Once the Villages Are Gone, the Culture Is Gone - Coursework Example

Once the Villagers is Gone, the Culture is Gone? I. ment of the research question In China, the rapid urbanization results in more and more people from villages going to live in cities. This is because greater job and educational opportunities are available in the cities. However, as more and more people are leaving the villages the rural culture is also fading. The research statement for this paper is “Once the villagers are gone, the culture in gone”. II. Urbanization as sociological concern Urbanization in any country leads to rapid growth of per capita income and economic prosperity. In spite of all the positive effects of urbanization, it cannot be said that growing population in the urban areas indicates a progression in the level of human development. In many cases, urbanization can cause unequal development in different segments of population and also urbanization may result in the sacrifice of interests of certain segments of population. Urbanization can become an issue of social concern since increasing number of farmers move to the cities to get job opportunities in factories. This causes a drastic change in the organizational structure of the society. Moreover, social relationships that existed in the villages get severed as rural people make new settlements in the cities. This creates disorientation among the new urban population as it becomes difficult for them to adapt urban values which can lead to disturbing behavioral patterns. As social relationships get dissolved, conflicts become common among the people. Villagers settling in the cities experience isolation and feel deprived as they attempt to adjust to the fast pace of urban life along with increased stress. Criminal activities and suicides can increase as a result of urbanization as more number of people become subject to anxiety and depression (China Development Research Foundation, 10). III. Importance of urbanization in today’s society Urbanization is essentially the movement of people from rural areas to the cities as a result of which urban areas become more densely populated than the rural areas. When people settle in the cities in order to pursue the urban advantages, the rural areas gradually lose their traditions and culture. In 1800, urban population of the world stood at 3 percent. However, rapid urbanization in the nineteenth century resulted in 13 percent of global population settling in the cities by 1900 and the figure rose to 29 percent in 1950. According to the CIA, in 2013 the figure stands at 51 percent (Ferrante, 348). Every country achieves high income and economic growth through substantial urbanization. There is a high positive relation between urbanization and income growth as it has been seen that countries which have middle class status have 50 percent urban population while countries which have high income status have 70-80 percent urban population. Urbanization is perceived more as a complement to agriculture than as a disadvantage. Although enhanced agricultural income can facilitate the poor population, it is nevertheless true that only high productivity in the cities can contribute to massive economic development (Spence et al., x-xi). IV. Survey questions 1. Sex： A. Male       B. Female 2. Age：_______ 3. Did you enjoy village? A. Very much    B. A lot    C. So So   D. Not at all 4. Did you enjoy your local language?   A. Yes          B. No 5. Why people choose to leave village and come to live in the city？   A. For better education of the children   B. Because of the moving of the government   C. The market in the city is big enough to earn more money.   D. It is too hard to be a farmer and it cannot make great wealth. 6. Education background：   A. Primary school or below B. Junior school C. Senior high school D. College E. University or above 7. When there is any activity in your village, will you go back for it? A. Yes B. Probably yes    C. It depends     C. No 8. After you leave the village, has your living standard improved?  A. Yes B. No 9. What do you think is the main difference between work at home and outside the village? A. SalaryB. Security  C. Working environmentD.Other aspect 10. If the salary for working in the village and outside is more or less the same, will you choose to work at home or work outside?   A. Work outsideB. Work in the local place C. Not sure 11. Which one do you think is happier, living in the village or living in the city? A. CityB. Village  C. It depends 12. Do you think people should place attention to the loss of the village culture?  A. YesB. It doesn’t matterC. No 13. If you have a local dialect, will you teach your kids the local dialect if you live in the city?  A. Yes        B. I don’t knowC. No 14. Do you think the government should pay attention to the loss of the village culture and to improve the life in the village?  A. Yes B. I don’t knowC. No 15. What do you think is more important, the traditional culture or wealth? A. Traditional cultureB.Wealth 16. Do you think the traditional culture of China is losing? A. YesB. Have no idea 17. Will you help your children in the future to learn more about the traditional culture and tell them about the importance of keeping them? A. YesB. Not reallyC. No 18. Is it because the government is taking use of their land that people move from village to the city? A. YesB. Part of the factorsC.No 19. Will you feel sad when you see the culture of the hometown is losing gradually?    A. YesB. No 20. if you are a millionaire, will you place some effort on helping the traditional culture of your hometown, such as donating money to do some activities？    A. Yes       B. I don’t know      C. Absolutely no V. Methodology Research is the most important part of any assignment and although this can be quite intimidating, a scientific approach can help the researcher to conduct an efficient and conclusive study. The research technique should be able to fulfill the required objectives of the assignment and arrive at a proper conclusion. The researcher must collect data from empirical studies i.e. directly from the field, and analyze the data to draw conclusion. A researcher must plan his approach according to the nature of the topic. The data collected must conform to the research question and serve the purpose of the research. For this paper, primary research which means a survey conducted by the researcher, i.e. asking questions to participants and collecting data based on the answers. The survey was conducted on 23 Chinese women and 17 Chinese men who have previously lived in villages but are now settled in cities. Since primary data are collected by the researcher from first hand sources, the data collected are authentic, specific and up-to-date. Also, the questions can be framed specifically for the research question. VI. Result