leadership and perceptions of change in a village confronted with urbanism

Leadership and Perceptions of Change in a Village Confronted with UrbanismAuthor(s): Raymond PayneSource: Social Forces, Vol. 41, No. 3 (Mar., 1963), pp. 264-269Published by: Oxford University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2573169 .

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264 SOCIAL FORCES

and did not participate in the organization of community affairs.

Briefly, in conclusion, we may say that the inductive typological analysis of the ten communities studied in this project offered a profit-

able approach to the development of compara- tive community theory and, in addition, it focused attention on the interrelationship between the dimensions characteristic of the internal structuring of the local communities.

LEADERSHIP AND PERCEPTIONS OF CHANGE IN A VILLAGE CONFRONTED WITH URBANISM*

RAYMOND PAYNE University of Georgia

ABSTRACT Persons in leadership positions in a village confronted with urbanism (1) expected change,

and (2) possessed rather definite concepts concerning the form the change will take. How.- ever, they preferred developments other than those they expected, and they thought of themselves as 'better prepared to assist in developing the preferred (rather than the expected) changes.

T his is a report on one aspect of a larger case study of a "village confronted with urbanism," to use a term

recently employed by Nels Anderson.1 The conditions of American villages so confronted are generally described as three levels: (1) As people move into cities and as cities enlarge their areas many villages may be absorbed. Per- haps they lose their old village character but their names continue as the names of the areas where they once stood as rural communities. (2) Villages within commuting distance of cities, although formerly occupied by rural work and living the rural way of life, have come to be occupied by urban-oriented people doing urban types of work. (3) Villages more remote from cities, although in frequent contact with urban centers, may become places of mixed rural and urban types of work, but the people engaged in rural work may become increasingly

urban in their way of life. Few villages, it is thought, are so remote from cities and have so infrequent contact with urban centers that they manage to retain the rural way of life, unaf- fected by urban pressures. In fact, Anderson goes so far as to make the following statement: "In general, all villages are in process of change and the direction of change is toward urbanism, although some villages may be at a lesser level of urbanization than others."2 Therefore, a case study of one village may have considerable significance for villages in general at this time, if interpreted within appropriate develop- mental theory.

More specifically, the present study is con- ceived as an addition to existing suburbanization research. It has focused upon a village which appears likely to be engulfed by succes- sive waves of growth from nearby Athens, Georgia, and as such is one of the types of research suggested by Whetten several years ago which iimight throw some light upon the im- pact of suburbanization upon existing villages.3 This report concerns the DerceDtions of a erouD

* Based upon research supported by the Graduatc School, University of Georgia. This is a slightly revised version of a paper presented before the Association of Southern Agricultural Workers, Jackson, Mississippi, February 5, 1961.

1 Nels Anderson, The Urban Comnmunity: A World Perspective (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1959), pp. 78-79.

2 Ibid., p. 103. 3 Nathan L. Whetten, "Suburbanization as a

Field for Sociological Research," Rural Sociology, 16 (December, 1951), pp. 319-330.



A VILLAGE CONFRONTED WITH URBANISM 265

of leaders in a suburbanizing village concerning future developments in the area and their own expected leadership roles in the hypothetical future.

Studies of urbanization-suburbanization have concentrated upon the family, the individual, economic factors, and ecological arrangements, but little has been done in the way of direct study of the small town, agricultural in background, which is in the process of being changed by urbanism.4 Depending upon the interaction of many factors, some of which probably have not yet been isolated, any par- ticular village may ultimately be destroyed by physical growth of the city and the spatial re- organization of its functions, or the village may simply be changed in its tone and pace of life. Those who are leaders in the situation may or may not be able to adapt their procedures and approaches to emerging conditions. In any event, the change will be great. Those with emotional involvement in the smnall town will either adjust to the change, or be hurt and disappointed. Those who are emotionally involved with the area, its people, and its local affairs will certainly be touched by the change, and it is this "touching of people" fact which ultimately justifies further study of the processes involved, especially when it is so fre- quently observed that the transition of a suburbanizing village is a painful, haphazard development, whatever the specific direction and extent of change.

It will be noted that both the terms urbani- Zation and suburbanization have already been employed. It is assumed that these are not separate processes, but that both are part of the larger process of change currently taking place so obviously in the modern world. The South hias lagged in the process but, granting a few conditions, will be deeply involved with urbanization during the decades to come. Some villages will grow into small cities; some villages and small cities will fade anld disappear, while still others will grow into larger cities. All will experience changes in function.5

THE PROBLEM

The research problem called for the selection of a rural or formerly rural village facing urbanism, within which would be selected some leaders, from whom could be obtained perceptions of future local developments as related to certain of their values and to their perceptions of their community leadership roles under changing conditions. Data so obtained would then be interpreted within the framework of relevant theories of urbanization and suburbanization, leadership, social change, and social organization. The basic purpose is to construct additional hypotheses concerning the effects of urbanization upon American villages.

