Spatial inequality and rural areas

This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on key concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book explores rural studies and examines the interrelationships between substantive domains including economy, polity, social organisation, population change, and the natural environment. The global financial crisis has played a significant role here, producing new poor among the middle classes and self-employed, with those who were already vulnerable driven deeper into poverty with less social protection from the state as a result of austerity measures and neoliberal imperatives. During the recent economic crisis, the social protection offered in the global north has been challenged and redefined in many ways. The recent recession has shown that the social contract is increasingly fragile in todays neoliberal world. Rural research can and should influence policy discourse, but the system is not simply demand driven. Scholars and policy makers must be engaged in ongoing relationships, and researchers must build effective bridges between their world and policy and practice.