Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

References to a Rural Idyll in the Attitudes and Self-Perceptions of Women in Rural West Germany

  • Chapter
Book cover Women and Migration in Rural Europe

Part of the book series: New Geographies of Europe ((NGE))

Abstract

Drawing on research from three villages in West Germany, this paper investigates women’s daily lives and the significance of the conception of a rural idyll in this context. The rural idyll is considered to be the socially constructed and commonly shared idealised image, or stereotype, of life in villages, often depicted as a place where the world is still all right and unaffected by global changes (R. Short 1991, Bunce 2003, Bell 2006, B. Short 2006). As a construction of a simple and morally valuable lifestyle it is strongly connected to a model of heterosexual family life and motherhood. Notably, it can also be a place where the world is again all right, where childrearing and subsistence gardening is a lifestyle decision of the critics of consumerism. Although nature and community are important elements of the rural idyll, women’s roles and concepts of childhood and motherhood are analysed in detail because of the formative power idealised social concepts can have on the behaviour of the individual, or as Bunce (2003: 25) puts it, ‘even if we accept that there are many versions of the rural idyll they all converge around a normative nostalgic ideal which is embedded in social and economic structures’.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Alston, M. (2005), Gender Perspectives in Australian Rural Communities, in C. Dibden, J. Cocklin (eds), Sustainability and Change in Rural Australia (Sydney: University of New South Wales Press), 139–156.

    Google Scholar 

  • Becker, H. (1997), Dörfer heute: Ländliche Lebensverhältnisse im Wandel; — 1952, 1972 und 1993/95 (Bonn: Forschungsgesellschaft für Agrarpolitk und Agrarsoziologie).

    Google Scholar 

  • Becker, H., Gombert, P. and Moser, A. (2006), Perspektiven und Probleme von Frauen in ländlichen Räumen (Münster: Landwirtschaftsverlag).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bell, D. (2006), Variations on the Rural Idyll, in P. Cloke, T. Marsden and P. Mooney (eds), Handbook of Rural Studies (London: Sage), 149–160.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Blättel-Mink, B., Kramer, C. and Mischau, A. (1998), Lebensalltag von Frauen zwischen Tradition und Moderne: soziale Lage und Lebensführung von Frauen in zwei Landkreisen Baden-Württembergs (Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bock, B. B. (2006), Rurality and Gender Identity — an Overview, in B. B. Bock and S. Shortall (eds), Rural Gender Relations — Issues and Case Studies (Oxfordshire: CAB International), 279–287.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Braun, A. (2010), Frauen auf dem Land — eigenständige Landwirtinnen, stolze Sennerinnen, freiheitssuchende Sommerfrischler und viele andere; von damals bis heute. (München: Sandmann).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bunce, M. (2003), Reproducing Rural Idylls, in P. J. Cloke (eds), Country Visions (New York: Pearson/Prentice Hall), 14–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Damyanovic, D. and Wotha, B. (2010), Die Bedeutung von Geschlecht im Veränderungsprozess ländlicher Räume, In S. Bauriedl, M. Schier and A. Strüver (eds), Geschlechterverhältnisse, Raumstrukturen, Ortsbeziehungen (Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot), 27, 75–99.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dienel, C., Gerloff, A. and Lesske, L. (2004), Zukunftschancen junger Frauen in Sachsen-Anhalt. (Ministerium für Bau und Verkehr, Ministerium für Gesundheit und Soziales Sachsen-Anhalt).

    Google Scholar 

  • Funk, H. (1993), Mädchen in ländlichen Regionen: theoretische und empirische Ergebnisse zur Modernisierung weiblicher Lebenslagen (Weinheim: DJI Juventa).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Halfacree, K. H. (1996), Out of Place in the Country: Travellers and the ‘Rural Idyll’. Antipode, 28(1), 42–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hauptmeyer, C.-H. and Henkel, G. (2005), Dörfliche Lebensstile, In U. Altrock, S. Günter, S. Huning, H. Nuissl and D. Peters (eds), Landliebe, Landleben: Ländlicher Raum im Spiegel von Sozialwissenschaften und Planungstheorie (Berlin: Altrock), 43–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Häußermann, H. and Siebel, W. (2004), Stadtsoziologie: Eine Einführung (Frankfurt/M.: Campus Verlag).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hinrichs, W. (2010), Wohneigentum privater Haushalte: EU-Schlusslicht Deutschland. Berliner Debatte Initial, 21, 114–127.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henderson, S. and Hoggart, K. (2003), Ruralities and Gender Divisions of Labour in Eastern England. Sociologia Ruralis, 43(4), 349–378.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hughes, A. (1997), Rurality and ‘Cultures of Womanhood’, in P. J. Cloke and J. Little (eds), Contested Countryside Cultures: Otherness, Marginalisation, and Rurality (London: Routledge), 123–137.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laschewski, L., Teherani-Kröner, P. and Bahner, T. (2002), Recent Rural Restructuring in East and West Germany — Experiences and Backgrounds, in K. Halfacree, I. Kovách, and R. Woodward (eds), Leadership and Local Power in European Rural Development (Aldershot: Ashgate), 145–172.

