One of the broadcasts and most revealing of all social contracts is exhibited by the differences of urban and rural life.
This contrast is one of social environment. It divides community organization in two broad types-the urban and the rural. For many centuries city and country are two general types of human habitation. However, we must remember that rural and urban depict modes of community life, not simply geographical locations.
The most obvious feature of the country-life is its relative isolation. To a great extent, it is the semi-isolation of the family. The family in the rural pattern tends to grow self-controlled and to a large extent psychologically self- sufficient.
Family customs are more deeply rooted and it may not be an exaggeration to say that custom rules over a rural dweller and for fashion he has little use. Though his contacts with the outside community are few and far between, his contact within his limited community are intimate. He directly cooperates or directly conflicts.
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The main occupation of rural dweller is agriculture in some cases fishing. This occupation keeps him in constant contact with nature. He does not see nature with a detached attitude of an artist but for him nature is a friend and an enemy.
He is therefore inclined to view nature as animate. This reflects on his mentality as well as his social attitudes.
Thirdly, the work of countrymen is conspicuously unspecialized. The round of daily duties for the farmer’s wife is variegated. She does farm work gardening, animal feeding, milking cooking etc.
The role of country dweller in social life is fixed and so also his thoughts and aspirations. The country- farmer’s mode of living is frugal and simple. He does not keep us appearances his neighborhood is narrower and his contacts fewer.
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As distinguished from a retaliate the mode or urban life is more competitive. An urbanite has more incentives to ambition. He is confronted with problems arising out of social proximity and acute social contrasts. He has also to face social mobility.
His contacts are wider. The work of an urbanite is highly specialized. The city life is based on modern technological advances which Ural and urban communities makes an urbanite more dependent on machines.
There is marked contrast between are reality’s diversity of work and the specialized more and concentrated labour of the city dweller. Not only marriage but also religion, and recreation and politics are more strongly influenced by there is a dominance of the family and hence the social control is exercised with minimum of formality and maximum of command. The group mores are effective social pressures.
The urban community on the other hand reflects multiplicity of social contacts, the diversity of social codes, specialized urban world. The city family is less engrossing. The urban pattern differs more of choice to the individual. Competitiveness and high specialization are the peculiar characteristics which distinguish an urban pattern.
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There is more of social mobility change opportunities in an urban life Cultural expression in the rural area remains simple in form consisting 0f folk-lore, folk-legends, folk songs, dances etc. The urbanite culture aspires for novelty and excitement. Its culture is complex.
The urbanite is more sophisticated. As against the homogeneity of the rural pattern the heterogeneity of the urban life is enormous. In metropolitan cities like Mumbai within a few blocs of one another its dwellers life alien and utterly desperate lives.
Wealth and poverty dwell side by side. The city is the home opposites. There are fashionable localities side by side with slums. Industrialization and commercialization are the dominant characteristics of the city life which affect all other modes of life in the city even education.
However, we do observe that the country becomes increasingly urbanized under the impact of city while the cities tend to grow at the expense of the country.