Social Class In Rural America Essay

Legacy, Family and Social Class in Rural America According to Flora and Flora (2001), in preparing for their children’s future, parents typically work toward three goals: enabling their children to have a place to live, providing a means by which to earn a living (sometimes viewed as standard of living), and encouraging personal fulfillment (sometimes viewed as quality of life). These basics of life depend largely on the means in which to acquire them. In a global perspective, rural life appears to be disconnected due to isolation and a plethora of culture(s). But all people typically hold to those three goals. Breaking down these goals into a more academically sound criteria, one could use the topics of legacy, family, and social class. Folks are just folks anywhere you go. The basics of quality of life are similar for people living in any type of location. These basics include public services and community maintenance. But rural American folk appear to have values and beliefs which perpetuate rurally grounded perspectives. This mindset includes social institutions, community values/beliefs, a need for more open spaces, a more constricted view of the world around them, quality of life, and …show more content…
This is in direct opposition to the inner city value of non-ownership or renting the family home. Land, the acquisition of land, and maintenance of such ownership of land is a value of rural American families. In retrospect, rural people value the acquisition/ownership of land more than other individuals. This value of land ownership denotes the characteristic of what constitutes rural America. Most people living in rural America hold the value that land ownership is the security to a strong future. Flora and Flora (2013) states Dave’s parents saw land ownership as a key to his future, with that land first and foremost a source of natural