X. THE CITY AND THE COUNTRY
The city and the country represent two opposite poles in modern civilization. The difference between the two is not merely one of degree, but of kind. Each has its own peculiar type of interests, of social organization, and of humanity. These two worlds are in part antagonistic and in part complementary to each other. The one influences the life of the other, but they are by no means equally matched. The analysis of these differences, antagonisms, and interacting forces has not passed even the descriptive stage.
1. The ancient city was regarded as a parasitic growth. It dominated the country by skill and by force, but contributed little to its welfare. The modern city, too, is often regarded as a superfluous burden which the rural sections are carrying. This view of the matter is fast passing away, however, as the city extends its influence, not by force, but by fulfilling a set of functions upon which the rural population has become dependent. The economists have been especially concerned with the antagonistic interests which the city and the country have presented. These antagonisms have come to play a political rôle which influences local, national, and international affairs.
Bookwalter, J. W. Rural Versus Urban; Their Conflict and Its Causes: A Study of the Conditions Affecting Their Natural and Artificial Relation (New York, 1911). (X, 2.)
Damaschke, Adolf. Die Bodenreform: Grundsätzliches und Geschichtliches zur Erkenntnis der sozialen Not (19th ed.; Jena, 1922). (VI, 10.)
Reibmayr, A. “Die wichtigsten biologischen Ursachen der heutigen Landflucht,” Arch. für Rass. und Gesellsch. Biol., VII (1911), 349–76.
Decrease in rural population of Germany. Shows also unfavorable effects of alcohol, venereal disease, and other factors on population of city, and the effects of the city on the country. (VII, 2, 5; VIII, 1.)
Ross, E. A. “Folk Depletion as a Cause of Rural Decline,” Publ. Amer. Sociol. Soc., XI (1917), 21–30. (VII, 3; VIII, 1, 3; X, 2.)
Roxby, P. M. Rural Depopulation in England During the Nineteenth Century and After, LXXI (1912), 174–90. (VIII, 3.)
“Rural Depopulation in Germany,” Scient. Amer. Suppl., LXVIII (1908), 243. (VII, 3.)
Smith, J. Russell. North America: Its People and Resources, Development, and the Prospects of the Continent as an Agricultural, Industrial, and Commercial Area (New York, 1925).
One of the best geographical discussions of the relation between country and city. (I, 1, 4; III, 2, 3, 4.)
Vandervelde, E. L’exode rural et le retour aux champs (Paris, 1903). (VIII, 3.)
Waltemath. “Der Kampf gegen die Landflucht und die Slawisierung des platten Landes,” Archiv für Innere Kolonisation, IX (1916–18), 12.
2. As a result of city life new forms of social organization have been developed which are foreign to the country. The family, the neighborhood, the community, the state have become transformed by city needs into new institutions with a different organization and with a different set of functions. The social processes that characterize rural life do not apply in the city. A new moral order has developed which is fast breaking down the precedents of an earlier epoch of civilization.
Bowley, A. L. “Rural Population in England and Wales: A Study of the Change of Density, Occupations, and Ages,” Jour. Royal Stat. Soc., LXXVII (1914), 597–645. (VII, 2; VIII, 2.)
Brunner, Edmund de S. Churches of Distinction in Town and Country (New York, 1923). (VI, 5.)
Busbey, L. W. “Wicked Town and Moral Country,” Unpop. Rev., X (October, 1918), 376–92. (X, 3.)
Cook, O. F. “City and Country, Effects of Human Environments on the Progress of Civilization,” Jour. Hered., XIV (1921), 253–59.
Galpin, Charles J. Rural Life (New York, 1918).
One of the best analyses of rural life available, and of great value as a basis for comparison between city life and country life. (IV, 1, 2, 5; V, 1, 2, 3; X, 1, 3.)
Gillette, J. M. Rural Sociology (New York, 1922). (IV; V, 1, 2; VI, 8; X, 1, 3.)
Groves, E. R. “Psychic Causes of Rural Migration,” Amer. Jour. Sociol., XXI (1916), 623–27. (IV, 5; VII, 3; X, 1, 3.)
Jastrow, J. “Die Städtegmeinschaft in ihren kulturellen Beziehungen,” Zeitschr. für Sozialwiss., X (1907), 42–51.
Indicates institutions to which urban life has given impetus.
Morse, H. N. The Social Survey in Town and Country Areas (New York, 1925).
Peattie, Roderick. “The Isolation of the Lower St. Lawrence Valley,” Geog. Rev., V (February, 1918), 102–18.
An excellent study of provincialism as a result of isolation. (IV, 5.)
Prinzing, F. “Die Totgeburten in Stadt und Land,” Deutsche Med. Wochenschr., XLIII (1917), 180–81.
The number of still births indicates the technique available in city and country. (VIII, 1.)
Sanderson, Dwight. The Farmer and His Community (New York, 1922). (V, 1, 2, 3.)
Smith, Arthur H. Village Life in China: A Study in Sociology (New York, Chicago, and Toronto, 1899).
The oriental village and its place in social organization.
Thurnwald, R. “Stadt and Land im Lebensprozess der Rasse,” Arch. für Rass. und Gesellsch. Biol., I (1904), 550–74, 840–84.
Contains excellent bibliography. (VII, 3; VIII, 1, 3.)
Tucker, R. S., and McCombs, C. E. “Is the Country Healthier Than the Town?” Nat. Mun. Rev., XII (June, 1923), 291–95. (VIII, 1.)
Welton, T. A. “Note on Urban and Rural Variations According to the English Census of 1911,” Jour. Royal Stat. Soc., LXXVI (1913), 304–17. (VII, 3; VIII; X, 1.)
3. The rustic and the urbanite not only show certain fundamental differences in personality, but the variations found in the city far exceed the country, and the rate at which new types are constantly being created in the city far exceeds that of the country. The rural man still is to a great extent the product of the nature which surrounds him, while the urbanite has become a part of the machine with which he works, and has developed as many different species as there are techniques to which he is devoted. The attitudes, the sentiments, the life organization of the city man are as different from the country man as those of the civilized man are from the primitive. As the city extends its influence over the country the rural man is also being remade, and ultimately the differences between the two may become extinguished.
Anthony, Joseph. “The Unsophisticated City Boy,” Century, CIX (November, 1924), 123–28. (VII, 5.)
Coudenhove-Kalergi, H. “The New Nobility,” Century, CIX (November, 1924), 3–6.
A concise analysis of the outstanding differences in the personality of the rustic and the urbanite. (IX, 1, 2, 3, 4; X, 1, 2.)
Humphrey, Z. “City People and Country Folk,” Country Life, XXXVII (January, 1920), 35–37.
McDowall, Arthur. “Townsman and the Country,” London Mercury, VIII (August, 1923), 405–13. (IV, 5; IX, 2; X, 1, 2.)
Myers, C. S. “Note on the Relative Variability of Modern and Ancient and of Rural and Urban Peoples,” Man, VI (London, 1906), 24–26.
An anthropological study. (VIII.)
Vuillenmier, J. F. “A comparative Study of New York City and Country Criminals,” Jour. Crim. Law and Criminol., XI (1921), 528–50. (VII, 5; IX, 2.)