THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY A N N U A L January, 1960

The Urban-Rural Contrast

As a Factor in Socio-Cultural Change
Bert F Hoselitz
One of the more popular themes in the study of urbanization and Us role in the process of economic de-
velopment is the examination of what is often called an urban-rural conflict. How to overcome this
conflict is one of the problems of economic development. Urban sociologists, like Louis Wirth or Robert Lynd
have presented a persuasive argument for the special way of life of American urbanites as compared with
individuals living in the rural parts of the country, and this trend of reasoning has led to the examination of
the impact exercised by the city on the surrounding countryside, the conflicts arising from this impact, and
the special role which urban institutions and practices have played in reshaping rural society.
Some more recent studies, notably the work of Eric Lampard ( U r b a n - R u r a l 'Conflict' in the U n i t e d
States, 1870-1920: An Ecological Perspective on I n d u s t r i a l i z a t i o n , to be published in 1960 by the Wayne
University Press, D e t r o i t , M i c h i g a n ) , have led to the general conclusion that it is questionable whether this
conflict existed in the United States in the period since about the middle of the 19th century, and that to
the extent to which contrasts in economic or political responses were observed between urban and rural
populations, they have been falsely attributed to cultural differences, and should more properly have been
seen as an outcome of shifting interests of the different populations. In more specific terms, this renewed
examination of urban-rural relations has led to the recognition that, at least in the United States and perhaps
some other economically advanced countries, the typical characteristics of rural culture are absent and that
the entire society has impressed upon it the stamp of urban civilization.
But if the study of the rise of the city in late nineteenth century America does not lend itself to exhibit
in sharp focus the pattern of social change associated with the urbanization process, there is no reason why
we should reject altogether the analysis of this process us one important aspect of social and cultural change.
I shall try to show that in spite of the failure of the urban-rural dichotomy to explain social change in
modern America — a failure so convincingly proven by Lampard —- it is by no means without its useful
ness and may render at least powerful heuristic service in the study of social change.

I We have good reason to assume Similarly, when we read the

W E w i l l stipulate that the process
of urbanization on a w o r l d -
wide scale has f o l l o w e d a relatively
simple pattern of several phases
each characterized by a certain type
of u r b a n centre. Cities, w h i c h we
w i l l define merely as comparatively
sizeable aggregations of p o p u l a t i o n
e x h i b i t i n g h i g h densities of settle-
ment as compared to those of the
general p o p u l a t i o n at large, o r i g i -
nated according to a w e l l - k n o w n
theory as undifferentiated agglo-
merations o f p o p u l a t i o n and o n l y
in the course of time became dif-
ferentiated. 1
A c c o r d i n g to this view the earli-
est ' ' u r b a n " places were agglomera-
tions of v i l l a g e r s f o r purposes of
defence or religious ceremonial.
Some of these "cities" were tempo-
r a r y and after a festival or a p e r i o d
of danger the populations who had
come together dispersed again' into
their separate villages and hamlets.
At this stage of. u r b a n development
we can h a r d l y speak of a specific
urban culture. The culture of these
agglomerations of p o p u l a t i o n was
that of the villages of w h i c h they
were compounded.
that many, though not a l l , of the
cities in a n t i q u i t y and also in some
modern societies c o n f o r m to this
m o d e l . John W i l s o n , i n describing
urban settlements in the, ancient
o r i e n t a l empires has expressed this
view as f o l l o w s :
"One may look at the small size
of many Mesopotamia!! mounds
and of a l l S y r i a n and Palestinian
towns, and one may guess at the
size of E g y p t i a n towns f r o m the
extraordinary number of them
listed in ancient texts and f r o m
their apparent spatial l i m i t a t i o n s
as calculated f r o m the size of
their s u r v i v i n g cemeteries: per-
haps no more than twenty-five or
f o r t y acres. T h e result is a doubt
whether E g y p t f r o m 3000 B.C. to
1400 B.C. had — apart f r o m an
administrative capital — any con-
centration of people and imper-
sonal services w h i c h we should
call a c i t y . A g r i c u l t u r a l centres,
w i t h services for a g r i c u l t u r a l com-
munities, were apparently very
numerous, but it is possible that
there was no commercial metro-
p o l i s serving a large province un-
t i l one comes to the active impe-
r i a l p e r i o d around 1400. 2
145
b i b l i c a l accounts of Israel's history,
it is quite p l a i n that the towns of
Gibeah and M a h a n a i m , H e b r o n and
Shechem, and even Jerusalem under
D a v i d were settlements of shepherds
and farmers and in no wise distinct
in culture and f u n c t i o n f r o m the
villages and hamlets of Palestine.
