Rural Sociology (Repaired)

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What Is

Sociology?

““Sociology is the study

of social action”. (MexWeber)

“sociology is the scientificstudy of society”. (August

Comte)

““Sociology isthe studyof socialfactsthroughsocialinstitutions

”.

(EmileDurhiem)

“Sociology is thescientificstudy ofsocialaspects ofhuman life”.

(!ac "oung)

“Sociology is thestudy of humansli#ing together”.

($onnies)

“Sociology is thestudy of social

grou%s on the&asis of socialinteraction”.

(Simmel)

“Sociology isthe study ofcollecti#e&eha#ior”.

('ar urgess )

INTRODUCTION TO RURAL SOCIOLOGY

Introduction to Rural Sociology

What is Sociology?

Sociology, in the broadest sense, is the study of society. Sociology is a very broad discipline thatexamines how humans interact with each other and how human behaviour is shaped by social

structures (groups, communities, organizations), social categories (age, sex, class, race, etc.), andsocial institutions (politics, religion, education, etc.). The basic foundation of sociology is the belief that a person's attitudes, actions, and opportunities are shaped by all of these aspects of society.

The sociological perspective is fourfold !ndividuals belong to groups" groups influence our behaviour" groups ta#e on characteristics that are independent of their members (i.e. the whole isgreater than the sum of its parts)" and sociologists focus on behavior patterns of groups, such asdifferences based on sex, race, age, class, etc.

Origins

Sociology originated from and was influenced by the industrial revolution during the earlynineteenth century. There are seven ma$or founders of sociology %ugust &omte, ... *uois, mile *ur#heim, +arriet artineau, -arl arx, +erbert Spencer, and ax eber.

%ugust &omte is thought of as the /ather of Sociology as he coined the term sociology in0121. +e believed that society should be understood and studied as it was, rather than what itought to be. +e was the first to recognize that the path to understanding the world and society

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The following are some of the ma$or areas of research and application within the field of sociology

• Glo&ali'ation( The sociology of globalization focuses on the economic, political, and

cultural aspects and implications of a globally integrated society. any sociologists focus

on the way capitalism and consumer goods connect people all over the world, migrationflows, and issues of ine=uality in global society.

• Race and )thnicity6 The sociology of race and ethnicity examines the social, political,

and economic relations between races and ethnicities at all levels of society. Topicscommonly studied include racism, residential segregation, and the differences in social processes between racial and ethnic groups.

• Consu"!tion( The sociology of consumption is a subfield of sociology which places

consumption at the center of research =uestions, studies, and social theory. 3esearchers inthis subfield focus on the role of consumer goods in our everyday lives, their relationshipto our individual and group identities, in our relationships with other people, in our culture and traditions, and the implications of consumer lifestyles.

• *a"ily( The sociology of family examines things such as marriage, divorce, childrearing, and domestic abuse. Specifically, sociologists study how these aspects of thefamily are defined in different cultures and times and how they affect individuals andinstitutions.

• Social Ine+uality( The study of social ine=uality examines the une=ual distribution of

power, privilege, and prestige in society. These sociologists study differences andine=ualities in social class, race, and gender.

• ,no-ledge(The sociology of #nowledge is a subfield devoted to researching and

theorizing the socially situated processes of #nowledge formation and#nowing. Sociologists in this subfield focus on how institutions, ideology, and discourse(how we tal# and write) shape the process of coming to #now the world, and theformation of values, beliefs, common sense, and expectations. any focus on theconnection between power and #nowledge.

• De"ogra!hy( *emography refers to a population's composition. Some of the basic

concepts explored in demography include birth rate, fertility rate, death rate, infantmortality rate, and migration. *emographers are interested in how and why thesedemographics vary between societies, groups, and communities.

• .ealth And Illness( Sociologists who study health and illness focus on the social effects

of, and societal attitudes towards, illnesses, diseases, disabilities, and the aging process.This is not to be confused with medical sociology, which focuses on medical institutionssuch as hospitals, clinics, and physician offices as well as the interactions among physicians.

