Rural Sociology Lecture 3 PDF

RURAL SOCIOLOGY LECTURE 3 BASIC CONCEPTS AND ACTIONS 13/2/2023 1 Outline Rural communities Traditional norms and values of rural communities Folkways and mores Groups Factions and disputes 13/2/2023...

RURAL SOCIOLOGY LECTURE 3 BASIC CONCEPTS AND ACTIONS 13/2/2023 1 Outline Rural communities Traditional norms and values of rural communities Folkways and mores Groups Factions and disputes 13/2/2023 2 Learning outcomes To understand the dynamics of a rural community and the social processes that go on within it: 1. What the rural community is 2. Rural settlements 3. The changing rural community 4. The traditional norms and values within it 5. Groups and factions within rural communities 6. disputes/conflicts and their resolutions 13/2/2023 3 Rural Communities The social life people lead is affected by the kind of community in which they live A community can be defined either as a human group (town, city, and village) or as a body of sentiment (sense of commitment, loyalty) 1. a grouping of people, 2. within a geographical area, 3. with a division of labor into specialized and interdependent functions 4. with a common culture and a social system which organizes their activities 5. whose members are conscious of their unity and belongingness to the community 6. whose members act collectively in an organized manner. Also embodies the homogenous trajectory of the rigid and conservative nature of hitherto existing customs, traditions, folkways, mores, norms, values and so on in rural areas. 13/2/2023 4 Rural settlements Rural communities are often perceived as serene, rustic and isolated Rural settlements are relatively small, highly scattered. They range from hamlets to big villages. Villages are not founded or established arbitrarily. In the Ghanaian context a village has a personality, a soul embedded in a history. The oral history explains not only why a particular village is located where it is, but also why they think they are different from the next village A characteristic of African villages is the importance attached to the names of villages. 13/2/2023 5 Rural Settlement cont’d Villages are often named after the first settler, after a significant event such as hunger, war, plague or personal misfortune of the first settler/settlers, they are also named after a natural phenomenon Eg. Carpenter, kojo Kura, Tailorpe, Oframso, Mayira, Buabeng Fiama, etc. They are often founded in response to quest for land, water, food, security and kinship Kinship determines who lives where, farms where and marries who Largely rural settlements consists of people who are related by blood. However as a result of labour migration, people from different ethnic groups may co-exist. As a result of the ethnic mix, overtime the ‘strangers’ are absorbed into the village social structure through marriage, friendship network ,etc and this gives the village a kinship coloration unknown in urban centers. 13/2/2023 6 Changing rural communities It has been traditional to classify communities as rural or urban, depending upon whether their populations were small and agricultural, or larger and industrial or commercial. Modern transportation has so eroded the boundaries between cities and rural communities We actually have a shading of one community in the other and not two distinct communities. 13/2/2023 7 The changing rural community cont’d Today’s rural communities do not clearly fit in the characteristics noted for rural communities and so the lines have been blurred somehow between rural and urban areas. These changes are happening due to the following reasons: 1. Reduced Isolation: Vehicular movements, good roads, and telecommunication have brought transformation to rural and village life. Rural areas are no longer self-contained communities, as good roads have carried their trade, their store-keepers, their professionals, and their recreation to nearby cities. Transportation plus the press, radio, and television have to some extent reduced the social isolation of rural areas 13/2/2023 8 Cont’d Commercialization and Rationalization of Agriculture: Without a revolution in agricultural productivity, there could have been little urban growth. Farming used to be a way of life which called for no special knowledge beyond that which people absorbed as they grew up. Today farming is a highly complex operation demanding substantial capital and specialized knowledge. The most successful farmers today not only use the latest farm technology but also study market trends and trade in commodities future actively. 13/2/2023 9 Cont’d Urbanization of Rural life: While there are still some differences between the modal personalities, life-styles, and value systems of rural and urban dwellers, all the historic rural-urban differences are shrinking. Every rural activity from agriculture to mate selection has been urbanized in that the values and norms governing the activity do not differ significantly between rural and urban people. This process is wide spread but uneven. Rural areas closer to large cities, and those where agriculture is mostly rationalized and commercialized show the highest degree of urbanization More isolated areas and places where farm practices are more traditional show fewer urban influences 13/2/2023 10 Norms and Values Norms are rules of conduct that specify appropriate behaviour in a given range of social situations. A norm either prescribes a given type of behaviour or forbids it. All human groups follow definite norms, which are always backed by sanctions of one kind or another, varying from informal disapproval to physical punishment. Cultural conflict occurs when norms perceived as culturally incompatible collide. 