Also Rome in its earliest period con-
sisted of an agglomeration of pas-
t o r a l tribes, and s i m i l a r suppositions
may be made about the origins of
many Creek cities. 3
T H E PRE-INDUSTRIAL CITY
Once the agglomerations of
villagers became permanent, dif-
ferentiation of social structure and
economic function began to take
place, and it is at that p o i n t at which
urban centres p r o p e r l y speaking can
be said to have h a d their o r i g i n .
The significant aspect of this phase
of urbanization is not merely that
there develops a heterogeneity of
occupations w i t h i n the city hut that
there arise specialists who become,
p a r t i c u l a r l y i n the regions o f h i g h
c i v i l i z a t i o n , the main carriers of a
new cultural t r a d i t i o n . T h i s is the
phase of orthogenetic c u l t u r a l trans-
f o r m a t i o n w h i c h Redfield and Singer
have described and w h i c h stresses
January. 1960 T H E ECONOMIC WEEKLY ANNUAL

146
T H E ECONOMIC WEEKLY A N N U A L
the differentiated character of ur-
ban centers as compared w i t h the
relatively undifferentiated r u r a l re-
gions which are at most recipients
of the results of the great intellec-
tual traditions fashioned in the
cities. 4
The city w h i c h we discover in
this phase is the pre-industrial city
whose ecological, economic and so-
cio-structural features have been
ably summarized by Gideon Sjo-
berg. 5 It is d u r i n g this phase of
urban development that the contrasts
between urban centres and r u r a l
areas are most distinct. Pre-indus-
t r i a l cities exist in societies in w h i c h ,
n o r m a l l y o n l y a small p o r t i o n of
the p o p u l a t i o n is urban. Since they
are l i t t l e industrialized their econo-
mic functions are less distinct, as
compared w i t h the countryside, than
their socio-political functions. In
other words, pre-industrial cities are
relatively less i m p o r t a n t and less
distinct as centres of manufacture
or even trade f r o m r u r a l artisans or
r u r a l t r a d i n g posts, and more dis-
tinct f r o m the countryside by the
administrative and intellectual func-
tions w h i c h the pre-industrial city
t y p i c a l l y exhibits.
Our analysis of pre-industrial
cities has been too much influenced
by the very persuasive w o r k of
Pirenne on medieval European cities.
Pirenne's generalizations, w h i c h are
derived p r i m a r i l y f r o m his study of
cities in the L o w Countries and the
a d j o i n i n g regions of France *and
Germany, have placed excessive em-
phasis on the commercial functions
of the early European cities. Now
it cannot be denied that several of
the most i m p o r t a n t early cities of
Medieval Europe were commercial
centers, but many of the mass of
smaller towns of medieval Europe
d i d not go far beyond the phase of
"undifferentiatedness" before
became industrialized, and a consi-
derable number of i m p o r t a n t urban
centres in medieval Europe had
o n l y subordinated commercial func-
tions to their functions as centres of
administration or intellectual, r e l i -
gious or educational performance.
M E D I E V A L EUROPEAN SUB-TYPE
The medieval European commer-
cial city, w h i c h must be regarded as
a sub-type of the pre-industrial
city, constitutes' a transitional model
to the i n d u s t r i a l c i t y . It is the city
in w h i c h economic specialization
predominates and in w h i c h the style
of l i f e is strongly affected by the
January, 1960
calculating and economizing s p i r i t of tion and forms of economic organi-
the merchants. The c u l t u r a l impact zation were utterly foreign, so Bose
of the commercial city differs f r o m ton and Philadelphia in the
the administrative or religious-in- eighteenth century were exclaves of
tellectual pre-industrial city charac- the developing industrial society of
teristic of Asia, A f r i c a , and the B r i t a i n . The culture of the Euro-
states of the ancient w o r l d . It is in pean homeland filtered, to the colo-
the western commercial city that a nies t h r o u g h these centers, and
"town-economy'' develops as a though by the time of the formation
characteristic style of economic of the United States, they contained
organization. It is in the western as yet l i t t l e industry, they had a l -
commercial city that the basis is l a i d ready adopted the cultural forms
for the evolution of an economic characteristic of a society which was
ethic w h i c h in the course of a rela- entering a full-fledged process of
tively short time develops, perhaps capitalist industrialization.