• Wor/ And Industry( The sociology of wor# concerns the implications of technological

change, globalization, labor mar#ets, wor# organization, managerial practices, andemployment relations. These sociologists are interested in wor#force trends and how theyrelate to the changing patterns of ine=uality in modern societies as well as how they affectthe experiences of individuals and families.

• )ducation( The sociology of education is the study of how educational institutions

determine social structures and experiences. !n particular, sociologists might loo# at how

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different aspects of educational institutions (teacher attitudes, peer influence, schoolclimate, school resources, etc.) affect learning and other outcomes.

• Religion( The sociology of religion concerns the practice, history, development, and roles

of religion in society. These sociologists examine religious trends over time, how variousreligions affect social interactions both within the religion and outside of it, and relations

within religious institutions.

Rural Sociology

3ural Sociology is a specialized field of sociology. !t is the study of life in rural environment,which systematically studies rural communities to discover their conditions and tendencies toformulate the principles of progress. !t is limited to various aspects of rural society in the studyof rural social relationships.

%eaning o# Rural Sociology

%ccording to *0 Sturat the sociology of rural life is a study of rural population, rural socialorganization and the social processes operative in rural society.

%ccording to Desai 123456, 3ural Sociology is the science of rural society.So, it is clear that rural sociology is related to the organized and scientific study of the life of rural people and their personal inter6relationships.

The #nowledge of rural sociology is very important in agricultural extension for the followingreasons The basic purpose of agricultural extension is changing the behaviour of farmers as

desired. Therefore, #nowledge and understanding of rural people (farmers) is essential. !tis the rural sociology which provides this #nowledge and understanding about the farmer vis6>6vis rural social system in which he lives.

!t helps in devising an agricultural extension plans for farmers.

!t helps in identifying the groups, individuals, organisations and leaders.

esides this, the interrelationship between agricultural extension and rural sociology alsohighlights the importance or rural sociology in agricultural extension.

So"e o# the !oints shared &y "ost o# the rural sociologists7 econo"ists and social

anthro!ologists are as under$

20 Social li#e all oer the -orld is diided into t-o diisions$

(i) 3ural division, and(ii) 4rban division.

Though, there is interaction between the two divisions, each division has its identifiable traits.

?. !t is further agreed that the social life in rural division is conditioned by the rural environment physical, social and cultural. 3ural life has a historicity, composition and interaction. Thisspecificity and individuality ma#es the rural division highly distinct.

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2. %ll the scholars share the view the prime ob$ective of rural sociology should be to ma#e ascientific, systematic and comprehensive study of the rural social organisation, of its structure,functions and ob$ective tendencies of development and on the basis of such a study to discover the law of its development.

@. !t is agreed that in the developing parts of the world, such as Aatin %merica, %frica and %sia, anew significance of rural sociology has emerged. %ll the developing countries are engaged in thetas# of nation6building. Such an ob$ective invariably includes the development of the people atthe grass root who are closer to the soil.

De#initions8Descri!tion o# Sociological Ter"s

%t the introductory level in many universities in particular and in %frica in general manystudents of rural sociology have not had any previous important learning experience in the areaof sociology. The aim of this is to enhance a basic understanding of the terms used in thediscussion of sociology by experts in the field. Some of the terms are defined and described below.

Rural Sociology

!t is the scientific study of rural life. !t is the systematic body of #nowledge which has resultedfrom the application of the scientific method to the study of the rural society, social processes, basic social systems, society organisation, institutions and group dynamics. !t is a disciplinewhich studies the influence of physical, biological and cultural factors on the sociology of groupsof persons considered to be rural or non6urban. 3ural sociology might be the sociology of rurallife, environmental sociology or social ecology, the sociology of rural development.

Rural

This is defined as remote area or place far away from the seat of government and having noverified infrastructural facilities, that is, the countryside and the people living in the villages(umdi ?::B). !t also refers to areas with low population density, small size, and relativeisolation, where the ma$or economic activity is largely agricultural production. The areasconsidered rural are the settlements that have between 0:: and ?:: households.