13/2/2023 11 Types of Norms 13/2/2023 12 Folkways and Mores Terms coined by William Graham Sumner Informal rules that are enforced by members of a community Folkways are informal norms that are not offensive to violate but are expected to be followed. Mores on the other hand are also informal unwritten rules but when violated results in severe punishments or social sanctions upon the individual. 13/2/2023 13 Values Values are abstract ideals. They are ideas held by individuals or groups about what is desirable, proper, good, and bad. What individuals value is strongly influenced by the specific culture in which they happen to live While values are ideas, norms are concrete and refer to things that have to be done or not. Norms also reflect our values 13/2/2023 14 Traditional Values and norms characteristic of rural areas In general traditional rural areas are characterised by the following value system: self-reliance: Due to homogeneity of people in rural areas distrust of outsiders: Intimate relationships and interactions makes it difficult to make space for people outside of this relationship. Religiosity: The belief in a supreme power and linking all happenings to this being rather then rationality. centrality of family: family and kinship ties are cherished Fatalism: the belief that destinies are ruled by an unseen power or dictated by a force rather than free will. 13/2/2023 15 Social Values Social values can simply be seen as those beliefs and practices that are practised by any particular society. The society has a way of dictating the beliefs and practices that are performed either routinely by its members or performed whenever the occasion demands. Hence, we have festivals, games, sports and dances that are peculiar to different societies. These activities are carried out by the society because they are seen to be necessary. Some social values, especially in African society, cannot exactly be separated from religious, moral, political values and so on. This is why most festivals which are celebrated often have religious undertones and end with sacrifices offered to certain deities on special days in order to attract their goodwill on the members of the society. Social values are often backed by customary laws. 13/2/2023 16 Moral Values African culture is embedded in strong moral considerations. It has a system of various beliefs and customs which every individual ought to keep in order to live long and to avoid bringing curses on them and others. Conducts like adultery, stealing and other forms of immoral behaviour are strongly discouraged 13/2/2023 17 Religious values Religion in African societies seems to be the fulcrum around which every activity revolves. Hence religious values are not toyed with. African traditional religion, wherever it is practised, has some defining characteristics. For instance, it possesses the concept of a Supreme Being which is invisible and indigenous. It holds a belief in the existence of the human soul and the soul does not die with the body. African traditional religion also has the belief that good and bad spirits do exist and that these spirits are what make communication with the Supreme Being possible. 13/2/2023 18 Political Values There are political institutions in rural communities with heads of such institutions as respected individuals. The most significant thing about the traditional society is that the political hierarchy begins with the family. Each family has a family head; each village has a village head. From these, we have clan head and above the clan head, is the paramount ruler. This kind of political arrangement is observable in many African traditional societies. Prior to colonisation and its subsequent subversion of the African traditional political arrangements, African societies had their council of chiefs, advisers, cult groups, and so on. It was believed that disloyalty to a leader was disloyalty to God and the position of leadership was either hereditary or by conquest. 