The migration of rural residents to cities has been happening for a long time, but still about a quarter of the population of our country lives in villages, villages and other rural areas.

The uniqueness of the rural way of life is directly related to the characteristics of the work and life of the inhabitants: the subordination of labor to natural rhythms and cycles; more grueling working conditions than usual in large cities; the practical absence of opportunities for labor mobility of residents; great unity of work and life, labor intensity of work in household and subsidiary farming; the choice of activities in free time is small. The way of life of rural settlements contains elements of a traditional neighborhood community. They have a permanent composition of residents, their socio-professional and cultural differentiation is incredibly small, and very close family and neighborly ties are typical.

The village is characterized by “openness” and sincerity of communication. The absence of large social and cultural contrasts between the residents and small numbers make the villagers’ communication quite close and penetrate into all areas of life. Friendship and camaraderie are poorly differentiated, and, consequently, there is virtually no difference in the emotional depth and intensity of communication with different partners. The smaller the village, the closer the communication between its inhabitants.

Villages as a type of settlement influence the socialization of children, adolescents, and young men in an almost syncretic (undifferentiated) way. It is difficult to determine the degree of influence in the course of spontaneous, directed and controlled socialization.

In practice, this is due to the fact that in villages control of human behavior in society is very common. Since there are few residents, the connections between them are more or less close, everyone knows everything about everyone, the anonymous existence of a person is practically unrealistic, every moment of his life becomes an object for evaluation by the public.

The content of social control in many rural settlements is determined by a specific socio-psychological atmosphere. According to a researcher of a modern village V. G. Vinogradsky, the bizarre economic life of many villages gives rise to a combination of conscience and dishonesty, “dashing theft” and “gloomy frugality and even miserliness,” “total double-mindedness.”

The rural family begins to participate in the socialization of its members mainly in the same direction as the village as a microsociety, often regardless of the socio-professional status and educational level of adults.

The ever-growing influence of the city on the village plays an important role in the socialization of rural residents. It produces a certain change in the orientation of life values ​​from real ones (available in rural conditions) to those that are characteristic of the city and can only be a standard, a dream for a rural resident.

Urban, rural... How many times in our lives have we heard and pronounced these concepts ourselves, without really thinking about their deeper meaning! For us, these are antonym words, the meaning of which we have learned since childhood. However, do we know exactly and thoroughly what the difference is between the residents of these two “settlements”? It would seem that the answer is unequivocal - yes. But as reviews of this topic on the Internet and the personal experience of the authors have shown, this is not always the case. As a rule, the understanding of how the urban lifestyle differs from the rural one is based on several stereotypes that are not exhaustive and defining. We hope that our article will help the reader understand this issue. Let us warn you in advance that we will talk about life in fairly developed and prosperous cities and villages.

We all come from a village...

It would seem a controversial statement. And, probably, the tenth generation townspeople will be outraged to the core. However, if you look further into the distance, this is certainly true. When primitive man came out of the cave and built the first huts, it was not an urban type of housing at all, but a rural village, where farming, keeping domestic animals and livestock, and hunting came first. Moreover, this way of life lasted for thousands of years. Therefore, no matter how proud someone is of their urban pedigree, its roots grew from the village.

However, let's return from the distant past to today's present. What are the main characteristics of a modern village? They are hard to miss.

Material

A village or town is always a small community of people living in a relatively small area. For example, in many republics of the former USSR there is still a standard - if the number of people living in one settlement (meaning a village, village) exceeds 10 thousand people, then it receives the status of an urban-type settlement (urban-type settlement), that is, almost a city . Again, nowhere in the world will you find a village the size of Paris or Moscow. Although in fairness it is worth noting that these cities (like the vast majority of others) also once began as small villages. Let us list some of the main features that are necessarily inherent in rural settlements.

• Lack of large production. Of course, there are many factories, factories and powerful industrial complexes located far from cities, but all residential and non-residential buildings around them have the status of at least a small town or a specialized town.

• Subsistence farming is mandatory. In many of today's villages, modern low- and multi-storey buildings with all city amenities are being built. However, the main housing stock of any rural settlement is a private house with a yard and a plot of land for planting.

• Financial component. Now many villagers do not work on the land, as was the case in the recent past. They work in small but fairly modern enterprises of various specializations, many of which have been created in today's villages. These factories, workshops, and individual production workshops are no different from similar enterprises in the city. However, it should be recognized that the average salary in rural areas is lower than in the city, and in some places – quite significantly. And these are statistics not only for the CIS, but throughout the world.