under the impact of protestantism,
into the s p i r i t of capitalism. For SHARP RURAL-URBAN CONTRAST
whatever may be said about Weber's The civilization of industrialized
thesis on the relationship between societies w h i c h is brought to its
capitalism and protestantism, there highest pitch in the industrial city
is l i t t l e doubt that the economic lends to 'conquer the countryside
climate of the medieval commercial and to blur the distinction between
city was much more p r o p i t i o u s to urban and r u r a l culture. This
the development of capitalist insti- characteristic of an i n d u s t r i a l so-
tutions than w o u l d have been the ciety was already recognized by
environment of contemporary admi- Fried rich List. It is well known
nistrative or religious centres of that List was an ardent advocate of
Asia. infant industry protection, but what
INDUSTRIAL C I T Y : FINAL PHASE
is less well k n o w n is the theoretical
basis on w h i c h this policy recom-
The final phase in the evolution mendation of his was b u i l t . Jt
of the city is the i n d u s t r i a l city. It w o u l d lead us too far to enter into
is only p a r t i a l l y true to say that an extensive discussion of Lists's
these cities developed out of the
theory here, but in very general
commercial cities of medieval Eu- terms it may be said that in his
rope. Some of the proudest emporia
o p i n i o n the wealth of a nation and
of the thirteenth century never be w i t h it the augmentation of material
came i m p o r t a n t i n d u s t r i a l centers, capital is based mainly upon the
whereas other places which in me- augmentation of intellectual capital. 6
dieval Europe had been mere v i l - By this latter he means what more
lages developed into the great indus- recently has come to be called hu-
t r i a l giants of the modern w o r l d . man c a p i t a l i e. a more h i g h l y edu-
The g r o w t h of i n d u s t r i a l cities coin- cated, healthier, and otherwise " i m -
cided w i t h the expansion of Euro- proved" labour force. But in addi-
pean culture and European p o l i t i c a l tion he considers that intellectual
mastery over large parts of the capital also embraces a state of
w o r l d . In this expansionist process m i n d , which is roughly commen-
Europe exported also its institutions, surate w i t h the " s p i r i t of enterprise"
and among them the institution of or the "capitalist ethic" of later
the industrial city. These cities writers. Now in a country w i t h de-
they were then grafted upon societies veloped manufactures this intellec-
which had remained in a pre-indus- tual capital is available in greater
t r i a l stage u n t i l the advent of Euro- quantity than in an agricultural
pean conquerors and settlers, and country, and. moreover, the me-
the gradual industrialization process thods and procedures of industry
in these e c o n o m i c a l l y less advanced tend to be a p p l i e d to agricultural
countries was mediated t h r o u g h the production also. In a wider sense
industrial city. In some instances. this theory implies that in addition
as, for example, in the United States to the methods of industry, i e. the
the nuclei of the expansion of Euro- use of machinery and the a p p l i -
pean settlement were cities at the cation of technical innovations, the
threshold of i n d u s t r i a l i z a t i o n . Just spirit of calculation, the treatment
as Bombay and Calcutta were ex- of the farm enterprise as a business
claves of B r i t a i n superimposed upon firm, also tend to be generalized.
eighteenth and nineteenth century This implies further that an indus-
I n d i a n society to w h i c h these new trialized society tends to i m p a r t a
urban patterns of l i f e and social ac- common culture w h i c h gradually
147
 January, 1960 THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY ANNUAL

blankets the entire countryside and values f o r e i g n to the surrounding One m a y perhaps come somewhat
which, especially in its economic r u r a l landscape. closer to the explanation of the
and social features tends to produce mechanism of social change media-
behaviour patterns derived f r o m In the case of both of these sub-
ted by the c u l t u r a l diversity bet-
standards applicable to modern i n - types of pre-industrial cities we
ween cities and countryside if one
dustrial production. notice a sharp c u l t u r a l contrast bet-
applies to it one of the schemata
ween the city and the countryside,
We may thus visualize the pro- for the phasing of movements in
and it is f r o m the e x a m i n a t i o n of
cess of industrialization t a k i n g hold social systems suggested by Parsons,
these situations that historians and
g r a d u a l l y of a society. In the ear- Bales and Shils. 8 In this schema a
sociologists have derived their no-
lier stages of industrialization the social system is subdivided i n t o four
tions of the c u l t u r a l " c o n f l i c t " bet-
contrast between country and city sub-systems each of w h i c h embraces
ween u r b a n and r u r a l populations.
