Branch Plants and Poverty in the American South.

An alternative to the widely accepted hypothesis that "big business" has a negative impact on community welfare is tested with data from 445 nonmetropolitan counties in the American South. We argue that the appropriate counterhypothesis is not that branch plants have a positive impact on community welfare, because that and similar formulations simply perpetuate the nonsociological approach of the early hypotheses. An interaction formulation that sees community structure as mediating the impact of branch plants better explains differentials in our three criteria of welfare-per capita income, percent below the poverty line, and infant mortality. This explanation predicts positive welfare when pluralism and urbanization are high and branch plants are frequent, and lower welfare when one or both of these is low. Tests Using discriminant analysis support the interaction hypothesis while providing little evidence for either the direct positive or negative impact hypotheses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]