Values of Place: Measuring Attitudes of Community Leaders Toward Scenes from Rural Landscapes

Abstract

This article reports on an exploratory study designed to measure community leaders' attitudes toward scenes from working rural landscapes as elicited by photographs paired with a semantic differential scale. Using this approach it is determined that age, occupation, knowledge about farm structure, and community size are important factors shaping the diverse attitudes held by community leaders in rural southern Illinois. Findings suggest that the position and magnitude of attitude differences between relevant social groups be examined prior to launching new rural development initiatives.

Keywords:

• attitudes
• community development
• place
• rural landscape
• semantic differential