• In the countryside you won’t meet academicians or spaceship designers. With rare exceptions, great artists or outstanding architects do not work here either. And this is not caused by a lack of talent (this is exactly all right), but by the lack of a material base for the work and creativity of such individuals. In the village you will not find the Bolshoi Art Theater or the Brain Traumatology Research Institute. There are no National Libraries or Tretyakov Galleries here. Whether this is good or bad is an open question. But the fact that this is impractical is clear without words.

• And further. About 20-25 years ago, one could have written about the uncomfortable living in the countryside (in the territories of the former Soviet Union). Now this topic is no longer relevant. With today's technologies, you can provide yourself with conditions no worse than in the city - even in the remote taiga. It all depends on the availability of appropriate finances. In the West, this problem was solved many decades ago.

Spiritual

Let us also dwell a little on the spiritual component of the modern village. And it occupies a significant place in the village way of life.

• The rural population is more friendly than the urban population. This is due to the close ties between members of this society. Family and neighborly relations here are much stronger than in a metropolis.

• In rural areas, people are more or less equal in social status; there are no large cultural and material gaps between members of rural society. The rural intelligentsia (doctors, teachers, etc.) are much closer to ordinary villagers than their urban counterparts to the so-called hard workers.

• Life and spiritual communication between fellow villagers flows measuredly, steadily and trustingly. The very rhythm of such a life contributes to more sincere relationships between people, their high ability for mutual assistance and compassion. It’s not for nothing that we all know the phrase: “A neighbor’s barn caught fire, and we put out the fire with the whole village.” However, no one has heard, for example, such an expression: “The neighboring nine-story building caught fire, and we put it out with the entire microdistrict.” It is impossible to imagine that during a fire in a village, its residents gathered in a heap away from the flames, photographed it on their mobile phones or took selfies against the backdrop of the fire, without even thinking about some meager assistance to the arriving firefighters. Unfortunately, this is par for the course in the city.

• A village resident’s love for his small homeland is much stronger than a city dweller’s. And although many may say that this is a controversial statement, since many rural youth leave for the city and try with all their might to gain a foothold there, there are no less examples when a person moves from a small town to the capital or a large regional center and completely forgets where he is from, and for decades does not remember the city of his childhood. For the most part, a village resident always remembers where he comes from, and at the first opportunity he goes to his native birch trees, at least for a few days.

Skyscrapers, skyscrapers, and I’m so small...

Monster, handsome, fantastic, ruthless, indifferent... These, and not only, epithets can be heard in combination with the word city. And we must admit that they are all legitimate. The city is the son of the village, a wayward, eccentric son, not at all like his parent. And the difference between the urban and rural lifestyle is striking to any person who comes here from a distant village. Huge, insatiable, absorbing everything that the earth gives, endowed with all known vices - it can sometimes seem like a punishment sent to people for their sins. But without the city, humanity would never have risen to the current level of civilization. All the global achievements of our world were created in cities, and this is an indisputable fact. Cities are necessary for the development of human society, at least at today's historical stage. Let us consider in more detail the features that characterize a typical urban landscape.

• Huge, multi-story residential anthills, where more people often live in one entrance than in some strong villages. Factories, factories, large industrial and trade associations are an organic feature of any more or less developed urban settlement.

• Advanced medicine, science, large educational complexes (institutes, universities, academies, etc.) are again exclusively a city privilege.

• One of the significant advantages of a city over a village is its well-developed infrastructure. As you know, this concept combines the presence of a transport system, schools, medical institutions, service complexes, services of budgetary organizations, shopping facilities, etc. That is, simply put, everything that makes a person’s life beyond the threshold of his home easier and more comfortable , can be attributed to infrastructure. Unfortunately, even in modern and prosperous villages, many elements of such a system leave much to be desired.

• A big problem for any village and even a small regional town is choosing a specialty and getting a job in it. In a large, wealthy city, this issue is much less acute. With perseverance, ability and a strong desire, a city dweller is almost always able to find a job according to his taste and specialty.

• The city is filled with all kinds of entertainment. Theatres, exhibitions, numerous sports shows, concerts - all this is quite ordinary, natural things for a city dweller, but for a villager it rather belongs to the category of exotic, rare holiday...

• Political events, cultural and ordinary revolutions, radical reforms always begin in cities and from there spread throughout the country.

• In the city there are very strong contrasts in interpersonal communication between social groups. For example, at some critical moments, workers of one or several factories can unite and come out in an organized manner with urgent demands, and provide each other with moral and material support. Here we see a certain similarity with a rural community. However, the same workers may live in the same multi-story and multi-entrance building and not even really know who lives on the same landing with them. In the village this is basically impossible. They not only know thoroughly everything about their neighbors, but often have the same information about the entire street, or even the entire village.

