Rural geography and political economy

Abstract

At the risk of using an unwarranted metaphor, my initial contention is that for many rural geographers the search for, and acknowledgement of, theory in their work has been rather similar to the hunt for Eeyore's tail. Seeking after theory has been perfunctory, usually circular, and conducted in a gloomy and often unwilling manner. When faced with the need to underpin research with a conceptual framework many rural geographers have preferred to concentrate on their principal interest, that is empirical investigation of rural issues. Accordingly, such theory that has developed has stemmed principally either from a reluctant and sometimes unknowing acquiescence in the theoretical thoughts of others or, more often, from the theory-laden constraints of an ingrained positivistic methodology.