people is w i d e r than in the later sets of action and institutions,
There is, however, yet a further
stage. As industrialism and indus- through w h i c h these sets of action
case w h i c h can stand examination
t r i a l urbanism grow, the values and are t y p i c a l l y mediated, concerned
and w h i c h also produces c u l t u r a l
attitudes of city people tend to s p i l l w i t h one i m p o r t a n t b u n d l e of syste-
conflict and potential stress. That
over i n t o the r u r a l regions. A city's mic needs. These four sectors cor-
is the case of the t r a n s p l a n t a t i o n of
umland and later even the remoter respond to the needs of a social
a city type f r o m one c u l t u r a l envi-
country regions accept changes in system i n m a i n t a i n i n g values, i n i n -
ronment into a different cul-
their style of life, in outlook, and tegration, in gratification of syste-
ture. The most i m p o r t a n t case is
in behavioral norms c o n f o r m i n g to m i c goals, and in adaptation to the
that of i m p l a n t i n g cities d e r i v i n g
those of the city, and the culture of environment
their characteristics f r o m western
the a g r i c u l t u r a l sectors of an' indus- industrialized societies i n t o the non- SUB-SYSTEMS OF SOCIAL A C T I O N
t r i a l i z e d country becomes wholly industrialized societies of A s i a and The interaction between the city
assimilated to that of the city. The A f r i c a . Here the c u l t u r a l conflict and the r u r a l regions m a y be
r u r a l country-side becomes " c i t i f i e d . ' ' is not only between u r b a n and r u r a l analyzed in terms of these f o u r sub-
T h i s process has been accomplished populations, but between a native systems of social action and in re-
in the more h i g h l y industrialized and an alien culture, the f o r m e r l a t i n g the patterns emerging f r o m
countries already by about 1850 so being represented by the r u r a l and this interaction to the process of
that at least since the later p a r t of the latter by the u r b a n culture. social change. I should l i k e to ex-
the nineteenth century the overall
h i b i t the procedures and possible
culture of Arkansas or Dorsetshire CULTURAL DIFFERENCES SUPPORT results of this analysis in a very
has been as " u r b a n " as that of SOCIAL CHANGE
Massachusetts or Middlesex. 7 general w a y by selecting the inte-
In a l l these cases the c u l t u r a l grative and the adaptive sub-sys-
II differences w h i c h exist between city tems for examination. Social ac-
In the preceding discussion we and countryside tend to support so- tion in meeting the integrative
have developed a quasi-historical cial change. The difficult p r o b l e m needs of a social system is concern-
t y p o l o g y of cities. T h i s differentia- is not to recognize that change is ed w i t h defining the criteria for
t i o n seems i m p o r t a n t since cities of r i p e in situations of c u l t u r a l diver- membership in the system and the
different types appear to interact sity or conflict, but to find some relationships p e r t a i n i n g between the
differently w i t h the countryside; generalized rules accounting f o r the members of the society. In more
and if one wishes to study the role mechanisms of change. It has been concrete terms the institutions asso-
that urban-rural interaction may said that c u l t u r a l contrasts a l l o w for ciated w i t h the integrative sub-
play in social change it is i m p o r t a n t contrasting social values; that dif- system are designed to enhance the
to distinguish the various forms ferent valuations allow more free solidarity of the society and to give
such interaction can take. F r o m play for deviance; that an increase expression to the needs f o r associa-
what has been described earlier it in deviance tends to lead to an ac- t i o n of the members of the g r o u p .