THE COMMUNITY

The village of Watkinsville, Georgia, was selected for study. It is an old county seat and agricultural town. The unit includes the in- corporated village and its immediate hinterland, the total population being some 1400 people. The town was established about 200 years ago and for a long time served as an important stop on an East-West stage route. Watkinsville is eight miles from Athens, the latter being a rapidly growing and industrializing city of some 40,000 people, and the home of the University of Georgia. Watkinsville antedates Athens and was for many decades much the more important of the two places.

During the latter part of the niineteenth century and the early part of the twentieth century it was a rather important local collection point for agricultural products, particularly cotton, as well as a general service center for the area. Developments in agriculture during the present century, and particularly during the 1920's and early 1930's, all but destroyed the town, and it appears to have been the general consensus locally throughout the late 1930's and well into the 1950's that nothing remained but to consider the town dead except as a cluster of dwelling facilities for the retired and the com- muter. Growth of large agriculture and migra- tion from rural areas reduced the rural population, further contributing to the decline by reducing the number of farm families and by creating demands which can not be met by a small townl, as well as by reducing the impor- tance of county seat function. With the build-

' See William Dobriner, The Suburbant CoJmsu- nity (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1958), p. xx.

6 See T. Stanton Dietrich, "Nature and Direc- tionIs of Suburbanization in the South," Social Fofrces, 39 (December 1960), pp. 181-186.



266 SOCIAL FORCES

ing of new roads, nearby Athens easily became the shopping and employment center for Wat- kinsville people, leaving the village with only limited service and professional facilities, and no employment potential.

However, toward the end of this period, while certain forces were still tending to hasten the end of the town as a functioning entity, other forces were coming into play which were producing the opposite effect in that they seemed to be conltributing to a resurgence of local activities. In sum, these forces were the net, effect of urbanism, as manifested locally and in American society. Somne businesses have been revived, and some reorganized and ex- panded; a new industrial plant has been established in the area; a new bank has been or- ganized after some 25 years without one. Some residential building has taken place, and the population has gone up slightly. The ancient stage tavern is being restored by the state's hiistorical society. The school system has been reorganized, some building has taken place and additional plans are in process.

FIELD PROCEDURES

A preliminary step involved the derivation of materials to be used later. Numerous people of all ages and occupying varied roles in the community were asked what Watkinsville might becolle in the future. No one was asked at this stage to state which it might become; the purpose was simply to describe the full range of possible developments. (These descriptions and the use to which they were put will be discussed later.)

Out of this procedure came the following seven descriptions:

1.A true suburb of Athens: definitely a sub- part of the city of Athens, with people living here and doing some of their shopping here, but not thinking of it as a separate town.

2. A growing con'mtercial-industrial town: a town in its own riglht, with both industry and business increasing, a growing population, with people's work centered here.

3. An industrial employment center: with increasing industry employing local people and others who would commute in to work.

4. A growing shopping center for local residents

who work elsewhere: this would involve ex- panding commercial and service activity and a growing population, with little or no change in local industry.

5. An agricultural service center: existing mainly to serve the needs of farmers and farm families in the area as their town center.

6. A specialized service or professional center for local or outtside people: with something like a large hospital or medical center to serve the region.

7. A tourist, recreation', or resort center: where people from outside would come to sight-see., rest, or take advantage of some recreational opportunity or service.

As this was being done a list of Watkins- ville's leaders was compiled. The basic procedure involved idenltification of the four types of community leaders described by Irwin San- ders-functionaries, officers, spokesmen, and informal leaders.6 For immediate purposes of this report a basic sociometric procedure was applied which yielded from the larger list 15 persons who appeared especially significant in relation- ship to future local developments because it seemed likely that they will be involved in what happens to the village and that they will assist it to become whatever it becomes. Each of the 15 met two criteria, in addition to having been included in the larger list of community leaders: (1) each was thought by at least two other persons on the larger list to have potential significance for Watkinsville's future, and (2) each stated explicitly that .he considered himself of some potential significance in this respect.

It is not to be inferred that these 15 consti- tute the "top leadersship" of the community; they are simply representative of local leadership who were selected on the above criteria. The ages of the 15 persons ranged from 26 years to 66 years; four of them had been born in Watkinsville and had lived there all their lives; three had lived there most of their lives. The other eight, over half the total, were nlot natives. Of the non-natives who lhad been in Watkinsville relatively short times, one was the wife of a local business man. but the other

6 Irwin T. Sanders, Comn-munity: At Introduction to a Social System (New York: The Ronald Press Cotmipaniy, 1958), pp. 358-359.



