73rd Annual RSS Meeting
Atlanta, Georgia
August 12-15, 2010
Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel

Please click here to submit abstracts

RSS Annual Meeting Submission Deadline Extended to March 15, 2010

The Program Committee will extend the submission deadline for abstracts and organized session proposals for the Annual Meeting of the Rural Sociological Society in Atlanta, GA to be held in August. Please pass this news along to others who may still wish to participate in the 2010 meetings.

Minority Scholar Travel Grants (to attend the RSS Annual Meeting)

Five Minority Scholar Travel grants of up to $500 per person will be awarded to1 ) help defray the costs of  attending the annual  Rural Sociological Society (RSS)  meeting and 2) cover the cost of one year membership. Applicants may be either professionals or students from under-represented minority groups within RSS (i.e. African American, Asian-Americans, Latino/a, American Indian/Native American a phrase such as or other recognized minority and must be on the meeting program. Priority for awarding these competitive grants will be given to applicants who have not received travels funds in the past and who lack financial support from other sources. Applications will be reviewed by the Diversity Committee and awards will be presented to recipients upon arrival at the RSS annual meeting.
Applications are due by March 15, 2010. Applications may be submitted electronically using the Minority Scholar Travel Grant application form (below), or via fax or US Postal Service. Successful applicants will receive notification by May 15, 2010.

Click here for a PDF of the application.
Send completed application via mail, fax or e-mail to:
Lori Garkovich
500 Garrigus Bldg
University of Kentucky
Lexington KY 40546-0215
lgarkov@uky.edu
859-257- 4354 (fax)

Discussants Wanted

The Program Committee is making a concerted effort this year to reinvigorate the role of the discussant at this year’s meeting.  We concur with many of our RSS colleagues that, by and large, sessions at the annual meetings are already intellectually stimulating, and they are one of the main reasons we regularly participate in RSS annual meetings.  We also concur that sessions tend to be best when dedicated discussants have devoted time and energy to reviewing the written papers and preparing some comments in advance (in addition to listening and commenting on the oral presentation).  Of course, discussants can only perform this role if paper presenters submit papers in good time.  We plan to send out a series of reminders to all paper presenters to use the online system to upload their papers so that discussants will have time to read and prepare comments in advance of the meetings.  We plan to encourage presenters to have a completed, “reviewable” paper submitted at least two weeks before the meetings.  

We encourage both experienced and new members to volunteer for the role of discussant; we will work hard to insure each discussant is assigned to a session with papers of interest to the discussant/volunteer.  We plan to provide all discussants with detailed materials describing our expectations from discussants at this year’s meeting.  The discussant role is valuable, we think, not only for individual paper presenters, but also for the audience members and the advancement of scholarship, more generally. 

Our overarching objective in focusing on the discussant role is to enhance the quality of the sessions by providing valuable feedback to paper presenters in a way that advances the scholarly enterprise.  High quality sessions will help attract new members to our society, and it will motivate existing members to continue to come to meetings on an annual basis.  

We thank you, in advance, for volunteering to be a discussant in Atlanta.  We look forward to seeing you all there.

Mark J. Schafer
Program Chair

Please become a member of RSS!
Click on the link to sign up to become a member.
You will receive a discount on the price of the Annual Meeting, as well as all of the other benefits listed here. Click here to see pricing options.

A lobby at the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia

How Flat is Rural? Diversity in the Age of Globalization

Thomas Friedman’s influential book The World is Flat makes several important points about the changing social, political, and economic conditions in the 21st century. His thesis is that the decreasing cost of global telecommunication and other communication technology has lowered the barriers to international competition. The world is becoming “flat” in the sense that distant places are becoming closely connected. Those connections link different cultures, religions, and races and ethnicities together, thus creating ever more diversity even in formerly homogenous, atomized places. The places and people who can adapt to new, ever-changing conditions will do best.

Diversity in this new, global era goes beyond race and ethnicity to include social classes, gender, and generations. While technological changes can level the playing field, the fast pace of change presents both opportunities and challenges. Having “won out” at a given point in time will not guarantee a long run of success; the constantly and rapidly changing conditions require continuous adjustment and adaptation.

The theme of the 2010 RSS meetings aims to highlight the consequences of these dynamics for rural areas by asking the question, how are rural areas positioned in this new age of globalization? I hope that the theme stimulates research that considers how rural areas can benefit from the new conditions for development. Many different perspectives can approach the theme by asking, for example:

• How do rural areas benefit from the new telecommunication technology that makes decentralization of production possible and does not require concentration of production for reaping the benefits of economies of scale?

• How diverse are rural areas? Are racial/ethnic conflicts greater or smaller in rural than in urban areas, and why?

• How can rural places and people contribute to the transformation to a green economy?

• How do major demographic trends (e.g., aging, immigration, natural increase) affect the quality of life in rural and urban areas?

• What are the consequences of the telecommunication revolution for decreasing the urban-rural differentials that exist for many socioeconomic indicators?

In sum, the theme of the meetings offers an opportunity to examine a great many aspects of rural life in the context of globalization and growing diversity.

A suite in the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia

Fun Things to do in Atlanta

Take a look at these websites to help you plan activities during your time in Atlanta this summer!
www.attend.atlanta.net
www.atlanta.net

The Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel

210 Peachtree St.
Atlanta, Georgia 30303
United States Map
Phone: (404) 659-1400

Go to the Hotel's beautiful website for pictures and local entertainment information.