Hunting and Rural Socialization: Contingent Effects of the Rural Setting on Hunting Participation

This paper examines the relationship between rural socialization and hunting participation. Assessments of the cultural significance of hunting as a “way of life” in rural areas echo traditional assertions of the importance of rurality, but do not consider the interplay between rural residence and other variables that affect hunting participation. Although previous research has demonstrated that rural residents are more likely to participate in hunting, as are males and those who are influenced by family, the interaction of these variables is poorly understood. A national survey used a socialization framework to explore the more specific conditions under which rural upbringings were associated with increased hunting participation. Rural upbringings fostered an increase in hunting primarily when the socialization relationship between agent and target was unlikely to do so and when participation was consistent with gender norms: rural males whose fathers did not hunt were more likely to hunt than urban males whose fathers did not. In no other cases did rural upbringings result in an increased propensity for hunting. Therefore we suggest that broad statements about the cultural significance of hunting to rural life be made more cautiously, with the effects of other variables taken into account.