Propensity for Change Among the Rural Poor in the Mississippi Delta: A Study of the Roots of Social Mobility

C. Hobson Bryan and Alvin Lee Bertrand

No 307406, Agricultural Economic Reports from United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service

Abstract: This study determines the characteristics of poor family heads in rural areas of the Mississippi Delta Region who have high potential for breaking out of poverty. Potential for moving out of poverty was measured by the degree of expressed willingness of a household head to take action for positive change in his circumstances. The data were obtained from a randomized, block sample of rural inhabitants in the Delta areas of Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi, and Louisiana. The 1,249 respondents constituted an approximate 1 percent sample of the region. Household heads with high propensity for change tended to be in the younger age groups, married, heads of smaller households, Negro, and have a comparatively high level of education. Generally similar factors influence change potential among the relatively affluent in the Delta. Lower rates of social participation and higher rates of fatalism were found to characterize the rural Impoverished when they were compared with the relatively affluent individuals in the Delta. However, contrary to prevailing assumptions, neither of these characteristics was related to propensity for change. Thus, social participation and fatalism variables in no way affect individuals’ potential for upward social mobility.

Keywords: Community/Rural/Urban Development; Labor and Human Capital; Research Methods/Statistical Methods (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 26
Date: 1970-06
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/307406/files/aer185.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:uerser:307406

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.307406

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Agricultural Economic Reports from United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by AgEcon Search ().