Question

Characteristic of Urban community

Answer 1

1. Density of population:

Density of population in urban areas is greater than in rural communities. Urbanity and density are positively correlated.

2. Family:

So far as urban community is concerned, greater importance is attached to the individual than to the family. Nuclear families are more popular in urban areas.

3. Marriage:

In case of urban community there is a preponderance of love marriages and inter-caste marriages. One also comes across a greater number of divorces. Sons and daughters enjoy considerable freedom in choosing their life partners.

4. Occupation:

In the urban areas, the major occupations are industrial, administrative and professional in nature. Divisions of labour and occupational specialization are very much common in towns/cities/metropolises.

5. Class extremes:

In the words of Bogardus, “Class extremes characterize the city.” A town and a city house the richest as well as the poorest of people. In a city, the slums of the poor exist alongside the palatial bungalows of the rich, amidst the apartments of the middle class members. The most civilized modes of behaviour as well as the worst racketeering are found in the cities.

6. Social heterogeneity:

If villages are the symbol of cultural homogeneity, the cities symbolize cultural heterogeneity. The cities are characterized by diverse peoples, races and cultures. There is great variety in regard to the food habits, dress habits, living conditions, religious beliefs, cultural outlook, customs and traditions of the urbanites.

7. Social distance:

Social distance is the result of anonymity and heterogeneity. Most of one’s routine social contacts in a town or city are impersonal and segmentary in character. In the urban community social responses are incomplete and half­hearted. There is utter lack of personal involvement in the affairs of others.