13/2/2023 19 Aesthetic value Aesthetic value is what informs a people's arts and crafts as it affects their sense of what is beautiful as opposed to that which is ugly. The aesthetic value of a society influences the artist in his endeavour to produce aesthetic objects that are acceptable to the society in which he lives. These can be considered material culture of a people and can be seen in buildings, cloths, weaving, cuisine and certain traditional ceremonies 13/2/2023 20 Economic values Economic values of the traditional societies are marked by hard work, cooperation and reciprocity. The traditional economy, which is mainly based on farming and fishing, is co-operative in nature. For instance, friends and relatives would come and assist in doing farm work not because they will be paid but so that if it happens that they need such assistance in the near future, they will be sure to find it. There is therefore reciprocity as a value in traditional societies. Two or more individuals pool their resources together and cooperate even in the building of houses and doing other things for their fellow members. When any of them is in difficulty, all members rally around and help. 13/2/2023 21 Groups Georg Simmel (1858–1915) put it, “society exists where a number of individuals enter into interaction” (1908). Society exists in groups. For Simmel, society did not exist otherwise. In a group, individuals behave differently than they would if they were alone. They conform, they resist, they forge alliances, they cooperate, they betray, they organize, they defer gratification, they show respect, they expect obedience, they share, they manipulate, etc. Being in a group changes their behaviour and their abilities. This is one of the founding insights of sociology: the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The group has properties over and above the properties of its individual members. It has a reality sui generis, of its own kind. 13/2/2023 22 Primary groups In sociology groups can be categorized (at the basic level) into two. Primary groups and Secondary group The primary group is usually fairly small and is made up of individuals who generally engage face-to-face in long-term, emotional ways. This group serves emotional needs or expressive functions rather than pragmatic ones. The primary group is usually made up of significant others—those individuals who have the most impact on our socialization. The best example of a primary group is the family 13/2/2023 23 Secondary groups Secondary groups are often larger and impersonal. They may also be task focused and time limited. These groups serve an instrumental function rather than an expressive one, meaning that their role is more goal or task oriented than emotional 13/2/2023 24 Groups Cont’d Within both primary and secondary groups, there are in-groups/we- group and out-groups. An in-group is the group that an individual feels he or she belongs to, and believes it to be an integral part of who he or she is. An out-group, conversely, is a group someone doesn’t belong to; often there may be a feeling of disdain or competition in relation to an out-group. 13/2/2023 25 Factions, disputes/conflicts and we-groups While rural sociology studies conjunctive processes in rural societies (cooperation) it is also concerned with rural disjunctive processes., These processes comprises competition and conflict. Disputes are often as a result of wrong perception, not based on objectivity or rationality Conflicts within rural communities are often neutral. It is the reaction to it that can either create a positive or negative out come. 13/2/2023 26 Causes of disputes in rural communities Underlying these is the concept of ‘we’ versus ‘them’. In other words, in-groups versus out-groups Basis is emotions: think back to the characteristics of rural people. 13/2/2023 27 Sources of conflict In general people often hold the perception that if another’s interest is met then their interest wont be met. Disputes and conflicts over land and resources in rural areas are common Poverty Different interests are a source of conflict: 1. Social interest: Issues of social positioning such as class, status, roles, etc 2. Cultural interest: the practices that come with a people’s way of life eg festivals, 3. Political interest: formal governance and traditional governance linked with struggle for power and leading to factions. 4. Religious interest 13/2/2023 28 Managing disputes Identifying peoples interests An understanding that rural people have a strong sense of history which is embedded in their historical origin. This history binds them to the land. Provision of alternative livelihoods sources Negotiation: the parties are the main actors; they identify their own needs and interests, and agree on mutually advantageous solutions. Negotiation demands much collaboration and is based on the assumption that the parties have the goodwill needed to communicate during the entire process. It allows for solutions that may be more satisfactory and easily applicable, as the parties in conflict develop these solutions themselves. 13/2/2023 29 Cont’d Mediation: the parties play a role, but are supported by facilitation services of a third party called mediator. Mediation is a process of voluntary consultation between conflicting parties that is managed by one independent third party or more who facilitate communication and try to help the parties find a solution themselves. Conciliation: The key within this alternative conflict management method consists of a conciliator’s function in reconciling the initially diverging positions of the conflicting parties. The main difference with mediation is that the conciliator makes proposals to help find a solution to the problem. 13/2/2023 30