Prejudice built up against the rural citizen and his situation is exemplified in the stereotyping inherent in the pejorative terms "pastoral", "bucolic", "hick", etc., and romantic turn-of-the-century debate over whether "modern degeneracy" should be considered urban- or rural-centered. Such holdover prejudice, built into the political as well as sociolinguistic fabric of the society by the "Progressive Era", now has serious effects on the structure and function of the society. Since dominant ideologies (i.e., urban) do not perceive the problems in the rural portion of society as major, inequitable allocation of federal monies to rural and city people results. Thus, due to their ascribed societal role rural populations now comprise "...a group of people, who, because of their physical or cultural characteristics, are singled out...in the society...for differential and unequal treatment and who therefore regard themselves as objects of collective discrimination" (Wirth 1945:347). This new perspective on the U.S. non-metropolitan populace as a minority suggests redirection, redirection in terms of the distribution of public funds as well as redirection in terms of the sociology and social research which shapes many underlying societal perceptions. (SC)