RURAL SOCIOLOGY: CHARACTERISTICS, AUTHORS AND THEORETICAL APPROACHES - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2024

The rural sociology is a branch of sociology that studies the communities that develop outside urban centers, taking into account the interaction of individuals with the environment they surround, conflicts that may arise between them, coexistence, access to food and other natural resources of the inhabitants of the towns and / or fields.

One of the most important aspects of rural sociology also has to do with more complex aspects such as: the laws that regulate the work of the land, education, the health system, state properties, population alteration and the migration of its inhabitants. towards urban centers.

The first assumptions about rural sociology originated in the United States at the end of the 19th century, finding its maximum splendor from the beginning and middle of the 20th century.

characteristics

Agriculture as economic sustenance

One of the most outstanding features of a rural society is the dependence on agriculture (livestock and even forestry), as the main means of economic and nutritional sustenance.

Thanks to this, a distance is created between this type of producers and the individuals who live in urban centers, as they have different characteristics and dynamics.

Rural area-cities movement

This branch takes into account the exodus of the inhabitants towards urban centers and even abroad. However, it should be noted that the phenomenon is also considered, but in reverse; in other words, those people who leave the cities to go to the countryside.

Family as the main nucleus

The family is the main nucleus for development for the rural community.

Linked to other disciplines

Because it takes into account the behavior of individuals, their needs and interaction, it is also linked to other disciplines such as social psychology and economics.

Policy influence

The flourishing of situations and conflicts that policies related to land tenure and production may have stands out, which also influences the distribution of wealth according to the prevailing modes of production.

New technologies

It considers the introduction of new technologies for the work of the land and how the individual becomes aware that it is no longer the only base of the economic strength of a country.

Featured Authors

Pitirim Sorokin and Carle Clarke Zimmerman

Considered one of the most important figures in rural sociology, Pitirim Sorokin was an American sociologist of Russian origin, who raised a series of unconventional postulates within sociology, especially focused on rural communities.

Author of 37 books and more than 400 articles, Sorokin focused especially on the development of social interactions and the distribution of wealth, as well as the cultural process of societies.

Work

However, it is in the work Principles of rural-urban society of 1929, also carried out in conjunction with the sociologist Carle Clarke Zimmerman, where the main foundations of this discipline are raised.

Both Sorokin and Zimmerman focus on a series of characteristics that are constant in rural societies:

-The majority of people work the land, although there are people of another type but in smaller numbers.

-The environment in which people develop is nature, which is also the main source of work and resources.

-The population density is more homogeneous from the point of view of physiognomy and psychology.

-Mobility is given to those who seek to get out of this environment to the cities.

-The relationships between individuals are much tighter and more durable than those that develop in urban centers since they tend to be short-lived and short-lived.

Both authors also highlight a key component for this type of society and it has to do with the interaction of man with nature. Due to the characteristics that the environment may have, the individual is obliged to remain close to his means of production in order to guarantee his subsistence.

A consequence of this is the phenomenon of the little diversity that exists in this type of society, producing, in addition, that individuals share physical and psychological traits, although with a great sense of group solidarity.

Theoretical approaches

Classical approach

What we now understand as rural sociology is rather a modern concept from the schools of sociology and agrarian economics in the United States in the first half of the 20th century. However, the terms "urban" and "rural" were already being studied and analyzed.

At first, it was considered that the urban-industrialized referred to the centers with the highest population density, while the rural environment was destined for communities settled in towns and in smaller spaces.

Even theorists like Comte and Marx came to despise the rural as spaces with little development potential.

Ferdinand tonnies

On the other hand, it will be the German sociologist, Ferdinand Tonnies, who will establish the distinction between rural and urban, according to a series of features that rescue historical and political elements that will allow us to understand the functioning of both environments.

According to Tonnies, the field is characterized by affective relationships and by having as its base the Church and the family, as the main nuclei of education and interaction. On the other hand, it also highlights that, in the case of cities, the factory is the heart of the same and that thanks to this, more complex and even competitive relationships arise.

New paradigms: Sorokin and Zimmerman

However, over time, a series of postulates that broke with the paradigm of the principles of these classic thinkers will be formulated.

In this new paradigm it is established that both the rural and the urban should not be seen as two alien elements, but as societies with limits that can be blurred on certain occasions. It is there when the so-called “rural-urban continuum” arises.

The model was initially proposed by Sorokin and Zimmerman, who insisted on stating that both environments share an interaction with each other, producing a complex and reciprocal relationship.

This, in some way, indicates that these concepts cannot be simplified, above all, because there has been a growth in economic activity, displacing agronomic activity as the main piece of survival; without neglecting the constant interaction of urban and rural societies.

Although this model insists on presenting that there is no such difference, some authors indicate that this type of dichotomy is necessary in order to understand the complexity of social and human interactions.

References

1. (The rural and the urban as categories of social analysis). (sf). In the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environment. Retrieved: February 1, 2018 from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environment from mapama.gov.es.
2. (The origins: Rurality and Agrarianism). (sf). In the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environment. Retrieved: February 1, 2018 from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environment from mapama.gov.es.
3. Ferdinand Tonnies. (sf). On Wikipedia. Retrieved: February 1, 2018 from Wikipedia at es.wikipedia.org.
4. PitirimSorokin. (sf). On Wikipedia. Retrieved: February 1, 2018 from Wikipedia at es.wikipedia.org.
5. PitirimSorokin. (sf). On Wikipedia. Retrieved: February 1, 2018 from Wikipedia at en.wikipedia.org.
6. Rural Sociology. (sf). In Ecured. Retrieved: February 1, 2018 from Ecured at ecured.cu.
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