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Yes, and you aren't expected
to marry your sister either, which is another good thing about not
living in the countryside. Sociology has tended to make much of
the contrast between the pre-capitalist rural community and the
capitalist city, and has usually found the former to be desirable
and the latter the source of most social problems. Both left- and
right- wing thinkers have contributed to the denigration of city
life in comparison with that of the countryside. Marxist sociologists
have seen in the pre-capitalist community a haven from exploitation
and the cash nexus. Conservative thinkers, if that isn't a contradiction,
continue to eulogise the traditional countryside as a model of stability,
social cohesion, respect and deference. Certainly, deference is
alive and well, as evidenced by the large numbers of squires and
peasants on the recent Countryside March in London.
However,
the presentation of rural life - modern or pre-modern - as an idyll
is a serious misrepresentation of actual social relations in the
countryside. Poverty and exploitation are as much features of rural
as of city life, the only difference is that the opportunities to
escape from either are much more restricted in the countryside.
Conflict, too, is a feature of rural communities, though often kept
stifled by the close, restrictive nature of everyday existence there,
which is far greater than any repression or monitoring that exists
in the city. The very close social networks and face to face relations
that are praised by sociologists as supportive can easily be turned
into something paternalistic and restrictive. Try forming a trade
union against the wishes of the local landowner/employer and see
how far you get. Ask anyone who is black or gay where they would
rather live, and you start to see why the word 'city' has the same
Greek root as the word 'civilisation'. Indeed, Cardiff's own Tiger
Bay was the only place where it was okay to be both black and Welsh.
Contrary to
Scott Greer, quoted above, the city in fact contains a series of
well organised, robust, social and community networks as resilient
as any in the pre-modern community. The difference is that in the
city individuals are able to construct their own networks, outwith
the paternalist approval of the community. Hence it is the city
that has been for the past century the repository of progressive
thought and action - the women's movement, the labour movement,
gay rights and so on.
'E ain't from
these parts, squire, set the dogs on 'im.
| Work
On Communities And Cities |
Ferdinand
Tonnies |
| Writings
In Urban Sociology (External
Link) |
On
"Community" And "Society" (External
Link) |
|