appears that the c u l t u r a l differences c u m u l a t i o n of behaviour patterns N o w it is clear that these needs, and
between urban and r u r a l popula- w h i c h differ f r o m old-established hence also the institutions differ
tions are least in the two extreme traditional ones and even contradict greatly in a r u r a l and an u r b a n so-
situations, i e, in a very p r i m i t i v e old t r a d i t i o n a l n o r m s ; and that this ciety, especially if the u r b a n society,
society in w h i c h there exist only gradually promotes change in out- as was shown earlier, is more
undifferentiated u r b a n centres w i t h - look, attitudes and values. It has heterogeneous and more hierarchi-
out a highly distinctive social struc- also been argued that the concentra- cally structured than the r u r a l so-
ture and in a f u l l y developed i n - tions o f populations d r a w n f r o m ciety. The needs for integration in
dustrial society in w h i c h the values many parts of a society, tend to the p r e - i n d u s t r i a l city calls f o r t h
or attitudes characteristic of the produce ethnically and socially such institutions as g u i l d s , colleges
industrial city have become general- m a r g i n a l persons, that these m a r g i - of priests or sages, schools, and
ly accepted by the r u r a l p o p u l a t i o n . nal men m a y ( a n d often d o ) w o r k various organizations of a r m e d men
The contrast is greatest in the i n - out new creative adjustments to new w h i c h are either completely f o r e i g n
tervening phase. that of the pro- situations and that this process of to the simple r u r a l societies or exist
industrial c i t y . Here again one social i n n o v a t i o n i n itself m a n i - there o n l y i n modified and usually
may distinguish between two sub- fests itself as social change. Both much simpler forms. T h e cultural
types, the non-European c i t y in these statements are not genuine ex- impact of the c i t y u p o n the sur-
process of orthogenetic cultural planations of the mechanisms of r o u n d i n g countryside dominated by
transformation and the medieval social change, but merely descrip- i t consists i n the i n t e g r a t i o n o f r u r a l
commercial city w h i c h is elabora- tions of this process in different institutions maintaining and en-
t i n g a system of new economic terms. hancing solidarity to the corres-

148
T H E ECONOMIC W E E K L Y A N N U A L January, 1960

p o n d i n g u r b a n institutions and i n process, since, as was pointed out b e h i n d . Hence, whether we look at
the determination of the scope of earlier, the chief contrast between developing countries in A s i a or
each set of institutions as w e l l as the commercial c i t y of the Euro- A f r i c a , or the less developed regions
the interrelations between inputs pean m i d d l e ages and the country- of the U n i t e d States we find that
and outputs of related institutions side w h i c h it dominated consisted the i m p a c t of the city upon the
cither w i t h i n the u r b a n sector or in in economic attitudes, practices, countryside influenced by its i m -
the total u r b a n - r u r a l sector as a and institutions. pact is the same.
whole."
Ill Regardless of the index we choose,
We may present the process i n - whether we use figures of l i t e r a t e
volved in even more concrete f o r m B u t the most i m p o r t a n t applica-
among the p o p u l a t i o n at large, pro-
by developing an example. We are t i o n of the comparative institu-
p o r t i o n of readership of newspapers
concerned w i t h the p r e - i n d u s t r i a l tional approach i n the study o f
or magazines or books, expendi-
c i t y , situated in a p r e d o m i n a n t l y rural-urban relations is the exa-
tures per capita f o r education or
a g r i c u l t u r a l country, w h i c h performs m i n a t i o n of the gradual transforma-
any other measure, we find that
administrative and educational-in- t i o n of the countryside in under-
these indexes decline as the " d i s -
tellectual-religious functions charac- developed countries t h r o u g h the
tance" f r o m u r b a n centers becomes
teristic of such cities. In exercising intellectual, socio-structural, and
greater. Of course, we cannot mea-
these functions a bureaucracy de- economic i m p a c t of new urban cen-
sure this distance in miles along a
velops w h i c h forms one of the in- tres. It is difficult to separate these
straight line, but must make al-
tegrative institutions of the c i t y . It various strands, since they are the
lowances both for the irregular
becomes i m m e d i a t e l y clear that in outcome of the same social process.
shape of urban settlements and the
this situation various i n s t i t u t i o n a l For example, Daniel Lerner, in his
irregularities due to differences in
changes become necessary in the book, The Passing of Traditional
accessibility o w i n g to transport
r u r a l areas in order to accommodate Society, 1 0 has shown how literate
facilities and the sheer physical to-
this bureaucracy and its activities. persons not only have more factual
p o g r a p h y of the countryside. 1 2
T h e results of this process of ac- knowledge than illiterates, but also
commodation m a y be m a n i f o l d ; one that, because of t h e i r more intimate But this gradient in education
possible alternative is the develop- experience w i t h the m o r e complex and associated intellectual perfor-
ment of what W i t t f o g e l has called social structure in or near a large
mance, is in itself an outflow of the
" o r i e n t a l despotic" empires; ano- city, their a b i l i t y to evaluate poten-
d i f f e r i n g occupational and socio-,
ther is the gradual destruction of a t i a l alternatives of social action is en-
structural patterning in urban and
feudal n o b i l i t y and its replacement hanced. In other words, their ac-
rural areas. U n l i k e m a n y other
by a noblesse de robe; a t h i r d solu- cess to books and newspapers not
only increases the breadth of their underdeveloped countries, in which
t i o n is the development of a theo- the social structure and occupational
i m a g i n a t i o n , but their greater ac-
cratic system w i t h the u r b a n priestly diversification in the countryside is
quaintance w i t h a complex social
bureaucracy gradually replacing extremely l i m i t e d , I n d i a has a rather
system strengthens the realism —
the local independent priesthoods complex r u r a l social system. Com-
and hence the degree of rationality
and o r g a n i z i n g them i n t o appen- pared w i t h the r u r a l parts of most
— w i t h w h i c h they make choices
dages of the centralized religious of L a t i n America or A f r i c a , the
between alternative forms of action.