    Google Scholar 

  • Little, J. and Austin, P. (1996), Women and the Rural Idyll. Journal of Rural Studies, 12(2), 101–111

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Magel, H., Bosse, C., Braun, U., Fechter, C., Lichtenauer, K., Merfort, S. and Auweck, F. (2011), Warum Frauen nicht arbeiten können und Männer das Geld verdienen. Studie über gleiche Chancen für Frauen und Männer in den ländlichen Räumen Bayerns in den Themen Erwerbsarbeit, Familienarbeit und Freiwilligenarbeit (München: Grontmij GmbH).

    Google Scholar 

  • Müller, C. (2011), Guerilla Gardening und andere Strategien der Aneignung, in M. Bergmann and B. Lange (eds), Eigensinnige Geographien: Städtische Raumaneignungen als Ausdruck gesellschaftlicher Teilhabe (Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften), 281–288.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Noack, E. (2011), Are Rural Women Mobility Deprived? — a Case Study from Scotland: Rural Women’s Mobility Opportunities and Behaviour. Sociologia Ruralis, 51(1), 79–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oedl-Wieser, T. (2008), The Rural Gender Regime: The Austrian Case, in I. A. Morell and B. B. Bock (eds), Gender Regimes, Citizen Participation and Rural Restructuring. (Oxford: Elsevier), 283–298.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petersen, T. (2014, Juli 16), Die Sehnsucht der Städter nach dem Land, (FAZ).

    Google Scholar 

  • Rasche, U. (2012, September 24), Vom Glück des Gedeihens, (FAZ).

    Google Scholar 

  • Scheuer, A. and Dittmann, J. (2007), Berufstätigkeit von Müttern bleibt kontrovers: Einstellungen zur Vereinbarkeit von Beruf und Familie in Deutschland und Europa. Informationsdienst Soziale Indikatoren, 28, 1–5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schneider, R. F., Panova, R. and Waibel, S. (2013), Kein Abschied vom männlichen Familienernährer, Bevölkerungsforschung Aktuell, 34(3), 2–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schneider, N.F., Diabaté, S. and Lück, D. (2014), Familienleitbilder in Deutschland — ihre Wirkung auf Familiengründung und Familienentwicklung. Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Sankt Augustin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Short, B. (2006), Idyllic Ruralities, in P. J. Marsden, T. Mooney and P. H. Cloke (eds), Handbook of Rural Studies (London: Sage), 133–148.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Short, J. R. (1991), Imagined Country: Environment, Culture, and Society. (London: Routledge).

    Google Scholar 

  • Spellerberg, A. (2014), Was unterscheidet städtische und ländliche Lebensstile, In P. A. Berger, C. Keller, A. Klärner and R. Neef (eds), Urbane Ungleichheiten (Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden), 199–232.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Strubelt, W. (2012), Rezension. Raumforschung und Raumordnung, 70(6), 545–549.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thiem, A. (2009), Leben in Dörfern — die Bedeutungen öffentlicher Räume für Frauen im ländlichen Raum (Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften).

    Google Scholar 

  • Väth, A. (2001), Erwerbsmöglichkeiten von Frauen in ländlichen und suburbanen Gemeinden Baden-Württembergs (Heidelberg: Geographisches Inst. der Univ. Heidelberg).

    Google Scholar 

  • Watkins, F. (1997), The Cultural Construction of Rurality: Gender Identities and the Rural Idyll, in J. P. Nast, H. J. Roberts and S. M. Jones (eds), Thresholds in Feminist Geography: Difference, Methodology, and Representation (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers), 383–392.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Gesine Tuitjer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography, Germany

    Karin Wiest

Copyright information

© 2016 Gesine Tuitjer

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Tuitjer, G. (2016). References to a Rural Idyll in the Attitudes and Self-Perceptions of Women in Rural West Germany. In: Wiest, K. (eds) Women and Migration in Rural Europe. New Geographies of Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-48304-1_3

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-48304-1_3

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-349-58076-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-48304-1

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation