Size of Place and Community Attachment: A Reconsideration

The literature on community attachment is briefly reviewed, and the dichotomization of theoretical perspectives into 'linear development' and 'systemic' approaches is brought into question. It is argued that recent evidence on the deterioration of U.S. metropolitan areas and the emergence of net urban-to-rural migration casts doubt on the exhaustiveness of the 'linear development' and 'systemic' perspectives and warrants an empirical reconsideration of the relationship between size of place and community attachment. Rural residence proves to be positively related to dependent measures of community attachment in a 1974 statewide Wisconsin survey. Measures of 'participatory' attachment to the community, however, are not strongly correlated with community attachment.