Culture

!t is one of the characteristics of a society. !t is a social phenomenon that is learned through thecollective experiences of members of a society. Therefore, new members of a society are raisedwithin the given culture and are thus different from members of other societies. hat membersof the society learn consists of the ways and means by which the groups deal with the basis andrecurring facts of their existence.

&ulture is a social phenomenon which is learned through the collective exercise of members of asociety from generation to generation through education and its special forms termedsocialisation. asic aspects of culture such as ideas, beliefs and values are abstract and are callednon6material culture. +owever, non6material cultures are reflected in tangible or material culturesuch as housing, clothing and technology.

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• eating a male child with a broom will ma#e him impotent.

These are two #inds of beliefs1a6 Su!erstitions

These are derived from ignorance or fear of the un#nown. /or example, among rural people

sighting a giant rat, a nocturnal animal in day light portends the death of a family member" achild fed on egg will grow up a deviant (stealing).

1&6 Ta&oos

These are practices or ob$ects forbidden because of beliefs attached to them. /or example, someanimals such as sna#es, fish, and civet cats are not eaten in different rural communities. %lso, itis forbidden for any child to spea# bad words against his parents.

;o-er

!t comprises influence and authority and it is the ability to influence or control the action of others in a social system. /or example, the village head has a lot of influence and authority in his

area of $urisdiction. +e is the only one mandated by the people to enforce obedience into anymember of the community that goes out of social order. The village subheads have power but noauthority. They can influence the actions of other community members as well as that of theoverall head of the house.

:oundary %aintenance

!s the process by which certain groups of people who are native to their registered domiciliarychoose to maintain their identity within the larger group. They do this in order to preserve their cultural values and norms, so that they will not be submerged by the natives or the larger groupin the community. /or example, all the Sabon Fari area in the northern part of Cigeria isoccupied by the Goruba. Similarly, all the Sabo areas in Goruba land are occupied by the +ausa.

This is done so that the people can preserve their cultural heritage and prevent it from beingsuppressed by the larger society. !nter6marriages between these two groups are not allowed, butas a result of civilisation, the situation is now gradually changing.

Syste"ic Lin/age

This process can be made possible by providing common facilities for the two groups possiblyon a neutral ground. %ny device that can create communication lin# between the two groups can be utilised, e.g. a demonstration plot, housing facilities, hospitals, a place of worship and anyother important facilities that can bring the two groups together.

Systemic lin#age can be described as using one stone to #ill two birds. The system is necessary

for sociological wor# because of the lac# of resources to provide different facilities for differentgroups in a community.

!n carrying out this process, it is very essential for the rural sociologist to study the prevailingsituation in the community. This system may not wor# where the relationship between thedifferent social groups have not been very cordial. !f the relationship between the groups iscordial, the system will save the resources, time, and energy of the sociologists.

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Indigenous ,no-ledge

very society or culture has its #nowledge systems including #nowledge that enables membersto cope with daily life whether in the areas of a=uaculture, health, education and economics or any other area of human endeavour. The term indigenous #nowledge was first used to describe#nowledge that is generated and transmitted by communities overtime, in an effort to cope with

their own agro6ecological and socio6economic environments. The term has been variouslyreferred to as traditional #nowledge, local #nowledge, community #nowledge or rural peoplesH#nowledge. Therefore, the new attention being given to traditional #nowledge system has givenrise to new areas of study viz ethno6medicine (traditional medicine), ethno6veterinary medicine,ethno6botany, ethno6husbandry among others. The implication is that in the =uest for modernisation, there are certain #nowledge5practices or innovations existing in developingcommunities5societies that can be adopted into estern systems in order to ensure sustainability.

