REPLY TO MORRISON, KUMAR, ROGERS AND FLIEGEL.

Cancian, Frank

The paper presents comments on an article by Denton E. Morrison, Krishna Kumar, Everett M. Rogers and Frederick C. Fliegel. The difference between the author's predictions and the commonly reported monotonic increasing relation of the variables is in the dip around the middle of the rank continuum. If the negative relation which the author has associated with the notion of middle-class conservatism persists as an empirical finding, some alternative to traditional theoretical notions must be found. In the study of adoption of agricultural innovations, where the theory has been operationalized so far, persistence of the dip eventually will require reconceptualization of the role of wealth or size of operation in determining a farmer's tendency to change his farming techniques. The dip suggests that smaller farmers may have more inclination to innovate than they generally get credit for; and the overall interpretation suggests that some larger farmers are more concerned with maintaining what they have than with technological improvement of their farming practices.

AGRICULTURE; RURAL population; MORRISON, Denton E.; KUMAR, Krishna; ROGERS, Everett M.; FLIEGEL, Frederick C.; AGRICULTURAL scientists

American Sociological Review, 1976, Vol 41, Issue 5, p919

0003-1224

Academic Journal

10.2307/2094743