Measuring age differentials in representations of rurality in The Netherlands

The importance of representations of the rural in discussing the competition for rural space by different functions is increasingly acknowledged. It is known from the literature that these representations differ for specific groups of actors, but empirical measurement of such differences lags far behind conceptual discussions. In this paper we propose methodologies of classifying different representations and analysing these in the framework of a multinomial logit regression model. The analysis shows that visual-figurative images of the countryside are predominant. Elderly people tend to add a socio-cultural flavour to such images. Younger people, however, add functional representations of rurality to the visual-figurative image base. They often portray the countryside as a one-dimensional agricultural production zone. Such age differences will clearly have consequences for rural policies. In the first place in developing policies that are targeted towards specific age groups. In the second place in deconstructing age-related representations of rural policy makers themselves. What the exact consequences will be is however less clear. For that it is important to develop a methodology for separating age effects from cohort effects.