Research of the RSO Group
Research themes & projects
The Rural Sociology Group (RSO) studies agrarian change, food provisioning and rural development in Europe and the Global South.
Research projects
The Rural Sociology group is involved in several research projects, including EU funded projects. Please take a look below.
Agrarian change
Our research on agrarian change and agriculture examines the problems of mainstream agrarian development as a top-down, science-driven process in the North and as modernization approaches in development interventions in the South. Contrary to these homogenizing approaches, our research focus on agrarian change investigates the dynamics of agriculture by looking at its many forms of power, inequality, and unevenness, as well as its incredibly interesting, rich, and meaningful diversity. We see multiple agrarian futures supported by a complex amalgam of different practices and drivers. This field of study includes but is not limited to the following: the (gendered) organization of work and labor; interactions with nature; the social shaping of technology and knowledge construction; land rights and land struggles; the role of markets and power in markets; and questions of dependency and autonomy. Through researching the multiplicity of agrarian futures – including related power relationships, visions and practices, and evolving strategies for getting there – we aim to show that alternative, more socially just, and sustainable agrarian transitions are possible and, moreover, already in the making.
Food provisioning
The problems plaguing food systems are well researched, yet how can we support transformation towards sustainable and just food systems? One thing is clear: the objective of future food systems can no longer be to simply maximize productivity. The main challenges ahead are not technical, they are social, cultural and political. Sociological skills are critical to addressing these challenges in meaningful ways. Our research at RSO directly contributes to food system transformations. Through teaching, research, active participation, and outreach, we connect knowledge with practice. In this way, our work and knowledge are generated through the practice of thought and the action towards the goals of equitable, and just futures. Building on a ‘hopeful’ critique on the modernization of agriculture, and globalization and industrialization of food systems, we study diverse forms of food provisioning. For example, building on a relational turn in rural sociology, we are interested in urban food provisioning or more in general the question of food provisioning in metropolitan regions. This includes exploring issues of equity, governance, oppression, resistance and hope.
Rural development in Europe and the Global South
The future of the rural is a major research topic at the RSO. What will the rural look like in the future, how will it be redefined and reshaped, by whom, and how? We already observe that some areas experience de-growth, a shrinking population, and impoverishment of services and facilities, while other areas remain vibrant and centers of growth. For centuries, the rural has been identified with those places where most of our food, fiber, and fuel are produced. Today, rural areas are also identified by their typical landscapes and sceneries and as providers of tourism and recreation, as well as living spaces with distinct markers of identity and belonging and diverse ecosystem services that play a crucial role in times of climate change. This multiplicity of old and newly attributed social functions and the wide-ranging meanings of rural areas for different people cause us to question the definition of rurality and focus our attention on the relations by which the rural is produced. Who are considered the legitimate producers of the rural of the future, and whose activities are restricted or ended? Which new actors will be welcomed, and which not? How are we taking care of rural governance in an inclusive and synergetic way, with policies that take account of rural diversity as well as the interdependence of the rural and urban? In short, thinking about the new ruralities come with challenging questions.
Approach
The research approach of the RSO can be summarized in six key points:
1. People’s everyday realities. Our research takes as its main starting point people in their everyday world and their daily practices. This is also how we address questions about technology and nature by focusing on technology-in-use and people’s everyday interaction with nature and environmental change.
2. Dynamics. Our research links the present to the past, as the robustness and fragility of everyday practices and the political-economic environments of people’s life-worlds today can only be understood by tracing their development through the course of time. This enables us, for example, to explore the emergence of path dependencies, such as in/formal rules and regulations, vested interests, and the lock-in effects of long-term financial investments. We seek to understand connectivities and disjunctures within society and their impact on people’s lived experience.
3. Meaningful diversity. Our interest here is not so much in diversity itself as in the ways in which this emerges as the product of creative agency, which is what makes the diversity meaningful. This implies a concern with human actors in their socio-material or socio-natural environments and a focus on how and why the actions of people, individually and collectively, create different patterns of development.
4. Comparative research. Comparing practices and processes is crucial to our understanding of the dynamics of relationships, continuities, and change. Comparisons are made to discern contingent and necessary relationships and to refine our understanding of contradictions, inequalities, and unevenness in development. Case studies and qualitative research tends to form the core of our comparative work.
5. A relational approach. We conceptualize the rural as the product of interactions and relations. This allows us to understand the making of distinct places in terms of relations of power, abilities to mobilize resources, and the ideas and ideals of the actors involved. A primary challenge of a rural sociology for the twenty-first century is to understand how the rurality and its diversity of meanings and functions are the contextual outcome of social relations and meaningful actions, past and present.
6. Being critical and engaged. A final key feature is that we critically analyze and reflect on the ‘conventional’ and ‘mainstream’ (e.g. agricultural modernization) and thereby attempt to defamiliarize and ‘deconstruct’ the familiar and question the taken-for-granted. This supports our contribution to the field through an exploration of new practices and examination of a range of credible options and alternatives. This ‘engaged’ or ‘activist’ approach to research shows the potential of practices that are often locked away, as it were, discredited and rendered worthless.
PhD Research
RSO host many PhD candidates from different backgrounds. RSO enjoys an outstanding international reputation. As a PhD candidate at RSO, you will be executing your research in one of the domains of RSO. If you are interested in doing a PhD at RSO, please first check the general information on the PhD programme of Wageningen University & Research.
We regularly offer interesting PhD possibilities within (inter)national projects. You can always inquire about the possibilities (contact our research co-ordinator Joost Jongerden) and keep an eye on our weblog.