Pregledni rad
The Diffusion of Innovations as a Field of Research in Rural Sociology
Vojislav Đurić
Sažetak
The task of this article is two-fold: it demonstrates that the problems of
the diffusion of innovation form a significant area of research within rural sociology
and then analyzes the basic problematic aspects of this acknowledged field
of inquiry. This is done for the purpose of awaking interest in a sphere of village life which has been neglected scientifically in Yugoslavia. The preceding fixes the
role of the diffusion of innovation within the complex of general social cultural
dynamics and then answers the question of when and how innovation diffusion
became a scientifically interesting phenomenon, particularly in rural sociology.
The author then dwells upon three basic aspects essential to sociological interest
in the process of innovation diffusion in rural milieux. These are a) innovation
itself in the village, b) the process of the diffusion of innovation m villages, and
c) the problems of dovetailing diffused innovation with existing rural forms.
Innovation is understood as novelties which do not conform to existing forms
and content and which have their on time and spatial limitations. The author notes that it is possible to classify innovation in essence as multifaceted but
considers the most acceptable classification to be according to its objective functions
in the life of the rural personality, the family and the community.
The process of the diffusion of innovation is itself very complicated for it
comprises: a) awareness that innovations exist, b) the gradual gathering of information
about innovation, c) an estimation of the innovation and decision to try
it d) testing the innovation itself, and e) the decision to adopt the innovation
after its trial. In essence, this process is composed of two phases: the phase of
becoming informed about the innovation and the phase of adopting the innovation.
The author analyzes the possible means of gathering information, the possible
classifications of these means, and their effect and the factors which allocate
subjects for this or that means. In an anlysis of adoption of the innovation
itself, he emphasizes the characteristics of the innovation which are important
for its adoption (use, divisibility, communicability, attractiveness, practicalness,
accessibility, and definiteness), and then the significant differentiation of those
who adopt the innovation into social categories (basic innovators, pioneers, precursors
of the majority, the majority and the hesitant). Analyzing the process of the integration of innovations which have diffused
into the village, the author emphasizes the extraordinary complexity of this subject-
matter as well as a certain acknowledged impotence of rural sociology in facing this problem.
In his concluding remarks, the author accentuates several basic directions
for contemporary rural sociology to follow in order to develop its theoretical and
empirical investigation of this field.
Ključne riječi
Hrčak ID:
119422
URI
Datum izdavanja:
3.9.1971.
Posjeta: 990 *