Introducing the concept of phenomenology (concern with consciousness, objects of consciousness, possibilities, and a return to "things") supported by ethnomethodology as a viable approach to rural sociology, this paper presents: (1) a brief review of selected articles discussing the conceptualization of "rural"; (2) certain principles in the sociology of knowledge which have epistemological implications for both rural sociology method and substance; (3) a brief discussion on certain aspects of Husserl's and Schutz's phenomenology and Garfinkel's ethnomethodology as relative to rural sociology; and (4) rural schools as a case in point where analysis might be enriched via a sociology of knowledge-phenomenological-ethnomethodological approach concerning itself with "reality construction". Since ethnomethodology is concerned with the immediately observable social situation, a central concept posited is that ethnomethodology calls into question the normative organizational focus of rural sociology as exemplified in the study of social structure. Emphasizing the difference between objective and subjective reality, rural schools and reality construction are discussed in terms of reality differentials, transmission, and reaction and internalization. Essentially, this paper calls for a humanistic sociology; wherein, researchers open their eyes to the world with a "natural attitude" and perceive the world as an ongoing accomplishment rather than as a "taken for granted facticity". (JC)