Social sciences and the transformations of rural areas and worlds

The last thirty years have seen both a radical shift in the countryside’s place in western societies and economies as well as significant changes in the approaches and analytical frameworks of social science studies on rural areas and worlds. The paper aims at giving an account of these two processes and discussing their interactions, and provides a brief summary of the main factual elements observed about the countryside’s socio-economic modifications over the last thirty years. It then takes stock of the way in which social science research has evolved: to what extent have topics and analytical frameworks – and more specifically in rural economics and sociology – been revised to be able to take these transformations into consideration? Subsequently, it considers various perspectives for future studies in the continuation of these dynamics.