| Summary: | Interview with Ralph Matthews, professor of Sociology at McMaster University. Discusses the nature of regionalism; differing views of planners and the people on the economic viability of rural Newfoundland. In small communities, economic, social and political/legal organization is often informal and communally developed. Planners bring a simple cost-benefit analysis of formal markets to their assessment of rural communities. Current planning theory considers government involvement (e.g. through transfer payments) a major cause of underdevelopment by forestalling the inevitable collapse of non-viable communities. Planners view underdevelopment as of some kind of lack (lack theory) in resources, character, etc. Real reason may be a process rather than a condition--the centralized economy which draws capital, people and resources out of the region. The fishery as the employment of last resort; licensing and regulation is intended to create a professional fishery. Casual, part-time workers are thus marginalized.
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