CONCEPTUALIZING COUNTRYSIDE CHANGE - FROM POST-FORDISM TO RURAL STRUCTURED COHERENCE

This paper contributes to the theoretical debates which seek to explain economic restructuring and social recomposition in rural areas. There has been a recent movement towards applying a supposed transition from Fordism to post-Fordism to rural change, but the paper urges caution in this respect, arguing that the regulationist literature requires sensitive handling if it is to fulfil its potential as a framework for conceptualizing rural change. Emphasis is therefore given to the intermediate concepts of 'mode of regulation' and 'societalization' as starting points for understanding contemporary rural life, and these concepts are grounded spatially with reference to Harvey's notion of structured coherence. Discussion of these concepts is then linked to a series of illustrations of the changing structured coherences discernible in rural Britain. In particular the paper emphasizes the breakdown of previously localized coherence and the replacement by more fragmented coherence reflecting different forms of commodification occurring in rural areas. The use of this conceptual framework has important implications for continuing research in rural studies.