Institutional Consequences of Recent Urban to Rural Migration in a Resort Community.

DOCUMENT RESUME RC 004 312 Schores, Daniel M. Institutional Consequences of Recent Urban. to Rural Migration in a Resort Community. 27 Aug 66 13p.; Paper delivered at Rural Sociological Society Meeting (Miami, Florida, August 27, 1966) DRS Price MF-$0.25 HC,40.75 *Community Change, Community Problems, Community Recreation Programs, *Community Surveys, Organizational Change, *Recreation, *Rural Development, *Rural Urban Differences, Social Attitudes, Social Problems *Missouri, Osage Beach Designed to discover the influence of rapidly increasing commercial recreation on social interaction, this study dealt with the nature and changing significance of community institutions. The study was conducted from 1963 to 1065 in the emerging community of Osage Beach, Missouri, as a basis for the author's doctoral dissertation. Data for the study were obtained from observation of the community over a 3-year period, historical records, and interviews with a 25 percent random sample of all household (N=77). Findings of the study were that the institutions (schools, churches, government, and voluntary associations) of the community were strongly influenced by newcomers who were attracted to a rural recreation environment. By attempting to recreate their familiar urban culture, the newcomers created social dissonance between themselves and the more traditionally rural natives of the community. (TL) INSTITUTIONAL CONSEQUENCES OF RECENT URBAN TO RURAL MIGRATION IN A RESORT COMMUNITY U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION & WELFARE OFFICE Of EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRODUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGiNATING IT. POINTS Of VIEW OR OPINIONS STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OF EDUCATION POSITION OR POLICY. Dr. Daniel M. Schores Duke Divinity School Durham, North Carolina Delivered at Rural Sociological Society Meeting Miami, Florida August 27, 1966 INSTITUTIONAL CONSEQUENCES OF RECENT URBAN TO RURAL MIGRATION IN A RESORT COMMUNITY While the resort community has become increasingly common in the United, States in recent years along with the phenomenal growth of tourism in general, sociologists have been negligent in studying these functionally unique communities. Research which exists has focused on the leisure-consumer rather than on the service-provider. Attention has been primarily given to the individual in a traditional, stable community, most likely a metropolitan center. 1 Unfulfilled has been the need for understanding the effect of a leisure environment on the social organization of the area visited by these leisureconsumers. Yet new communities, born in formerly isolated rural areas, give social scientists a significant opportunity to observe the rise of basic institutions amid a transient population. Previous studies have shown that it is the urban dweller who vacations most frequently. For example, a federal government analysis of outdoor recreation in 1962 found that families living in suburbia or the fringe of a metropolitan center had higher participation rates than either the inner -city dweller or out-lying rural family. 2 On the other hand, the resort area is normally rural in location. It can therefore be expected that native-newcomer conflicts will appear in interpersonal relations with concurrent effect on social institutions. From 1963-1965 a study of the emerging community of Osage Beach, Missouri on the Lake of the Ozarks was conducted by the author. Designed to discover the influence of rapidly increasing commercial recreation on social interaction, the study explored the nature and changing significance of community institutions. A major factor in