What Is Rurality and Urbanity?
Module 4
What is Rurality and Urbanity?
Lutgarda L. Tolentino, PhD.
This paper attempts to differentiate rurality from urbanity. Rural-urban differences abound and can easily be demonstrated. These can be demonstrated occupationally, ecologically and socio-culturally. What to appears not to be easy is to explain these differences. While these differences used to be explained in terms of rural-urban dichotomy and continuum, this could not be used anymore as it is recognized today that dichotomies and continuity of rural and urban based on the three parameters mentioned above often times create more ambiguity that it has solved. While occupational differences can still be used as differentiating criteria of rurality and urbanity, there is a tendency, however, that occupational categories transcends spatial boundaries as a consequence of physical mobility of people. In similar way, agricultural and industrial production occur today in rural and urban settings. Social relations based on community and association, organic and mechanical solidarity, status and contract do not occur specifically in geographical region of city and country but may occur in both. Consequently, explaining rural-urban dichotomy or in a continuum does hold water anymore.
But the new rural sociology rediscovers rurality and agriculture not as an isolated entity but as part of a total system. This is especially true on how farming is organized and how it is related to the other sectors of society. It is organized very differently from that of the urban industrial production system because if its closeness to nature. This is despite the attempts of humanity to put nature under social control. We can civilize nature probably in a such a way that bio-technologies may end up the contradictions between nature and society but it may end up to dreadful consequences for everybody both in the developing and developed world. Hence, it seems that humanity is not really able to put nature
What is Rurality and Urbanity?
Lutgarda L. Tolentino, PhD.
This paper attempts to differentiate rurality from urbanity. Rural-urban differences abound and can easily be demonstrated. These can be demonstrated occupationally, ecologically and socio-culturally. What to appears not to be easy is to explain these differences. While these differences used to be explained in terms of rural-urban dichotomy and continuum, this could not be used anymore as it is recognized today that dichotomies and continuity of rural and urban based on the three parameters mentioned above often times create more ambiguity that it has solved. While occupational differences can still be used as differentiating criteria of rurality and urbanity, there is a tendency, however, that occupational categories transcends spatial boundaries as a consequence of physical mobility of people. In similar way, agricultural and industrial production occur today in rural and urban settings. Social relations based on community and association, organic and mechanical solidarity, status and contract do not occur specifically in geographical region of city and country but may occur in both. Consequently, explaining rural-urban dichotomy or in a continuum does hold water anymore.
But the new rural sociology rediscovers rurality and agriculture not as an isolated entity but as part of a total system. This is especially true on how farming is organized and how it is related to the other sectors of society. It is organized very differently from that of the urban industrial production system because if its closeness to nature. This is despite the attempts of humanity to put nature under social control. We can civilize nature probably in a such a way that bio-technologies may end up the contradictions between nature and society but it may end up to dreadful consequences for everybody both in the developing and developed world. Hence, it seems that humanity is not really able to put nature
References: Busch, L., A. Bonanno and W. Lacy. 1989. “Science, Technology, and the Restructuring of Agriculture”. Sociologia Ruralis. XXXIX(2): 118-130. Herbert-Cheshire, L. 1998. “Sociological and Geographical maginations”. In Alexander, M., S. Harding, P. Harrison, G. Kendall, Z. Skrbis and J. Western (eds). Refashioning Sociology: Responses to a New World Order. Brisbane: TASA Conference Proceedings.