hierarchy. Each of these solutions I n d i a n countryside shows consider-
Since u r b a n centres are notorious
i m p l i e s a new f o r m of integration able social c o m p l e x i t y and a size-
as nuclei of the more educated
on some level of social a c t i o n ; but able degree of social hierarchy.
classes, the degree of s k i l l in adap-
what is i m p o r t a n t f r o m our point T h i s is an outflow of the o l d and
t i n g to new situations, to take ad-
of view, each of them constitutes an complex culture of I n d i a , but also
vantage of newly developing oppor-
empirically researchable concrete
tunities, and hence to participate of the survivals of caste and other
instance in the process of social
actively in i n n o v a t i n g processes, is communal distinctions w h i c h have
change. mure frequently f o u n d among the been endemic in I n d i a for centuries.
The case of the development of urban than the r u r a l p o p u l a t i o n . Yet although urbanization has tend-
new needs in the adaptive sector ed to eliminate some of the old dis
of the society exhibits equally strik- Findings analogous to those of tinctions, it has created new ones
ing changes. T h e adaptive sub- Lerner for the M i d d l e East were w i t h the result that the socio-struc-
system of- a society is that w h i c h is made by A n t h o n y M T a n g in his tural hierarchy in I n d i a n cities is
concerned w i t h control of the envi- study on the Piedmont region of greater than in villages. In part
ronment. It is in this sub-system South Carolina and Georgia. 1 ' this was always the case, since
that most economic institutions are T h o u g h T a n g was p r i m a r i l y i n - cities in times as far back as the
to be f o u n d . It is not necessary to terested in t r a c i n g the emerging Mauryan empire, harboured con-
explain in detail the interaction bet- differences in income levels in a set
centrations of intellectuals, adminis-
ween the new economic goals esta- of counties in this part of the
trators, soldiers, merchants and
blished in the c i t y and their gra- A m e r i c a n South, he found that those
other persons w h o were entirely or
dual (or sometimes sudden and w h i c h u l t i m a t e l y came out on top
almost entirely absent from the
" r e v o l u t i o n a r y " ) .penetration of the in terms of income, educational
achievement, r a t i o n a l i t y of f a r m countryside. But the i nt ro d u c t i o n
s u r r o u n d i n g countryside, since this of modern industry and modern
is a topic w h i c h has been dealt w i t h operation and other indicators of
" m o d e r n i z a t i o n " were located more Government have greatly added to
in numerous e m p i r i c a l studies on the number of occupations and the
the impact of u r b a n i s m . In fact, favourably relative to urban-in-
dustrial centres t h a n the counties holders of these occupations must
most of the w o r k on medieval cities find some rank in the social order.
concentrates on the analysis of this w h i c h in all these features remained

149
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150
T H E ECONOMIC W E E K L Y A N N U A L
URBAN AND RURAL INDIA to be great, though it never suc-
Hence, we m a y regard the con- ceeded to f o r m an independent
f l i c t between u r b a n and r u r a l I n d i a party.
to be not merely one in w h i c h the The conflict between peasant
city is substantially superior i n t e l l e c based and u r b a n based political
tually to the r u r a l areas, b u t also, parties, is not too serious if the cul-
and m a i n l y , one in w h i c h t w o se- t u r a l and economic contrasts bet-
parate and distinct social structures ween c i t y and countryside are not
face one another. The u r b a n struc- excessive. B u t in most underde-
ture is the outflow of the m o d e r n i - veloped countries, i n c l u d i n g I n d i a ,
zation and i n d u s t r i a l i z a t i o n process, these contrasts are great, and for
the r u r a l structure is largely a sur- this reason the potential conflict
v i v a l of what m i g h t have been call- between urban and r u r a l regions
ed " t r a d i t i o n a l " society, had the may take on serious dimensions.
