This book investigates urbanormativity—a concept that privileges urban normalcy and desirability over rural deviance and undesirability. The “reality” section outlines its foundations—urbanization, urban-rural systems, and urban dependency. The “representation” section explores urbanormative culture by considering cultural capital, media, and identity. The last section, “everyday life,” examines urban-rural disparities in law and politics and in life within different communities. It concludes by calling for a rural justice approach that will revalue the rural.
Urbanormativity examines the reality, representation, and consequences of living amid a cultural ideology that privileges urban over rural people and communities. The book analyzes and challenges the complex processes that work to devalue the rural and advocates for a rural justice ethic that reverses the present course.
