In comparison with a rural society, we find that an urban society is ‘future-oriented’. Here, people are not satisfied with what they have, and they unceasingly want to change virtually everything they have. If urban dwellers are ‘forward-looking’, the folks are ‘backward-looking’. If change is the catchphrase of urban living, stability is that of the folk society. Let us now turn to the term, ‘rural society.’ From sociological point of view, the term ‘rural society’ implies the following:
- In comparison with the urban society, it is a small society, meaning thereby that it has a small population and extends over a shorter physical area. Various institutions (such as police stations, hospitals, schools, post-offices, clubs, etc.) may or may not be there, and if existent, they are not available in plenty.
- Density of the rural population is also low, and it may be clustered according to the criteria of social status. In other words, people occupying the same status may share the same neighbourhood, and may observe considerable social, and sometimes physical, distance from others, especially those lower in hierarchy.
- A sizable number of rural people are engaged in agriculture, which is the mainstay of their lives. In addition, a rural society has several other groups, engaged in various other occupations of arts and crafts, usually known as artisans and craftsmen, who regularly supply their services to agriculturalists in exchange for grains and cereals.
- Rural society has some full-time and a large number of part-time specialists. Craftsmen and artisans also indulge in agricultural pursuits, especially during the monsoon and the agricultural produce of such specialists and small agriculturalists is mainly for domestic consumption.
- Rural society is regarded as the repository of traditional mores and folkways. It preserves the traditional culture, and many of its values and virtues are carried forward to urban areas, of which they become a part after their refinement.
When scholars say that ‘India lives in villages’, they mean not only that villages constitute the abode of three-quarters of Indians, but also that the fundamental values of Indian society and civilization are preserved in villages, wherefrom they are transmitted to towns and cities. One cannot have an idea about the spirit of India unless her villages are understood.