Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

Award Date

1963

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department / School

Sociology and Rural Studies

Abstract

The general principle of this thesis is the impact of population change upon rural communities. This is related to a regional research project being carried on in the North Central States. The North Central states include Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota. In South Dakota, it is the Agricultural Experiment Station at South Dakota College which is cooperating in the regional project. The nature of the research is to find out what population change is taking place in the North Central Region and the impact of this change on rural communities. From 1940 to 1950, there was a 10.2 percent increase in population on the North Central States. By the next decade this rate increased, so that from 1950 to 1960 there was a 14.9 percent increase. Although this increase may seem to be substantial, for both decades it was less than the rate of increase for the United States by about four percent. Even though the population did increase in the North Central Region, in both decades there was a net out-migration. The net out-migration in the 1940-1950 decade was 1.5 percent, and in the 1950-1960 decade it was 1.1 percent. Another important fact to understand is that the increase in the North Central Region was not evenly distributed among the thirteen states. In general, the more urban states had larger increases in population and the more rural states had smaller increases. The same general trend holds true for out-migration. The more rural states of the region had a higher rate of out-migration than did the more urban states. With these population changes taking place within the Region there was an interest in the uniformities and variations between particular states and among the counties of the Region with respect to net migration. Consequently, a regional project was designed that had two foci. The first was the explanation of motivations for migration or non-migration. The second was the impact of migration on community life or institutional systems. This thesis deals with the second problem.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Population -- South Dakota
Sociology, Rural
Church buildings -- South Dakota -- Marshall County

Description

Includes bibliographical references

Format

application/pdf

Number of Pages

123

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