THE PROFESSIONAL PRACTITIONER ROLE OF RURAL SOCIOLOGISTS.

A unique feature of rural sociology as a discipline is the number of professionally trained staff members who are primarily engaged in applying sociological knowledge and skills to social problems. The purpose of this paper is to analyze this practitioner role. Particular attention will be directed to understanding certain conditions long associated with the role of the sociologists in Extension, i.e., low prestige compared to that of research staff, lack of relevant knowledge to approach some situations, barriers to communication between the researcher and the practitioner, and inappropriate graduate training for those who take on the applied role.