Community Attachment Among Leaders in Five Rural Communities¹

Abstract

The relationship between the different ways leaders may relate to rural communities and their ability to relate to extracommunity individuals and organizations is examined. Drawing from the insights of Merton (1957) into local and cosmopolitan influentials and a newer literature on community attachment, two dimensions of attachment to the local community are identified. A survey of 75 leaders in five midwestern rural communities provides evidence that sociodemographic and socialnetwork characteristics of leaders have different relationships to the two dimensions. Implications of the findings for understanding the effectiveness of leadership in rural communities are discussed. I This is a revised version of a paper presented at the annual meetings of the Rural Sociological Society in Columbus, Ohio, August 18-21, 1991. We wish to thank anonymous reviewers for helpful suggestions for revision of the manuscript. Address all correspondence to David]. O'Brien, Department of Rural Sociology, 204A Sociology Building, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211.

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