• The disunity of the townspeople has long been the talk of the town. Cases when, for example, a lonely person dies in a neighboring apartment and lies there for weeks, or even months, are not uncommon. Neighbors begin to react only to an unpleasant smell, and not always. We gave this gloomy example only to show how far people living in the city are from each other in terms of communication, despite living much more crowded compared to village residents.

• The rhythm of life in the city is incomparable to the pace of the countryside. He is much taller, more fussy and filled with stress to the limit. It is not surprising that, according to statistics, despite a higher level of medical care, city dwellers, on average, live shorter lives than their rural fellow citizens.

Note. In very rare cases, some of the above factors are present in the village, but this is an exception to the rule that only confirms the rule.

Comparison

Above, we described the most, in our opinion, characteristic features of the urban and rural way of life, although it should be recognized that this is far from an exhaustive analysis. Now let's try to summarize all this in one table and draw some conclusions.

Table

An attentive reader may ask: “What does all of the above have to do with the topic of the article - what is the difference between urban and rural lifestyles?” The most direct. For example, the presence of a highly developed infrastructure allows a city dweller to fill his day more fully than the same villager.

Page 25 of 56

25. The uniqueness of the rural way of life

The migration of rural residents to cities has been happening for a long time, but still about a quarter of the population of our country lives in villages, villages and other rural areas.

The uniqueness of the rural way of life is directly related to the characteristics of the work and life of the inhabitants: the subordination of labor to natural rhythms and cycles; more grueling working conditions than usual in large cities; the practical absence of opportunities for labor mobility of residents; great unity of work and life, labor intensity of work in household and subsidiary farming; the choice of activities in free time is small. The way of life of rural settlements contains elements of a traditional neighborhood community. They have a permanent composition of residents, their socio-professional and cultural differentiation is incredibly small, and very close family and neighborly ties are typical.

The village is characterized by “openness” and sincerity of communication. The absence of large social and cultural contrasts between the residents and small numbers make the villagers’ communication quite close and penetrate into all areas of life. Friendship and camaraderie are poorly differentiated, and, consequently, there is virtually no difference in the emotional depth and intensity of communication with different partners. The smaller the village, the closer the communication between its inhabitants.

Villages as a type of settlement influence the socialization of children, adolescents, and young men in an almost syncretic (undifferentiated) way. It is difficult to determine the degree of influence in the course of spontaneous, directed and controlled socialization.

In practice, this is due to the fact that in villages control of human behavior in society is very common. Since there are few residents, the connections between them are more or less close, everyone knows everything about everyone, the anonymous existence of a person is practically unrealistic, every moment of his life becomes an object for evaluation by the public.

The content of social control in many rural settlements is determined by a specific socio-psychological atmosphere. According to the researcher of modern villages V. G. Vinogradsky, the bizarre economic life of many villages gives rise to a combination of conscience and dishonesty, “dashing theft” and “gloomy frugality and even miserliness,” “total double-mindedness.”

The rural family begins to participate in the socialization of its members mainly in the same direction as the village as a microsociety, often regardless of the socio-professional status and educational level of adults.

The ever-growing influence of the city on the village plays an important role in the socialization of rural residents. It produces a certain change in the orientation of life values ​​from real ones (available in rural conditions) to those that are characteristic of the city and can only be a standard, a dream for a rural resident.

how the life of villagers differed from the life of city dwellers and received the best answer

Answer from Unknown[guru]
The main differences between the rural way of life and the urban way of life are well known: less developed and technically equipped labor, less variety of jobs and professions, and, as a rule, more difficult working conditions. Rural settlements are characterized by greater integration of work and life. Here the rhythm of life is lower, the forms of communication are simpler. The specificity of agricultural production is such that it requires uniform settlement in order to develop agricultural lands. As a result of ill-conceived settlement policies, hundreds of thousands of villages disappeared, millions of hectares of meadows, pastures, and arable land fell out of production... .

Answer from 2 answers[guru]

Hello! Here is a selection of topics with answers to your question: how was the life of rural residents different from the life of city residents?

Answer from Tatyana Tanya[newbie]
City dwellers and rural dwellers have different lives; rural dwellers seem to live in the countryside and city dwellers live in cities. In the city there can be both rich and poor, but in the villages the people living in the countryside are poor, but they grow a lot of food and sell it. But city dwellers do not grow food, they buy this food with their own money. Rural people do everything with their own hands, and city dwellers buy it from other people who have created factories. In rural areas, in the summer you can go to the river very well, and in the city, city dwellers can also swim, only the noise of cars disturbs you, but rural ones do not have cars, but only in rare cases and in the atmosphere you can hear the sound of nature, like grasshoppers singing with birds, frogs croaking. The villagers were engaged in agriculture, and the townspeople were engaged in trade and crafts.

