Class and rural-urban migration

The paper discusses rural to urban migration in modern Norway from a class perspective, focusing on to what extent actors in different social classes have distinct migration patterns. The analysis is based on Norwegian Census data from the period between 1960-90 (ten-yearly), and traces the social (e.g. education, occupation, and income) and geographic mobility of all Norwegians born in 1955. Data about their parents' social background are also employed. The number of cases is approximately 70,000. Theoretically the paper is based on a bourdieuian perspective. The point of departure is a hypothesis that young people from better-off rural families are the most likely ones to leave the countryside in favour of a more urban life, basically due to education motives. This is sought explained by employing Bourdieu's concepts of economic and cultural capital, and his claim that the objective class structures, which reflects unequal access to and composition of to these forms of capital, should be related to dif-ferences in the structures of subjective life-style (La Distinction, Bourdieu 1979). In this way migration decisions may be understood as results of class structured «lifestyle choices».

Trender i norsk landbruk 2012 Møre og Romsdal

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Innbyggermedvirkning i sammenslåtte kommuner

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Lokalsamfunnsundersøkelsen 2021. Dokumentasjonsrapport med frekvenser

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Media Systems and the Political Information Environment: A Cross-National Comparison

To express attitudes and act according to their self-interest, citizens need relevant, up-to-date information about current affairs. But has the increased commercialization in the media market increased or decreased the flow of political information? Hallin and Mancini stress that the existing empirical evidence is fragmented and that this question therefore has been difficult to answer. In this article the authors present new data that allow them to systematically examine how the flow of political information on TV occurs across six Western countries during a thirty-year period. The authors find that the flow of political information through TV varies according to the degree of commercialization. The flow of news and current affairs is lowest in the most commercially oriented television system and among the commercial TV channels. There is however important cross-national variation even within similar media systems. The authors’ data do not suggest a convergence toward the liberal system when it comes to the political information environment on TV. Rather, what strikes them is how strongly resistant some European countries have been to subordinating the needs of democracy to profit making

Gender and Work in Norwegian Family Farm Businesses

-The traditional way of organising agricultural production in Norway has been through family farming. A family farm is defined by the ownership of the farm through kinship over a number of generations. This article examines structural changes on Norwegian family farms based on the impact of increased competition and falling prices and subsidies. The strategy traditionally employed has been to increase total household income on the farm through working off-farm. We map changes in income allocation and work strategies on Norwegian family farms over time, changes in income allocation and work strategies among men and women on family farms over time and we show income allocation and work strategies among men and women as farmers and as farmers’ spouses. Through a quantitative analysis of data on Norwegian farmers from 1987 until 2004, we show that there are continuing changes in work and income allocation on Norwegian farms. The trend is a higher dependence on off-farm income. However, this development is not only explained by more off-farm work by farmers – which is an indication of lower value of farm work itself – but to a large degree this is a result of the increasing off-farm work of farm women. While at the same time more women are entering agriculture as farmers, we find clear evidence of differences in the organisation of farms operated by men and women. While male farmers are professionalising as ‘one-man farmers,’ female farmers to a larger degree depend (voluntarily or not) on their partner's assistance in the farm work

Bears and Fears: Cultural capital, geography and attitudes towards large carnivores in Norway

-Recent studies and literature suggest that negative attitudes towards large carnivores may to a large extent be explained by ignorance and lack of certain aspects of cultural capital. Fear and resistance, it has been argued, can be overcome through spreading information and knowledge about carnivores and how to interact with them. This argument has, on the other hand, been interpreted as an example of inherent arrogance among urban elites, undermining the economic foundation and quality of life in rural areas. The article aims to analyse acceptance of bears in Norway among a representative sample of the population, to describe attitudes towards large carnivores, economic and cultural capital, the importance of physical and geographical closeness, and the extent to which and how these factors are interlinked. The analysis is based on two national quantitative surveys, carried out in 2005 and 2007. The findings show a clear, although small, increase in resistance to the existence of bears in Norway. The increase appears to be most marked among young people who have grown up in rural areas. The authors conclude that there is an increasing urban-rural divide on the issue of conservation policies and carnivore stock management

Visitors to Farm Tourism Enterprises in Norway

-In Norway, as in many other countries, rural and farm tourism is becoming an important activity for promoting the vitality and sustainability of rural communities. This paper focuses on the analysis of visitors to Norwegian farms, which offer various tourism activities and services. The countryside has increasingly become a place of consumption and recreation, and as such, farm tourism is part of the shift in the economic base of rural societies. Moreover, in building appreciation for the distinctive features of local places and people, farm tourism represents a counter-trend to homogenisation and mass tourism. In this paper we focus on the Norwegian domestic market. Based on data from ten representative national Norwegian surveys conducted by Synovate Norway between 1991 and 2007, our analysis shows significant increases in the proportion of the population visiting farm tourism enterprises since 1991. In addition to describing who the visitors are, the paper also characterises potential visitors within the domestic tourism market.The Research Council of Norway, Agricultural Agreement Research Fund (Forskningsmidler over jordbruksavtalen), SpareBank1-SMN and Rural Tourism and Traditional Food in Norway (HANEN

Trender i norsk landbruk 2010. Sør- og Nord-Trøndelag

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Dreaming of a Smallholding

-The article examines a phenomenon associated with the rural idyll – the dream of becoming the owner of a smallholding in the countryside. Much research and policy concern in Norway have focused upon rural–urban migration trends and the consequences of the urbanisation process on the sustainability of rural communities. Less attention has been given to the counter trend, that is, urban dwellers searching for a better quality of life in the countryside. The article is based on data from a Norwegian national survey and analyses a question measuring respondents' interest in buying a smallholding. The analysis involves an estimation of a regression model to determine which demographic, socioeconomic and attitudinal variables influence people's interest in buying a smallholding. Further, we were interested in their plans for the smallholding (farming, residence, second home) and the kind of influences these potential new smallholding owners might have on rural communities. Three categories of potential smallholders are identified: aspiring farmers, country-life lovers and recreation seekers. The results indicate that those who live in urban areas are more interested in buying a smallholding than those already living in rural areas