Hunting and Rural Socialization: Contingent Effects of the Rural Setting on Hunting Participation* Richard C. Stedman Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology The Pennsylvania State University Thomas A. Heberlein Department of Rural Sociology University of Wisconsin-Madison Abstract This paper examines the relationship between rural socializa- tion and hunting participation. Assessments of the cultural significance of hunting as a “way of life” in rural areas echo traditional assertions of the importance of rurality, but do not consider the interplay between rural residence and other variables that affect hunting participation. Although previous research has demonstrated that rural residents are more likely to participate in hunting, as are males and those who are influenced by family, the interaction of these variables is poorly understood. A national survey used a socialization framework to explore the more specific condi- tions under which rural upbringings were associated with increased hunt- ing participation. Rural upbringings fostered an increase in hunting pri- marily when the socialization relationship between agent and target was unlikely to do so and when participation was consistent with gender norms: rural males whose fathers did not hunt were more likely to hunt than urban males whose fathers did not. In no other cases did rural up- bringings result in an increased propensity for hunting. Therefore we suggest that broad statements about the cultural significance of hunting to rural life be made more cautiously, with the effects of other variables taken into account. Hunting is generally viewed as an archetypically “rural” activity. But how do the effects of a rural upbringing interact with gender and family socialization to foster hunting participation? The interaction between these three crucial variables in understanding hunting as a traditionally rural activity has never been explored empirically, much less with the national-level data we use in our research. Hunt- ing game for recreation, although not as universally cherished as visions of family farms and safe, friendly, tightly knit small towns, re- mains a strong image of rural America. Hunting is often consid- ered culturally significant, a “way of life” in rural areas, much like other behaviors considered stereotypically rural. Rural Sociology 66(4), 2001, pp. 599–617 Copyright © 2001 by the Rural Sociological Society *Please direct all correspondence to the first author at the Department of Agricul- tural Economics and Rural Sociology, The Pennsylvania State University, 111-B Armsby Building, University Park, PA 16802.