Introduction to Rural Sociology

This text offers a critical introduction to the sociology of the rural life. It draws upon classic and contemporary Nigerian rural literature and the theoretical and methodological approaches dominant in each. The approach applied across the book is one that is informed by interactionist theory, building upon the rising status of qualitative methods in rural life. The emergence of rural sociology lies with the origin of the discipline of sociology itself towards the end of the nineteenth century. The charge to explain the impact of profound structural changes upon social ties and networks meant that the first sociological accounts were not merely rural, but urban and rural - the two dimensions went hand in hand. A simple style has been adopted as much as possible in the presentation of materials in this book in realization that most users are not sociology students and may not possibly have other exposure to the subject after this. Without being overbearingly complicated the book has tried to cover most of the topics of interest on introductory rural sociology with nearly all applications to the Nigerian rural society.