The Work of Rural Professionals: Doing the Gemeinschaft‐Gesellschaft Gavotte

Abstract

This paper considers how rurality affects the work of professionals. Sociologists have paid little attention to possible rural-urban differences in work styles and no study exists which compares the rural experience of those in different professions. I review the literature describing the work of various rural professionals and examine interview data from rural clergy to see whether rural professionals differentiate their work from that of their urban peers. The comparison across occupations reveals several common concerns, including the need to do similar work with fewer resources, the necessity of adapting protocols and codes of conduct to rural settings, and the challenge of dealing with dual relationships. I argue that conventional standards of professional behavior reflect an urban bias and that rural life problematizes the notion of professionalism. Those who work in rural places are caught trying to dance between the ''tunes'' of gemeinschaft and gesellschaft society.

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Towards a networks-enabled complexity profile for examining responsibility for decision-making by healthcare professionals

“…GPs working in rural areas are geographically more occupationally isolated from populated practices. Furthermore, rural GPs often carry out procedures in situations with limited resources or personnel and are implicitly required to adapt to protocols and codes of conduct of rural settings [28]. Such problems and others such as decreasing performance as GPs age, lack of association with professional peers, obsolescence with modern technology, and isolation from community not only hinder performance but makes this study potentially interesting and practically useful [9].…”

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“…The indication is that general practice is more common than specialised practice amongst rural professional services providers (Hegney et al, 2002a, b) and as a result rural professionals are often required to manage several roles (Mellow, 2005).…”

“…An incumbent of a role accepts or rejects these rights, duties, expectations, and norms. Rural professionals Economic Social Environmental Employment growth Income/output growth (wealth creation) Distributional equity: reduce regional disparities between lagging regions and the rest of the economy Address market failures to regional development and non-market benefits (improve efficiency) Structural adjustment assistance: facilitate transition from declining to productive industries and/or mobility between regions Dual roles for accountants are often required to assume and manage several roles (Felton et al, 2008;Mellow, 2005) and as the majority of professionals are trusted with personal information (Baldvinsdottir et al, 2011), the dual relationship between confidante and professional advisor may influence the behaviour associated with their professional role (Farmer and Kilpatrick, 2009;Mellow, 2005;Werth Jr and Hastings, 2010;Carter et al, 2011). Tesoriero (2010) identifies four roles within the broader community development role: facilitator, educator, representative, and technician.…”