Industrial and Urban Society

Urbanization is a universal process implying economic development and social change.

Urbanization also means a breakdown of traditional social institutions and values. However
in India one cannot say that urbanization has resulted in the caste system being
transformed into the class system, the joint family transforming into the nuclear family and
religion becoming secularized.
MSA Rao observes that the breakdown hypothesis originated from the western experience
and it ignores the fact of traditional urbanization in India.Rao classifies urban studies in
three categories – those concerned with the institutional approaches –those treating cities
and their growth in the general context of history of civilization and those which formulate
the cultural role of cities in the context of social organization of the great tradition. The first
category of studies highlights on economic institutions such as emergence of middle class
and a commercial organization and religion.
For Pirenne the city consisted of middle classes and groups engaged in trade and
commerce. For Coulanges an ancient city was a religious community. Max Weber's emphasis
was on social action and autonomous city government. The institutionalists look for specific
causes and conditions for the growth of cities in different contexts. Robert Redfield has
provided a typology of the city in terms of orthogenetic and heterogenetic processes of
change in the organization of tradition and culture.
Milton Singer observes that the great tradition is basically an urban phenomenon and
transformation of the little tradition into the great tradition refers to the process of
urbanization. However great tradition has also been undergoing a significant change hence
individualism, freedom and fluidity in traditional norms and values. Gideon Sjoberg
distinguishes cities into pre-industrial and industrial. The preindustrial city was a feudal one.
There are two limitations to this approach- feudalism was not the only basis of city
formation and today the modern city is found in existence due to other factors too in
addition to industrialization.
A number of criteria have been used to understand urban social structure and stratification.
The most important ones are the extent of closure or openness and the nature of
deprivations and gratifications. These apply to specific groups and collectivities as some of
them have opportunities for betterment of their social standing whereas others remain
deprived of the same. The individual is the basis in regard to motivational structure,
utilization of available opportunities and use of means of communication for realizing one's
aspirations. Urban social structure can be characterized in terms of having openness,
attributional criteria, mobility and individual ranking.
Victor D'Souza has analyzed kinship, caste, class, religion and displaced or non-placed
conditions in his study of the City of Chandigarh. Internal differentiation among different
groupings has been analyzed on the basis of education, occupational prestige and income.
The assumption is that if the groupings of a particular type are alike in respect of education,
occupation and income then the principle on which they are formed is not an important
basis of social organization. The educational, occupational and income hierarchies are
significantly correlated with each other. However the correlation of each of them with the
operational caste hierarchy is not significant. Social class position is positively correlated
with education and family income.
Cities consist of a variety of professional classes. They perform specialized functions such as
teaching; medical, legal etc. study of the social origins of professionals may offer significant
insights into the process of social stratification and mobility. Compared to other Asian
countries the professional classes in India constitute a very small proportion of all workers.
The upper, upper middle and middle classes dominate most of the opportunities and
positions in the professions. The upper and upper middle caste and class background of
most of the top-level political elite conforms to this general pattern. However in recent
years the rural rich are replacing the urban rich in the field of politics to a large extent.
Some change is also visible in the recruitment to various civil services and medical and
engineering professions. The social structure of town and cities comprises of top-level
businessmen, industrialists and bureaucrats, higher income professionals, scientists,
technicians, professional managers in industry and large merchants. Clerks and minor
officials in government offices and private firms, school teachers, petty shopkeepers and
entrepreneurs and members of working class such as operators, artisans, household
industry workers, service workers, hawkers, peddlers, construction workers and unskilled
workers.
Urbanization is a worldwide phenomenon; India has also witnessed an increased growth of
urbanization and industrialization in the post independence period. Urban growth in India is
particularly due to large-scale migration from villages to towns and cities as the latter offers
better facilities for education and training and more and better avenues for employment.
Towns and cities are an important factor in development of the region in which they are
located. The development of towns and cities depends upon the support villages in the
vicinity extend to them in terms of migration, supply of farm produce to the cities and
purchase of consumer goods from them.

Urban growth and urbanization

Urbanization is the movement of population from rural to urban areas and the resulting
increasing proportion of a population that resides in urban rather than rural places. It is
derived from the Latin 'Urbs' a term used by the Romans to a city.
Urban sociology is the sociology of urban living; of people in groups and social relationship
in urban social circumstances and situation. Thompson Warren has defined it as the
movement of people from communities concerned chiefly or solely with agriculture to other
communities generally larger whose activities are primarily centered in government, trade,
manufacture or allied interests. Urbanization is a two-way process because it involves not
only movement from village to cities and change from agricultural occupation to business,
trade, service and profession but it also involves change in the migrants attitudes, beliefs,
values and behavior patterns. The process of urbanization is rapid all over the world. The
facilities like education, healthcare system, employment avenues, civic facilities and social
welfare are reasons attracting people to urban areas. The census of India defines some
criteria for urbanization. These are:

 Population is more than 5000

 The density is over 400 persons per sq.km
 75% of the male population engages in non-agricultural occupations.
 Cities are urban areas with population more than one lakh.
 Metropolises are cities with population of more than one million.

