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Max John Pfeffer

Professor

Primary Research Areas

  • community development

Research Focus

My research spans several areas including land use and environmental planning, rural labor markets, rural to urban and international migration. The empirical work covers a variety of rural and urban communities, including rural/urban fringe areas. Research sites include rural New York, Mexico and Central America, and Brazil.

Selected Publications

PubMed Listings
  • Max J. Pfeffer, John Schelhas and Catherine Meola. "Environmental Globalization, Organizational Form, and Expected Benefits from Protected Areas in Central America. " Rural Sociology 71(3):429-450. 2006
  • "Fifty Years of Farmland Change: Urbanization, Population Growth and the Changing Farm Economy. " Pp. in David L. Brown and William Kandel, Population Change and Rural Society in the 21st Century. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers (forthcoming). With Joe D. Francis and Zev Ross. 2006
  • Erika Styger, Harivelo M.Rakotondramasy, Max J. Pfeffer, Erick C.M. Fernandes, David M. Bates. "Influence of Slash-and-Burn Farming Practices on Fallow Succession and Land Degradation in the Rainforest Region of Madagascar. " Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment (forthcoming doi:10.1016/j/agee.2006.07.012). 2006
  • Pilar A. Parra and Max J. Pfeffer. "New Immigrants in Rural Communities: The Challenges of Integration." Social Text 88 24 (3):81-98. 2006
  • John Schelhas and Max J. Pfeffer. "Forest Values of National Park Neighbors in Costa Rica. " Human Organization 64(4):385-397. 2005
  • "Population, Conservation, and Land Use Change in Honduras. " Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 110 (1-2):14-28. With John Schelhas, Stephen DeGloria and Jorge Gomez. 2005
  • "Reconciling Different Land Use Value Spheres: An Example at the Rural/Urban Interface. " Pp. 186-201 in Stephan Goetz, James Shortle and James Bergstrom (eds.), Land Use Problems and Conflicts: Causes, Consequences and Solutions. London: Routledge. With Linda P, Wagenet, John Sydenstricker-Neto, and Catherine Meola. 2005
  • Niamah O'Leary, Tom Vawter, Max J. Pfeffer and Linda P. Wagenet. "Assessing Water Quality Using Two Taxonomic Levels of Benthic Macroinvertebrate Analysis: Implications for Volunteer Monitors. " Journal of Freshwater Ecology 19(1):584-586. 2004
  • Tania Schusler, Daniel Decker and Max J. Pfeffer. "Social Learning for Collaborative Natural Resource Management." Society and Natural Resources 15:309-326. 2003
  • "The Watershed as Community. " In Christensen, Karen and David Levinson (ed.s). Encyclopedia of Community: From the Village to the Virtual World. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. 2003
  • Platt, Rutherford H., Paul K. Barten, and Max J. Pfeffer. "New York Protege Ses Sources Rurales Pour Fournir de Leau Potables Ses Habitants. " [ "New York City Protects Rural Sources of Potable Water for its Residents]. LaRevueDurable 7: 38-41 [The Sustainability Journal], Fribourg, Switzerland. 2003
  • "Immigrant Environmental Behaviors in New York City. " Social Science Quarterly 83(1):65-81. With J. Mayone Stycos. 2002
  • "Forging New Connections Between Agriculture and the City." In Otto Solbrig, Robert Paarlberg and Francesco DiCastri (eds.), Pp. 419-446 in Globalization and the Rural Environment. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. With J. Mayone Stycos, Leland Glenna and Joyce Altobelli. 2001
  • "Forest Conservation, Value Conflict, and Interest Formation in a Honduran National Park. " Rural Sociology 66(3): 382-402. With John Schelhas and Leyla Day. 2001
  • Nick van de Giesen, Luis Mata, Pertra Doel, Arjen Hoekstra, Max J. Pfeffer, Jorge Ramirez. "Modeling Water Availability: Scaling Issues. " Pp. 245-253 in Eckhart Ehlers and Thomas Kraft (eds.), Understanding the Earth System: Compartments, Processes and Interactions. Berlin: Springer. 2001
  • Rutherford H. Platt, Paul K. Barten and Max J. Pfeffer. "A Full, Clean Glass? Managing New York City's Watersheds. " Environment 42(5): 8-20. 2000
  • "Class, Ethnicity and Marginal Employment: African-American and Cambodian Day-Haul Farm Workers in Philadelphia. " Research in the Sociology of Work 9:73-93. 2000
  • Martha Perales and Max J. Pfeffer. "Desarrollo Sostenible: Un Desarrollo Alternativo? " Red Gestio`n de Recursos Naturales 2(21):7-15. 2000
  • Laura J. Ehlers, Max J. Pfeffer, and Charles R. O'Melia. "Making Watershed Management Work in New York City. " Environmental Science and Technology. 34(21):464-471. 2000