Persistently Underserved Communities

Despite a wealth of research on broadband proliferation across rural and urban areas, the well-researched digital divide still persists in many rural communities, hindering social, community, and economic development. Policy remedies like the 2009 Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) have improved broadband development in some areas, while other areas continue to be underserved, or served only by expensive and insufficient broadband options. The continued persistence of the divide challenges policy assumptions about the universality of coverage through federal and state-level initiatives, and brings the focus of successful broadband development to the community level.This paper presents the results of a USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)-funded research project conducted in Maine, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, intended to uncover community-level factors that have either encouraged or inhibited independent, local broadband network development in persistently underserved communities. Evidence is presented from six study sites across the three states illustrating a variety of delivery strategies, and underscoring the role of communities, culture, and local institutions in the network development process. The paper develops a series of alternative policy ideas and suggestions for supporting and promoting successful local initiatives, designed specifically to enhance citizen-driven efforts in persistently underserved areas.