Abstract
The article presents critical analysis of the state of the art in contemporary studies in social organization as factor affecting rural economic growth. We outline two major theoretical and methodological challenges that researchers have to face in order to progress further in understanding of the driving forces and obstacles to sustainable rural economic growth in developing societies. First, there is strong need for elaboration of new theoretical models and empirical tools covering fundamental characteristics of rural social organization (social norms, standards of behavior, motivation, values, etc.) and reflecting its ongoing transition from traditional to modern forms. Second, the existing empirical tools for measuring characteristics of rural communities’ social organization (used in studies of developed countries) should be revised in order to make them adequate for the institutional, financial, political, and infrastructural conditions of rural communities in developing societies. We suggest that in every concrete case these measures should be relevant for the peculiarities of the particular rural region.