Residential Aspirations and Perception of Rural Youth of the Opportunities Offered By their Environment: the Case of a Spanish Inland Rural Area

González José Javier Callejo (), Herrero Jesús Antonio Ruiz () and Aboitiz Ricardo Jiménez ()
Additional contact information
González José Javier Callejo: PhD in Sociology and Lecturer at the University of Valladolid, Spain.
Herrero Jesús Antonio Ruiz: PhD in Sociology and Associate Lecturer at the University of Valladolid, Spain.
Aboitiz Ricardo Jiménez: PhD in Sociology and Lecturer at the University of Valladolid, Spain.

European Countryside, 2021, vol. 13, issue 4, 785-805

Abstract: This study explores aspects which influence whether young people decide to remain in a rural area or move away. Based on a qualitative analysis of 41 open-ended interviews with young people from a rural area of inland Spain, it especially examines the perception they hold of the opportunities provided by their rural environment for labour market integration. The results show that: 1) agriculture, the economic base of the area, is not perceived as a means of social and labour market integration; 2) a high degree of mobility between the village and the city is a necessary condition for young people to remain in a rural area; 3) promoting the natural and cultural resources of an area strengthens the feeling of belonging and identity.

Keywords: rural youth; qualitative analysis; rural abandonment; mobility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.2478/euco-2021-0042 (text/html)

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:vrs:eurcou:v:13:y:2021:i:4:p:785-805:n:7

DOI: 10.2478/euco-2021-0042

Access Statistics for this article

European Countryside is currently edited by Milada Šťastná

More articles in European Countryside from Sciendo
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Peter Golla ().