In pursuit of experience: The postindustrial gentrification of the rural American West

Abstract

Contemporary rural gentrification — the colonization of rural communities and small-towns by members of the ex-urban middle class — is a nationwide phenomenon that contradicts nearly two centuries of US urbanization. While previous research primarily describes such counter-urbanization as representing a profound divergence from previous patterns (i.e. urbanization, mass production/consumption, etc.), I contend that rural gentrification is best understood as the product of both continuity and change relative to the ideas/practices of Modernity and current postindustrialization. Based on ethnographic research conducted in a community in south-central Montana, I present evidence that the choice by middle-class newcomers to migrate to the rural US is simultaneously the product of: 1) the continued efficacy of the Modern ideals of authenticity and progress; and 2) their aspirations to distinguish themselves as members of an emerging class faction — the postindustrial middle class (PIMC) — through their emphasis upon the production and consumption of experiences.