Features of urban society

i. The urban society is heterogeneous known for its diversity and complexity.
ii. It is dominated by secondary relations.
iii. Formal means of social control such as law, legislation, police, and court are needed
in addition to the informal means for regulating the behavior of the people.
 iv. The urban society is mobile and open. It provides more chances for social mobility.
The status is achieved than ascribed.
v. Occupations are more specialized. There is widespread division of labor and
specialization opportunities for pursuing occupations are numerous.
vi. Family is said to be unstable. More than the family individual is given importance.
Joint families are comparatively less in number.
vii. People are more class -conscious and progressive .They welcome changes. They are
exposed to the modern developments in the fields of science and technology.
viii. Urban community is a complex multigroup society.
ix. The urban community replaced consensus by dissensus.The social organization is
atomistic and illdefined.It is characterized by disorganization, mental illness and
anomie.
x. Mass education is widespread in the city increasing democratization of the
organizations and institutions demand formal education.

Features of industrial city

 A large sprawling open city housing a large percent of the population of the society.
Relatively low segregation; few outward symbols, segregation based on race. Good
transportation and communication.
 A manufacturing, finance and coordinating centre of an industrial society.
 A fluid class structure with an elite of businessmen, professionals and scientists.
 A large middle class with technologically related jobs.
 Wealth by salaries, fees, investment.High status of business activity. Unionization at
a national level. Specialization of production and marketing .Large service sector,
fixed price.
 Time important and regular work schedule.
 Standardization of process and quality.
 Formal public opinion with a bureaucracy based on technical criteria.
 A weak religious institution separate from other institutions dominated by the middle
class. Standardization of religious experience marked by the disappearance of magic.
 Technical and secular education for the masses.

Industrialization and social change

Industrialization is defined as a shift from animate to inanimate source of power.
Industrialization is the rise of factories and use of machinery in the production of goods first
occurred in England in the late 1700s and Arnold Toynbee referred to the particular time
period as Industrial Revolution. Industrialization led to following changes in the social set-
up:
Occupational shifts – As the society became more industrialized the labor force became
smaller in proportion. Occupational patterns made a shift from agriculture to industry.
From ascriptive to achievement-based division of labor- Communal and family division of
labor gave way to scientific division of labor.
High division of labor and opportunity for mobility- Due to division of labor, stratification
increased and more opportunities of social mobility also opened up.
Changing power structure- with the decline of estate system in Europe and the rise of
capitalism, power equations changed. Land no longer remained as a dominant source of
power and instead industry and trade emerged as new sources of power.
New forms of conflict- Trade Unions came into existence and with them lock outs, labor
mobilization became the mode of class struggle.
Demand for skilled job and education changes- Education as an agent of social change also
gets a boost as it could lead to better skill development.
Changing family structure- Industrialization required mobile family and it led to the
emergence of nuclear family.
Growth of new ideas – Industrialization led to the growth of new ideas like Marxism and
socialism.
Improved standard of life – Industrialization led to more jobs and prosperity as the income
gradually increased. More facilities ensured a better standard of living. Communication
improved and production process became more efficient. 

Industrial Societies
The industrial societies are different from any previous type of social order, and their
development has had consequences stretching far beyond their European origin.
Industrialization originated in the eighteenth century England as a result of the industrial
revolution, complex set of technological changes affecting the means by which people
gained their livelihood. There changes included the invention of new machines, the
harnessing power resources to production, and the use of science to improve production
methods. The relatively low level of technological development did not promote more than a
small minority to be freed from the chores of agricultural production. A prime feature of
industrial societies today is that the large majority of the employed population work in
factories, offices or shops rather than in agriculture. Over 90% of people live in towns and
cities, where most jobs are to be found and new job opportunities are created. The largest
cities are vastly greater in size than the urban settlements found in traditional civilizations.
In the cities, social life becomes more impersonal and anonymous. The Political systems are
more developed and intensive than forms of government in traditional studies.

The industrial societies were the first nation- states to come into existence. Nation-states
are political communities, divided from each other by clearly delimited boarders rather than
the vague frontiers areas that used to separate traditional states. Nation state governments
have extensive powers over many aspects of citizen�s lives, framing laws that apply to all
those living within their boarders Scientific discoveries and technical advancements led to
many changes in the social structure. Industrial society is an outcome of these scientific
forces, advancement of human thought and change in the views of humanity. Industrial
revolution heralded evolution of industrial society.