peaceful social change in the face of overwhelming economic forces,

Extension programs obscured for small farmers their long-term in-

ability to compete successfully with larger farmers; they were lulled

away from potentially effective political actions which might have

restructured markets. They eventually were forced out of business.

"By its sincere but futile effort to maintain a rural way of life,

Cooperative Extension helped to defuse a potential farmer revolt

in the United States. By giving farmers a false hope that adopting

new techniques of farming and farm management would preserve their

family farms, extension furthered the transformation from a rural

to an urban society in a way that avoided violence."1 A more gener-

ous analysis might say that extension agents helped nonviable farmers

make the difficult decision to leave farming. A cynical analyst

might question whether extension systems have deliberately tried

to drive small farmers out of business to maximize profits of large

agribusiness corporations.

3. Bureaucratic Interests

 Extension systems can employ a large number of people, who

naturally have an interest in their own welfare. They view exten-

sion as a career, and naturally to a large extent plan their exten-

sion activities in a manner most suited to career advancement and

most congruent with self-perception of career status. They are

often extremely sensitive to the nuances of bureaucratic power and

status. Minor differences in procedures for computing travel


 Robert Carlson, "Cooperative Extension: A Historical
Assessment," Journal of Extension, 8:3 (Fall 1970), p. 14.