Sources of Variation in the Level of Living of Farm Operators in the United States

The major hypothesis to be tested in this analysis is that income or economic class of farm will account for most of the variation in the percentage of farms reporting a level of living item. A minor or second hypothesis is that income or economic class will account for approximately the same amount of the variation for each of the seven items used in this study of level of living. The analysis, however, shows that both of these hypotheses must be rejected. Economic factors do not explain a major part of the total variation in the percentage of farms reporting these seven level of living items. In the case of home freezers, income accounted for just over three-fourths of the variation. And, approximately two-thirds of the variation in tractors is associated with income. On the other hand, to income is attributable only 27.1 percent and 29.5 percent of the variation in the distribution of television sets and telephones, respectively. A -ATERIAL comfort, ithasbeensuggested, is one of the major value-orientations _ > of American society.' The subjective aspect of this orientation is usually stated in terms of some anticipated or accepted level of well-being of individuals and families. Thus, striving to improve one's material comfort and the satisfactions derived therefrom has become a part of "the American way of Life." The measurable manifestation of this configuration is represented by the concept of level of living. In turn, level of living is defined in terms of the possession, use and availability for consumption of selected facilities, equipment and services. On this basis, the general term of level of living becomes subject to quantitative analysis. The purposes of this study are: (1) to determine the extent of variation in selected level of living items of farm operators in the United States, and (2) to determine some of the factors which are associated with these distribution patterns and the proportion of the variance which is explained by each factor. To what extent does income account for the variations in level of living? How important are regional factors-geographic or cultural-in determining the distribution of these level of living items among farm operators? These are the major questions to be answered, but specific hypotheses will be stated at the appropriate place in the analysis that follows. Before proceeding with the analysis and discussion of specific items, attention is directed briefly to the source of data and method of analysis, SOURCE OF DATA AND METHOD OF ANALYSIS The basic data for this study were derived from the 1954 United States Census of Agriculture. Farms were classified by economic class of farm, and this classification was made on the basis of three factors: ... total value of all farm products sold, number of days the farm operator worked off the farm, and the relationship of income received from nonfarm sources of the operator and members of his family to the value of all farm products sold.2 Farms were then divided into two major groups: commercial and other or noncommercial. Commercial farms were divided into six groups on the basis of the total value of all farm products sold. The resulting six classes were as follows: Class of Farmn Value of Farm Products Sold I $25,000 or more II $10,000 to $24,999 III $5,000 to $9,999 IV $2,500 to $4,999 V $1,200 to $2,499 VI *$250 to $1,199 * Under certain specified conditions. * Read before the twenty-third annual meeting of the Southern Sociological Society in Atlanta, Georgia, April 8, 1960. Contribution from the Rural Sociology Department, North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station, Raleigh, North Carolina. Published with the approval of the Director of Research as Paper No. 1155 of the Journal Series. 1 Robin M. Williams, Jr., American Society (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1951), p. 406. 2 United States Census of Agriculture, 1954, Vol. 1,