last decades not substantially des- The seriousness of this conflict is
troyed m a n y features of r u r a l m i t i g a t e d if a government disposes
society w h i c h could genuinely be over sufficient resources to meet the
a t t r i b u t e d to t r a d i t i o n . demands of both the u r b a n and the
r u r a l sector, at least to substantial
So l o n g as this conflict remains
degree. For example, the extreme
on the purely socio-cultural level, demands of some representatives of
that is, so l o n g as the conflict bet- the f a r m bloc in the U n i t e d States
ween country and city consists in can be met up to a p o i n t because
the g r a d u a l spread of u r b a n intellec- A m e r i c a n society is wealthy. But
tual innovations i n t o the wider in an underdeveloped country, in
countryside through a g r a d u a l su- w h i c h conflicting demands may
persession of the r u r a l social elites
force a government to choose bet-
by social elites based upon urban
ween one or the other side, — he-
centres, this conflict is not l i k e l y to
cause to meet a l l demands even
be explosive, though it may create
p a r t i a l l y is beyond the economic
and in many past instances has
means of the government, the re-
created a good deal of disorga-
sult may be serious p o l i t i c a l insta-
nization on the local level, personal
b i l i t y and even r i o t i n g and other
suffering, the rise and fall of fami-
forms of violent political action,
lies and whole extended kinship
groups, and other changes in the CONSTANT IMBALANCES
relative position of different occu-
We have here another instance of
pational and social groups w i t h i n the fact that the progress of develop,
the status hierarchy of a society.
i n g societies is subject not to the
The conflict, however, becomes m u c h gradual movement f r o m one situ-
more serious when, instead of being
ation of social e q u i l i b r i u m to the
confined to the socio-cultural level. next, but that it must be seen as a
it moves on to the p o l i t i c a l one. process in w h i c h constant im-
In practice this process becomes balances, not only in the economy
accomplished w i t h the development in the narrow sense, but also in so-
of agrarian p o l i t i c a l parties. For cial relations, produce tensions the
it is precisely the adoption of ur- resolution of w h i c h does not lead to
ban ways of t h i n k i n g and acting a situation of e q u i l i b r i u m , but ra-
w h i c h spur on the representatives ther to a new imbalance w i t h pos-
of rural populations to clothe the sibly even enhanced tensions. Yet
needs of r u r a l dwellers in the garb a policy w h i c h w o u l d be designed
of political demands, and to use the to m i n i m i z e these tensions w o u l d
strategies and tactics of p o l i t i c a l not only be f u t i l e , but would have
action to gain not only a better the o v e r a l l outcome if it could
hearing in legislative and adminis- he a c t u a l l y ' enforced of leading
trative bodies, but an ultimate vic- to the very result it w o u l d want to
tory for the economic and political avoid, i e, the stagnation of social
demands of the r u r a l population and economic progress.
which they represent. T h e conflict
between political parties w h i c h have A popular presentation of the
their major base either among the economy of an underdeveloped
u r b a r or the r u r a l population is an country is to describe it as harbour-
ubiquitous phenomenon. There are i n g a series of i n t e r l o c k i n g vicious
circles. 1 3 The key to economic de-
few European countries w h i c h do
velopment is to find a "weak l i n k ' '
not have — or have had their
i n this chain o f i n t e r l o c k i n g cir-
peasant parties, and even in the
cles at w h i c h it is possible to break
U n i t e d States the influence of the
them. B u t even if the circle is
f a r m bloc has been and continues
151
January, 1960
broken, a developing country does
not enter A r c a d i a , It is s t i l l beset
w i t h vicious circles, w h i c h now do
not anymore lie on one and the
same plane, but constitute a s p i r a l ,
r i s i n g f r o m one level to the next.
Yet, u n t i l a f a i r l y h i g h level
of economic performance is reached,
the necessary discontinuities in
different spheres of social and eco-
nomic action, and the resulting i m -
balances, are l i k e l y to produce
social and p o l i t i c a l tensions w h i c h
have only been kept down in some
countries by the most stringent
totalitarian measures, but w h i c h in
the absence of a t o t a l i t a r i a n system
are l i k e l y to produce p o l i t i c a l crises
of serious dimensions. It is not
the l a c k i n g statesmanship of a coun-
try's leaders, but the inevitable
tensions accompanying a process of
necessarily uneven development
which produce these crises and i n -
stabilities.
T h o u g h these conflicts are liable
to develop in m a n y spheres of so-
cial action, the obvious contrasts
between city and countryside, are
one sphere in w h i c h they are l i k e l y
to erupt relatively early and to lead
to relatively harsh results. F o r this
reason the study of urban-rural re-
lations and the development of
solutions in advance for these al-
most inevitable upheavals in stable
social relations f o r m an i m p o r t a n t
school for p o l i t i c a l strategy and
leadership in developing societies.
