Contenu du sommaire : Les transformations des sociétés rurales françaises. Orientations de recherches

Jean Géraud and Gérard Spitzer : The morale of farmers. A survey carried out on a sample of 3000 farmers and a qualitative inquiry of 75 interviews in four different regions makes it possible to circumscribe the main characters of the peasant uneasiness. Among the numerous causes of unsatisfaction, isolation appears as one of the main factors, generator of aggressive frustrations, more than of a search for positive solutions. Ulterior studies should not only bear on the adaptation of rural people to an urban environment, but also on the possibilities of a reconversion in the framework of a renovated agricultural life.

Henri Mendras : Comparative study of change in French rural societies. The various French rural societies presently undergoing rapid changes offer an exceptional field for comparative research on social change. Statistical studies and monographic inquiries are intended to define the different types of society on which further inquiries will bear. The first elements of the method and the research techniques elaborated by the Group of Rural Sociology are explained.

Marcel Jollivet : On a typological method applied to the study of French rural societies. The diversity of French country-side urges one to look for types in order to classify rural societies. Moreover this method explains social behavior by the global structure of rural societies. Thus it is necessary to bring out the types of global social organisation of the French rural societies. The different types of economical activities of the French country-side in their relations to society are successively considered, revealing the possibilities of grouping and the chances of antagonisms between groups, taking into consideration sources of social cleavages. A confrontation between all the possible cleavages and the hierarchy of the cleavages actually appearing is suggested.

Nicole Eizner and Monique Cristin : First comparative hypothesis. Three pre-inquiries were carried out in three districts: Maine-et-Loire, Jura, Vaucluse. They have shown the originality of these three districts: a society whose traditional structures are highly hierarchised and which resists to change; a society with communal traditions confronted with problems of economical concentration and of immigration; a society in economical and social evolution, where restructuration appears difficult. In these three districts the main problems seem to be those of change, social structure, and the relations between local and global societies. These hypothesis stemming from the pre- inquiries can only be verified by thorough monographies.

Marcel Jollivet : The use of birthplaces for the analysis of a village's social space. The analysis of the birthplaces of a Beauce Community population reveals the inadequacies of methods currently employed in demography to determine isolates. A more precise method is suggested. Applied to the Beauce country, it reveals the high rate of mobility of the population, and although it shows a limited field of population exchange, it is not conclusive to the existence of an intervillage society.

Jacques Maho and Monique Cristin : Ideological oppositions and opinion groups in a Creuse village. In a rural community of the Creuse, individuals being submitted to non- directive interviews always place themselves in real or imaginary groups, antagonistic or at least different. These bi-polar oppositions are called: cleavages. They stem from four large categories: «economy» «politics» «morale» «spatial», inter-crossing together. A chart of the community's system of social thought and the distribution of the individuals according to sub-systems is obtained. People with the same opinion are sought within these groups and they form opinion groups.

Jean Duplex and Marie-Claire de Gauléjac : Farmers' mobility in a South-West community. The history of land-ownership and of agricultural entreprises in a community of the Gers area has shown a high rate of mobility. Consequently, one must revise the traditional image of peasant strongly attached to his land which was believed to go with the isolation of this district, where communications are scarce, houses scattered and where polyculture is still autarcic.

Marcel Jollivet and Marie-Claire de Gauléjac : For a vocabulary of rural sociology. Following the socio-ethnological vocabulary developed by the Center of Document Analysis for Africa, the Group of Rural Sociology uses the « Syntol » (Syntagmattc Organization Language) automatic documentation system. After having stated the reasons for elaborating a vocabulary for the documentation of rural sociology, the article gives some examples of this vocabulary and in particular of the new chapters created in the fields of geography, economy and social groups.

Jean Duplex, Roger Cornu and Louis Raoul : Note on a sociological atlas of rural France. Method of presentation and list of the cartographed items for an atlas intended to facilitate the creation of a sample of regions for study. A few examples show some of the possibilities and limitations in the interpretation of these maps.

Michèle Kourganoff : Inquiry tools for field studies. In the study of local rural societies, to satisfy the requirements both of adaptiveness and of precision, it has seemed better to use, instead of questionnaires, series of observation and interview guide-books, research instructions, lists of data to be collected (demographic, electoral, economic statistics). The interview guide-books bear on group analysis, analysis of parental and neighbourhood relationship and family roles and on consumption. Signaletic cards are intended to gather objective data: individual characteristics, analysis of agricultural and commercial entreprises, institutions, associations, parental networks.