A VILLAGE CONFRONTED WITH URBANISM 267

TABLE 1. COMBINED (AVERAGE) RANKS OF SEVEN HYPOTHETICAL COMMUNITY DESCRIPTIONS, AS RANKED

FOUR TIMES BY FIFTEEN COMMUNITY LEADERS, WATKINSVILLE, GEORGIA.

Ranks, In Order (1=high, 7=low) Of Leaders' Own

A B C D Appraisals of

Hypothetical Community Descriptions Community's Appraisals of Own Views of Leaders'

Expectations Preferences Leadership Abilities Leadership Abilities

True suburb of Athens ............. 1 5 5 5.5 Commercial-inldustrial town 2......... 2 1 2 1 Commuters' shopping center ...... 3 3 2 2.5 Agricultural service center .......... 4 6 4 4 An industrial employment center. . . 5 2 1 2.5 Special service or professional center 6 4 6 5.5 Tourist, resort, or recreation center. 7 7 7 7

seven had come into the community to fill ap- pointive positions at school, chlurch, an-d as gov- ernmental functionaries.

That so many relatively new people could be included in a listing of leaders is, of course, a reflectionl of the social organization- of the modern American community, in that certain positions are loci of power and influence, pro- vided simply that those who occupy those positions are acceptable and relatively active as community members. In fact, 11 of the 15 are functionaries (four elected, seven appointed). Of the otbers, one is an officer of an importanlt local organization, and the remaining three might be called informal leaders since they do not occupy agency or organization positions, but exercise thleir influence through their nor- mal operations as local businessmen. Almost without exception tbey were "rural leaders" (and saw themselves as such) inasmuch as they were connected with rural school systems, agricultural agencies, rural law enforcement, an(d the like.

The interview schedule administered to each of the 15 selected leaders consisted mainly of the ranking by each of the seven descriptive statements which had already been derived (see above). The rankings were made according to four criteria. That is, each informant was asked to rank the seven descriptions four times: (1) in the order that he considered most likely to develop; (2) in order of his own personal preferences; (3) in relation to his own appraisal of his leadership abilities; and (4) in relation to his appraisal of the community's view of his leadership abilities.

FINDINGS

On certain points there was agreemenit amiiong the informants as to the future possibilities for the village. All thought that it would change from what it is now and, therefore, that their jobs as leaders would be developmen-tal rather that status quo maintenance. Further, they agreed that Watkinsville would not or could not return to any prior condition. That is, no one thought that it would become again an agricultural center or that it would ever be especially important as a travelers' service center. Nor did anyone think the village would die, as perhaps would have been generally conceded less than a score of years ago.

However, agreement was not so extensive on just what it might become. "Agreement" here and in the next few statements is based upon combined (average) placements assigned the descriptions by all informants. (Table 1). However, there was a strong tendency for most to believe that it would become a true suburb of Athens, and by the term "true suburb" it has been assumed that people were referring to the sort of unit which Dobriner called simply a "suburb" and defined as an, urbanized, residential conmnu-nity which is outtside the corporate li,mnits of a large central city, but which is cul- tu,trally and economically dependent upon the central City.7 This sort of suburb is, of course, a surbub of consumrnption, a term used by Doug- lass to distinguish between the unit popularly referred to as a "dormitory town" or "bedroom city," and the suburb of production, a unit

' Dobriner, op. cit., p. xvii.



268 SOCIAL FORCES

which might be satellite to a larger and more important urban center, but which would pro- vide employment for at least its own residents.8 About this same distinction was made by Walter T. Martin with his terms residential suburbs and enploying suburbs.9 According to Martin, the general term "suburb" refers to the relatively small but formally structured community adjacent to and dependent upon a large central city. However, suburbs might differ greatly from each other, especially since some are consumers of labor and suppliers of com- modies (that is, employing suburbs), while others are suppliers of labor and consumers of commodities (residential suburbs).10 This distinction was obviously apparent to the rankers since they implied by their rankings that Wat- kinsville would be much less likely to develop into either an employment center or a commercial center for commuters, the other two forms in the list of seven which might be considered types of suburbs.

At the other extreme, there was general agreement that the community would not become a tourist, resort, or recreational center, and it was considered generally unlikely that it would develop into either a specialized service center or an employment center. Between these extremes, however, were ranked the possibilities for growth as a commercial-industrial center, a shopping center for commuters employed elsewhere, and an agricultural service center, with some ranking each very high and others ranking it quite low.

These combined rankings would indicate that the leaders expect, however much they might disagree on other points, that their community will continue to be related to and dominated by the city of Athens.

