compare the social structure of the rural areas and in the northern parts
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The life in urban areas is fast and complicated, whereas rural life is simple and relaxed. The Urban settlement includes cities and towns. On the other hand, the rural settlement includes villages and hamlets. There is greater isolation from nature in urban areas, due to the existence of the built environment.
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order to gain an understanding of rural social structure, we first clarify what we mean by social structure. Then we relate this understanding of the concept to ethnographic description of society in the rural areas of India.
2.2.1 Social Structure
Human world is composed of individuals. Individuals interact with one another for the fulfillment of their needs. In this process, they occupy certain status and roles in social life with accompanying rights and obligations. Their social behaviour is patterned and gets associated with certain norms and values, which provide them guidance in social interaction. There emerge various social units, such as groups, community, associations and institutions in society as a product of social intercourse in human life.
In this scenario, social structure is conceived as the pattern of inter-related statuses and roles found in a society, constituting a relatively stable set of social relations. It is the organised pattern of the inter-related rights and obligations of persons and groups in a system of interaction.
2.2.2 Rural Social Structure in India
India is a country of ancient civilisation that goes back to the Indus Valley Civilisation, which flourished during the third millennium B.C. Since then except for a brief interlude during the Rig-Vedic period (Circa 1500-1000 B.C.) when the urban centres were overrun, rural and urban centres have co-
24 existed in India.
Rural and urban centres share some common facets of life. They show interdependence especially in the sphere of economy, urbanward migration, and townsmen or city dwellers’ dependence on villages for various products (e.g., foodgrains, milk, vegetables, raw materials for industry) and increasing dependence of villagers on towns for manufactured goods and market. Despite this interdependence between the two there are certain distinctive features which separate them from each other in terms of their size, demographic composition, cultural moorings, style of life, economy, employment and social relations.
Rural people live in settled villages. Three main types of settlement patterns have been observed in rural areas:
i) The most common type is the nucleated village found all over the country. Here, a tight cluster of houses is surrounded by the fields of the villagers as shown in figure 2.1. An outlying hamlet or several satellite hamlets are also found to be attached to some villages in this case.
Fig. 2.1: Nucleated type of settlement pattern
ii) Secondly, there are linear settlements in some parts of the country, e.g. in Kerala, in Konkan and in the delta lands of Bengal. In such settlements, houses are strung out, each surrounded by its own compound. However, there is little to physically demarcate where one village ends and another begins.
iii) The third type of settlement is simply a scattering of homesteads or clusters of two or three houses. In this case also physical demarcation of villages is not clear. Such settlements are found in hill areas, in the Himalayan foothills, in the highlands of Gujarat and in the Satpura range of Maharashtra.
Further, we find that the size of village population is small and density of population low in comparison with towns and cities. India is rightly called a country of villages. According to 1981 Census, there were 4029 towns and 5,57,137 inhabited villages in the country. By the year 1991 this number increased to 4689 towns and 5,80,781 villages. According to 2001 census there are 5161 towns and 6,38,365 villages (including uninhabited villages) in
Rural Social Structure
25
Social Structure Rural and Urban
India (Census of India (provisional), 2001). Moreover, as per 2001 census figures about 72 percent of the total population live in villages. Further, rural life is characterised by direct relationship of people to nature i.e., land, animal and plant life. Agriculture is their main occupation. For example, in India agriculture provides livelihood to about 58 percent of the labour force.
Long enduring rural social institutions in India continue to be family, kinship, caste, class, and village. They have millennia old historical roots and structures. They encompass the entire field of life: social, economic, political and cultural- of the rural people. The complexity of social norms and values, statuses and roles, rights and obligations is reflected in them.
2.2.1 Social Structure
Human world is composed of individuals. Individuals interact with one another for the fulfillment of their needs. In this process, they occupy certain status and roles in social life with accompanying rights and obligations. Their social behaviour is patterned and gets associated with certain norms and values, which provide them guidance in social interaction. There emerge various social units, such as groups, community, associations and institutions in society as a product of social intercourse in human life.
In this scenario, social structure is conceived as the pattern of inter-related statuses and roles found in a society, constituting a relatively stable set of social relations. It is the organised pattern of the inter-related rights and obligations of persons and groups in a system of interaction.
2.2.2 Rural Social Structure in India
India is a country of ancient civilisation that goes back to the Indus Valley Civilisation, which flourished during the third millennium B.C. Since then except for a brief interlude during the Rig-Vedic period (Circa 1500-1000 B.C.) when the urban centres were overrun, rural and urban centres have co-
24 existed in India.
Rural and urban centres share some common facets of life. They show interdependence especially in the sphere of economy, urbanward migration, and townsmen or city dwellers’ dependence on villages for various products (e.g., foodgrains, milk, vegetables, raw materials for industry) and increasing dependence of villagers on towns for manufactured goods and market. Despite this interdependence between the two there are certain distinctive features which separate them from each other in terms of their size, demographic composition, cultural moorings, style of life, economy, employment and social relations.
Rural people live in settled villages. Three main types of settlement patterns have been observed in rural areas:
i) The most common type is the nucleated village found all over the country. Here, a tight cluster of houses is surrounded by the fields of the villagers as shown in figure 2.1. An outlying hamlet or several satellite hamlets are also found to be attached to some villages in this case.
Fig. 2.1: Nucleated type of settlement pattern
ii) Secondly, there are linear settlements in some parts of the country, e.g. in Kerala, in Konkan and in the delta lands of Bengal. In such settlements, houses are strung out, each surrounded by its own compound. However, there is little to physically demarcate where one village ends and another begins.
iii) The third type of settlement is simply a scattering of homesteads or clusters of two or three houses. In this case also physical demarcation of villages is not clear. Such settlements are found in hill areas, in the Himalayan foothills, in the highlands of Gujarat and in the Satpura range of Maharashtra.
Further, we find that the size of village population is small and density of population low in comparison with towns and cities. India is rightly called a country of villages. According to 1981 Census, there were 4029 towns and 5,57,137 inhabited villages in the country. By the year 1991 this number increased to 4689 towns and 5,80,781 villages. According to 2001 census there are 5161 towns and 6,38,365 villages (including uninhabited villages) in
Rural Social Structure
25
Social Structure Rural and Urban
India (Census of India (provisional), 2001). Moreover, as per 2001 census figures about 72 percent of the total population live in villages. Further, rural life is characterised by direct relationship of people to nature i.e., land, animal and plant life. Agriculture is their main occupation. For example, in India agriculture provides livelihood to about 58 percent of the labour force.
Long enduring rural social institutions in India continue to be family, kinship, caste, class, and village. They have millennia old historical roots and structures. They encompass the entire field of life: social, economic, political and cultural- of the rural people. The complexity of social norms and values, statuses and roles, rights and obligations is reflected in them.
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