of the method A survey conducted by distributing questionnaires gives the researcher the satisfaction of personally facing the participants and collecting information according to the research question. Because of the changing nature of lives of individuals, primary researcher can pick up the latest information and new ideas related to the research topic. In this research, the survey conducted has brought forwards the cultural perspectives of villagers who have settled in cities. VII. Overview Urbanization is considered as one of the oldest and all encompassing process of bringing social changes in a country. Urbanization can be regarded as forceful bundle of processes that occurs from people’s adaptation to changing values and the factors that differentiate urban and rural cultural perspectives. It is an interrelated set of processes. At the macro level, urbanization means movement of large number of people from rural areas to urban areas. The major reasons for people to leave behind their traditional places and culture are enhanced job opportunities, better educational facilities for children, higher salary and better working environment. However, the impact of urbanization on the society and culture varies largely between older industrialized nations and developed nations. At micro level, urbanization is defined as expansion of urban areas known as urban sprawl. In older industrialized nations, such urban sprawls emerge because of people striving to pursue alternative forms of human activities for enhanced lifestyle. Even thirty five years back, China was more of an agricultural nation and only less that 20 percent of the population dwelled in cities. However, in the subsequent decades millions of people shifted their base from rural areas to urban areas in pursue of various job opportunities in factories that produced goods for import and also in construction sites. Till 1978, each Chinese city had less than ten million people while only two cities had population between 5 to 10 million. By 2010, there were six Chinese cities that were populated by 10 million people while 10 cities had population of 5 to 10 million. In 2011, China had more people living in urban areas than rural areas for the first time (Roberts). The Chinese government focuses more on enhancing urbanization by encouraging more people to move to the cities. The reason behind this is that development of urban areas can contribute towards economic growth and stability. Currently, China’s economy is more dependent on foreign investment which means its stability is always at risk. The idea is to create strong domestic market which can happen only with more people settling in the cities. Only domestic demand can make drastic development in the economic condition of China, and the greatest potential of domestic demand is urbanization (Roberts). With more people moving to the cities, the rural culture is getting lost since people soon adapt to the urban culture and lifestyle. According to Feng Jicai, a well-known author and scholar, “Chinese culture has traditionally been rural-based. Once the villages are gone, the culture is gone” (Johnson). This is happening at an alarming rate with number of villages in China dropping from 3.7 million in 2000 to 2.6 million in 2010. Previously, people moved on their own accord for better job facilities. However, now government is promoting urban opportunities to encourage more people to shift their base to urban areas. Chinese leaders believe that more and more urbanization will lead to greater economic development and modernization. Today, rural culture is so much left behind that calling someone a farmer is equal to insulting that person since it indicates “backwardness and ignorance” (Johnson). VIII. The charts given in this paper reflect the percentage figure of the participants in response to the questions. IX. Findings and conclusion It is the traditional culture of a country that reflects its psychology and identity in the global arena. It has become clear from this survey that the Chinese people respect the traditional culture of their hometown. Although urbanization is rapidly increasing in the country, it is mostly because majority of people (95 percent according to this survey) believe that after settling in the cities their lives have drastically improved. When the respondents were asked whether they will help their children to learn about traditional cultures, almost all of them replied in the positive. This proves that the Chinese people want to keep their culture alive in the hearts of the future generations. Today, people are leaving their hometown because there are better job opportunities in the city and also their children can get better education. Almost 75 percent of the respondents said they moved to the cities for higher salaries and better working environment. This survey has put forward the fact that Chinese people from rural areas are moving to the cities in search of better lifestyles, better educational opportunities for their children and secured financial future. However, their cultural roots remain strong since as high as 65 percent of the respondents said they traditional culture is more important than wealth. Indeed, 87 percent of the respondents said that if they have the financial strength then they will definitely donate money to develop cultural activities in their hometown. X. Future research This survey has brought forward the cultural perspective of Chinese people who have moved from rural areas to urban areas. It is clear that although cities offer greater educational and job opportunities that draw people to the cities, it is nevertheless true that they are interested in keeping the culture of their hometown alive. However, future research needs to survey more number of people to get more accurate picture of the people’s perspectives regarding traditional culture. Moreover, it is also needed that researchers should base their survey in other countries to understand the standing of rural culture and traditions in the hearts of people in all countries. References China Development Research Foundation. China’s New Urbanization Strategy, N.Y.: Routledge, 2013 Ferrante, Joan. Sociology: A Global Perspective, Cengage Learning, 2014 Johnson, Ian, “In China, “Once the Villagers are Gone, the Culture is Gone”, The New York Times, February 1, 2014, April 29, 2014 from: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/02/world/asia/once-the-villages-are-gone-the-culture-is-gone.html?_r=2 Roberts, Dexter, “China wants its people in the cities”, Businessweek, March 20, 2014, April 30, 2014 from: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-03-20/china-wants-its-people-in-the-cities Spence, Michael, Annez, Patricia Clarke & Buckley, Robert M. Urbanization and Growth, Washington: World Bank Publications, 2009 Read More