Main Characteristics of Rural Societies: The village community has the following characteristics:
(i) Agriculture is the predominant occupation among them. It is not the only source of income but also the way of life for the villagers.
(ii) The village community is small in size. It means they live in small geographical areas with lower population density as compared to the towns.
(iii) They have primary group behaviour, i.e., face-to-face relationship is found among the members of the village.
(iv) Their social structure is based on kinship and family relationship. Here the role of lineage (Vansh) is very important.
(v) Mostly they live in a joint family. A joint family is a group of people who live under one roof, eat food cooked at one hearth, have joint property, participate in common worship and are linked to each other through kinship ties. The joint family has a greater generation bondage than the nuclear family.
(vi) They are more conservative and tradition oriented towards the performance of rituals as well as belief in deities.
(vi) Group feeling and mutual cooperation is more evident among them. They have a brotherhood living. They cooperate with each other in times of exigencies.
(viii) Their culture is also known as folk culture, i.e. consisting of customs, rituals and norms, etc. which are unwritten, but orally transmitted and learned. Since they have a common socio-economic background, they do not have differences in ideology towards life. Hence they are homogenous in nature.
(ix) Traditionally, their economy is based on agriculture having primitive technology and a mono-cropping pattern. It was less productive. Lack of proper marketing facilities and introduction of a monetary economy has resulted in poverty. Further, decline in cottage industries has pushed them to migrate to neighbouring towns.
(x) Village India is largely based on caste system, which has a hierarchical (castes are ranked according to their purity and pollution, their religious customs and practices and the nature of their occupation) base. For example, Brahmins are ranked as the highest one because they do the purest occupation of performing rituals and teaching, whereas, shudras is ranked lowest because of his impure occupation of working as scavengers. They follow the above hierarchical system intensely.
(xi) Modern way of living and thinking (based on achievement of the individual and their rational thinking) is lacking in rural society. They still follow the ascriptive model of life, hence their mobility is restricted.
(xii) Any deviant behaviour is dealt with strictly in the rural areas.
(xiii) Since modern technology has not gained firm ground in rural areas, people are still following the age-old methods of cultivation as well as solving the related day-to-day problems. It involves hard work throughout the day as it is a labour intensive occupation.
(xiv) They have a relatively self-sufficient economy particularly in terms of production and consumption.
(xv) They have a static economy, since they lack modern technology, modes of investment and a market economy.
(xvi) They cling to conservative and traditional style of living. They have a strong tradition and are known as the little tradition. Their attachment to the past is strong.
