Rootedness, Attitude Stability and Political Socialization in Rural America.

Rural America and its electorate are the subject of highly contradictory characterizations and judgments in academic literature across the social sciences. Some accounts suggest that rural locales are sterling examples of civic vitality, to be held up as models for the rest of the country on how to produce a truly enlightened political community, characterized by low crime, less hostility, better health, and civic and economic equality. A rather different view is expressed by those who are convinced that rural America is racist, homophobic, hostile to civil liberties, anti-government and generally at war with liberal political values. Using panel data from a study of rural adolescents from the Fall of 2001 and Spring of 2002, we examine the sources of conservative political socialization in the rural population. We find that many of the same features of rural life that are subject to widespread admiration: agrarianism, rootedness, entrepreneurship and involvement in community, are some of the same characteristics that are the foundation for conservative opinions on civil liberties, morality and the response to terrorism after 9-11. It is certainly possible to find citizens with liberal political values among the rural population, but many of the core features of rural life, including its rootedness, appear to conspire in favor of the values of the past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]