Answer from Tanya - Manya[guru]
everyone knows about everyone in the village,
and of course it’s hard work getting up early..

Answer from Antonina Andreeva[guru]
Different civilization.

Answer from Sergei Nanezov[active]
City dwellers and rural dwellers have different lives; rural dwellers seem to live in the countryside and city dwellers live in cities. In the city there can be both rich and poor, but in the villages the people living in the countryside are poor, but they grow a lot of food and sell it. But city dwellers do not grow food, they buy this food with their own money. Rural people do everything with their own hands, and city dwellers buy it from other people who have created factories. In rural areas, in the summer you can go to the river very well, and in the city, city dwellers can also swim, only the noise of cars disturbs you, but rural ones do not have cars, but only in rare cases and in the atmosphere you can hear the sound of nature, like grasshoppers singing with birds, frogs croaking. The villagers were engaged in agriculture, and the townspeople were engaged in trade and crafts.aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Answer from Javokhir Khadykhodjaev[newbie]
The main differences between the rural way of life and the urban way of life are well known: less developed and technically equipped labor, less variety of jobs and professions, and, as a rule, more difficult working conditions. Rural settlements are characterized by greater integration of work and life. Here the rhythm of life is lower, the forms of communication are simpler. The specificity of agricultural production is such that it requires uniform settlement in order to develop agricultural lands. As a result of ill-conceived settlement policies, hundreds of thousands of villages disappeared, millions of hectares of meadows, pastures, and arable lands fell out of production...
The basis that organizes the life of the urban population is the production of goods and services. Economic, cultural and information potential of society in large urban centers, achievements of material and spiritual activity. At the same time, it leads to the emergence of serious contradictions - uneven development of central and peripheral cities, environmental pollution, and an increase in the number of stresses. .

Russia has always been considered an agrarian state, the bulk of whose population lives in rural areas. The situation has changed somewhat only in recent years after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

For Russia, the rural way of life has always remained leading and predominant among the population. At all times, Russia has been an agrarian country, and today the share of agriculture in the economy remains quite significant. This is due to many features of the geographical and political position of the country. Firstly, the vast territories and favorable climate of the central part of the state have always created appropriate conditions for the development of agriculture. Secondly, from time immemorial, Russian people have been inextricably linked with the land and agriculture - many folk epics, fairy tales and songs confirm the special love and tenderness experienced by Russian people for their native land.

Even in ancient times, Russian society was characterized by a special commitment to agriculture. Subsistence farming and barter in kind were common among peasants. Where climatic conditions were most favorable, peasant communities produced grain both for personal consumption and for sale.

Later, in the Middle Ages and during the existence of the Russian Empire, serfdom, which was inextricably linked with the rural way of life, became especially widespread. The landowners owned large villages and villages, whose residents were engaged in the production of grain, meat and other products. The percentage of rural residents has always been high; even at the beginning of the 20th century, the share of rural residents in the Russian Empire was more than 80%.

The USSR pursued a massive policy of developing agriculture and uniting small private producers into large collective farms. Many peasants resisted such changes, since wealthy villagers did not want to share their property with their poor and lazy neighbors. This revealed the main problem of the Russian village. Rural residents who were able to provide for themselves through subsistence farming and produce food for sale most often worked hard and built up a large farm with their labor. But there were also poor families who, at best, could produce food only for their own survival. The collectivization reform was intended to equalize the property of these two classes, which led to conflict in society and resistance from rich peasants.

Advantages and disadvantages of a rural lifestyle

The rural way of life has always attracted the population of the country. But lately, city life seems more and more attractive and easier. What are the pros and cons of a rural lifestyle these days?

Advantages of rural life

A village or hamlet is distinguished by a high level of ecology, which is quite important these days. A healthy lifestyle attracts many people - clean air, proximity to a river or other body of water, the absence of large factories and factories that produce harmful emissions - all this has a beneficial effect on the general condition of the human body.

The opportunity to produce your own food is also attractive to many. It's no secret that products sold in stores contain practically no vitamins and may contain various harmful impurities. Village products have particular health benefits.

Peace, quiet and distance from the bustle of the city are a huge advantage for many people these days.

Disadvantages of a rural lifestyle

The distance from communications and organizations of public importance is perhaps one of the biggest disadvantages. The need to transport children to school, to go shopping or to work is one of the reasons why city residents do not want to move to the countryside.

For most people, maintaining a subsistence economy and fully providing themselves with food appears to be a significant difficulty.