Home Is Where the Hope Is: Indicators of Hope in a Rural Community

ABSTRACT

Sociologists have long used a deficit view in their work. However, some sociologists have recently turned to positive emotions, such as joy and hope, to provide a more complete view of marginalized and other populations. Largely, rural sociologists have not made the turn toward positive emotions. Rural places in the Western United States have been of interest to sociologists due to historical and contemporary social, economic, and demographic change. By focusing on these changes, sociologists have often geared their research toward how rural places are struggling and the conflict among residents. I suggest that there is a more complete view of rural places that includes hope. Using data from semi‐structured interviews, a drop‐off/pickup survey, and 2 years spent living in Beaverhead County, Montana, I found that residents of Beaverhead County appear to have both collective and individual hope for the future. My research indicates that central to this hope is a shared vision for the community's future and collective engagement in creating a place that residents want to live. Considering this, I suggest that researchers should follow the work of positive psychologists and environmental sociologists by integrating hope as a lens to view and understand rural places in their research.