Quite in contrast to their expectations are the leaders' preferences as expressed in the sec-

ond (B) ranking. The development most de- sired was the commercial-industrial city, which would necessarily bring about a great extension and expansion of the basic components already present. It is understood that this would con- stitute, in Schnore's terminology, a satellite city, still related to and dominated by Athens but, of the seven possibilities, it must be noted that this is the one with the greatest degree of inherent independence and local autonomy. Sec- ond choice was for an industrial employment center (employing suburb), and a third choice was for a commuters' shopping center. Each of these would -involve considerable economic expansion, the one in industrial realms, the other in business and services. From the rankings it could hardly be inferred that these people wanted the community to become either a tourist, resort, or recreational center, an agricultural service center, a true suburb of Athens, or a specialized service or professional center. Probably of greatest significance here is the fact that the possibility thought most likely in the first ranking (in terms of expectations) was placed, on the average, in fifth place in terms of personal preferences.

Whereas there are striking contrasts between the rankings of expected and preferred developments, there was little contrast between preferences and the two rankings based on leadership factors. On the average, our informants considered themselves well equipped to help the village become an industrial employment center, a commercial-industrial center, or a growing shopping center for resident commuters. How- ever, they considered themselves not as well equipped to help it become any of the others, including the "true suburb" of Athens, the very thing they most expect it to become!

The fourth (D) ranking indicated that the leaders felt secure in their leadership positions, in that they thought their own and the community's appraisals of their own leadership capacities almost identical.

Much of the same picture, together with some additional considerations, emerged fromn an ex- amination of the extent to which the four rankings of eaclh person were similar and different. This procedure made it possible to dis- count the matter of agreement or disagree-

8 Harlan Paul Douglass, The Suburban Trend (New York: The Century Company, 1925), pp. 74-92.

9 Walter T. Martin, "The Structuring of Social Relationships Engendered by Suburban Residence," American Sociological Review, 21 (August, 1956), pp. 427-428.

10 See Leo F. Schnore's comments on these types in, "Satellite and Suburbs," Social Forces, 36 (December 1957), pp. 121-129.



4 VILLAGE CONFRONTED WITH URBANISM 269

ment among informants, and revealed that, typ- ically, the A (expectation) ranking by each person was quite different from that person's other three rankings. The two rankings which were usually the most nearly alike were (1) the one involving the informant's appraisals of his own capacity to work with the community as a leader and (2) his appraisal of the way he thought the community appraised those capacities.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

Suburbs may differ greatly in origin, as well as in nature. In Dobriner's words, "Some suburbs have been created by rational forces in the market economy. They are the calcula- ted creations of builders and real estate specu- lators. . . . Some suburbs, however, are created by inadvertent invasion and urban decentrali- zation-for example, the independent rural villages along the periphery of the rural-urban fringe which have been suddenly engulfed by the latest wave of suburbanites fleeing the city."11

In this case study of a formerly independent rural village currently undergoing extensive change due to the growth of a nearby small city, data have been arrayed which indicate that selected persons in leadership positions (1) expect change, and (2) have rather definite concepts concerning the form that change will take. However, those leaders would prefer develop- mlents other than those they expect to occur and, while they believe they will remain in positions of leadership during the transition, they think of themselves as better prepared to assist toward developing their preferences than toward their expectations.

In general it can be said that the leaders thought of themselves as rural leaders, whereas they feel that circumstances beyond their coIn-

trol and not of their asking are placing them in Dositions of having to assist the community to-

ward a suburban development. It is clear that the blame for this inconsistency is not being placed upon the community (they felt that the community would appraise their capacities about as they themselves do) but upon general, usually unspecified conditions in society which are causing (1) the nearby city to grow, (2) the nature of agriculture and the rural population to change, and (.3) local values to shift, thereby calling for adjustments in the leaders' own community roles.

If our case is at all typical of villages which are confronted with urbanization, then part of the haphazardness usually present in the transition might be explained in that the very people who must guide the process are rural (not urban or suburban) in background, training, and value orientation, and therefore their leadership must be exerted under unfamiliar and/or unfavored conditions, with each being called upon to do things he does not know how to do or is to some extent reluctant to do, even though he has accepted the responsibility of office or position.

Further research would be needed, of course, to test the hypotheses growing out of such statements. It would be helpful to know if values concerning the future of one's community inhibit leadership functions when the community is developing in other preferred directions. Also, much needs to be learned about the manner in which village leaders, trainedl for rural leadership, obtain the knowledge and skills necessary for guiding the community, Ilot

in the mnaintenance of a rural way of life, but toward urbanization, and whether there would be more efficient ways for them to obtain those knowledges and skills. Further work should investigate the effect of community transition, particularly in non-preferred directions, upon personality organization and person self concepts of individuals, especially of highly com-

mitted local leaders. " Dobriner, op. cit., p. xxi.



leadership and perceptions of change in a village confronted with urbanism

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