University of Chicago.
Footnotes
L Rene Maunier, L'oriigine et la
fonction economique des villes,
Paris, 1910, passim.
2. John W i l s o n , ''Cities in Ancient
E g y p t " , Economic Development and
Cultural Change, V o l I I I . No 1
(October, 1 9 5 4 ) , p 7 1 ,
3. See Otto Gilbert, Geschichte und
Topographic der Stadt Rom in Al-
tcrtum, Leipzig. 1883. V o l 1. pp 19
f f ; also K a r l B u c h e r . D i e E n t s t c h u n g
der Volkswirtsehalf 13th ed. T u b i n -
gen, 1919, pp 372-371.
1. Robert Redfied and M i l t o n B.
Singer. " T h e Cultural Role of
Cities." Economic Development end
Cultural Change. V o l III. No 1
(October, 1951). pp 53-72.
5. Gideon Sjoberp, "The Pre-Indus-
t r i a l City."" American Journal of
Sociology, V o l L X , No 5 ( M a r c h ,
1 9 5 5 ) , pp 438-445.
January, 1960
6. See Friedrich List. Das Nationale
System der Politischen Oekonomie,
Vol VI of E r i e d r i c h List. Schriften,
Reden, Briefe, ed. by A r t u r Som-
mer. K e r l i n , 1930, passim, but esp.
pp 254 ff, A more extensive dis-
cussion of this aspect of List's work
is presented in an essay by Bert F
Hoselitz, "Theories of Stages of
Economic Growth," to be published
.shortly in a collection. Theories of
Economic Growth. Glencoe. III,
1900.
7. See also for a further analysis of
the distinction between city-consci-
ousness and r u r a l values. Bert F.
Hoselitz. "'Cities in Advanced and
Underdeveloped Countries," (Con-
fluence, V o l IV No ,3 (October.
1955 k pp 326 ff.
8. See Talcott Parsons. Robert F.
Bales and Edward ShiIs. Working
Papers in the Theory of Action.
G l e n c o e . I I I . 1953. Chapter V .
9. On the concept and f u n c t i o n i n g
of the "input-output economy of
motivational energy'" see Parsons.
Bales and Shils. op cit pp 215 ff.
10. See Daniel Lerner. The Pasting
of Traditional Society ; Moderniz-
THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY ANNUAL
ing the Middle East, Glencoe. I l l i - of life. But the direct and indirect
nois. 1958, effects were manifold . . . and un-
11. See A n t h o n y M T a n g . Econo- expected.
mic Development in the Southern There was a decline in the handi-
Piedmont. 1860-1950.. Chapel H i l l . craft of harness, pannier and pael.-
N o r t h Carolina. 1958. saildle m a k i n g , partly because the
transport by pannier and pack de-
12. Considerable statistical evidence
on these propositions could be pro- creased. One man of the village
learned to work i r o n , in order to
vided by slight recomputations of
the materials contained in Census repair the c o m m u n i t y wagon. The
m a k i n g of earthware containers de-
of I n d i a . Paper No 5, Literacy and
Ed neat atonal Standards 1951 Cen- clined, to be replaced by larger me-
sus. Delhi : Manager of Publica- tal containers. Better roads were
tions. 9 5 1 . built, and, as trading trips could do
13. See. for example, the b r i l l i a n t more business, face-to-face contacts
essay by H W Singer. "Economic w i t h n e i g h b o u r i n g tribes declined
Progress in Underdeveloped Coun- despite a larger volume of trade.
t r i e s , " S o c i a l Research, 16. No 1 The entire life of the village over
( M a r c h . 1910). p 5. a long term was changed. but in
w a s that the planners, of the project
could not foresee.
T h i s example illustrates the num-
Development Projects
ber of indirect consequences that a
AS part of a development plan in
general project may b r i n g about,
the United Stales, wagon trans
and w h i c h may require consider-
poration was introduced to the
Papago lndians of the village of able time to evaluate. It is describ-
Choulik in Arizona, by p r o v i d i n g a ed in I he 100-page booklet. Measur-
wagon and showing how it worked. ing, the Results of Development
It was one of the simplest of gifts. Projects, by Samuel P Hayes. Jr.
intended to make their work easier The booklet, published by Unesco.
and thereby i m p r o v e their manner Paris, is priced al 10 shillings or, $2.
152