!ndigenous #nowledge (!.-) is local #nowledge. !t is uni=ue #nowledge to a given culture or society. Some indigenous #nowledge is not written down. !t is held in peopleHs heads andtransmitted from one generation to the next by word of mouth. %reas of concern about

indigenous #nowledge are• !ndigenous technologies

• -nowledge systems (such as taxonomies)

• *ecision ma#ing systems (such as what crops to grow on certain soils)

• Irganisational structures (such as farmersH groups).

Other :asic Conce!ts8De#initions

Change Agent

These are persons who attempt to facilitate changes in the behaviour of their constituents or areas.

Cos"o!olitesThey are individuals who are and often interact with urban communities.

)thno Centris"

!t is the tendency to value highly a personHs own culture and regard it as superior to the culturesof others.

Incest Ta&oo

This is the prohibition of marriage or sexual intercourse between certain relatives such as mother and son, brother and sister.

Institution!t is a structural aspect of culture which satisfies some fundamental needs and functions of asociety.

So"e :asic Characteristics o# Rural Sociology

0. 3ural sociology is multi6dimensional" it has orientation to sociology and social anthropology.!t has different traditions in 4S, urope and %sia. 3ural sociology in %sia is more sociology and

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social anthropology than rural sociology. !t draws sub$ect matter, scientific nature andmethodology from both sociology and social anthropology.

?. y design and functioning rural sociology, is interdisciplinary.

2. Sociology studies interactions and interaction systems. hen this perspective is applied to theanalysis of rural society it becomes rural sociology.

@. 3ural sociology is the study of small places, such as villages and tribal habitations. Theempirical abstractions made out of the little or small places help to construct theoreticalconstructions the studies made by Aevi6Strauss, alinows#i, 3adcliffe6rown, oas andourdieu elaborately show that theories of repute have come out of the studies of grass root people6people living in highlands, forests and small villages.

3ural Sociology as the name itself indicates is that branch of Sociology that studies the society of the villages or 3ural Society. This branch of sociology studies the social interaction, institutions

and activities and social changes that ta#e place in the rural society. !t is a systematic study of therural society. The interactions and the changes that are seen in the rural aspect of the society arestudied under this branch. This is what *r. *esai has said

73ural Sociology is the science of the law of development of 3ural Society.8*ifficult to separate 4rban and 3ural Society although 3ural Sociology studies the rural life andthe development in rural Society, but it is difficult to separate completely the urban society andthe 3ural Society, but it is difficult to separate completely the urban society and the 3uralSociety. Eeople living in 3ural Society may be progressive and urban in outloo# while peopleliving in cities may have complete rural or village outloo#. %nderson has said

7hatever may be pleasant for ruralism, urbanism seems to be a border6crossing phenomenon.very modern community is urban to a degree. Ine can study a city and limit the research to themunicipal area, but urbanism itself is not so confined. Ine can study the rural community usingthe city as a bac#ground for rural urban comparison.8 ut a line cannot be drawn between theurban and the rural.8

Thus 3ural Sociology does not study the 3ural Society. /orm a geographical point of view, but itstudies the 3ural Society from a particular angle or point of view. There are certain standards of rural and urban society, and 3ural Sociology studies the rural social life and the standards andthe factors that influence the social structure of the 3ural Society.

De#inition o# Rural Sociology$ different sociologists have defined rural sociology in differentways. Fiven below are a few definitions of this branch of sociology26 Rural Sociology as de#ined &y Sanderson

3ural Sociology is the sociology of rural life in the rural environment.8

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<6 Rural sociology as de#ined &y A0R0 Desai$

3ural Sociology is the science of 3ural Society in general can aid us in discovering the speciallaws governing a particular society. 3ural Sociology is the science of the laws of thedevelopment of 3ural Society.

=6 T0L0 S"ith has de#ined the Rural Sociology in the #ollo-ing -ords$Some investigators study social phenomena that are present only in or largely confined to therural environment, to persons engaged in agricultural occupation. Such sociological facts and principles as one derived from the study of the rural social relationship may be referred to as3ural Sociology.

>6 *0 Stuart Cha!in has de#ined Rural Sociology as gien &elo-0

7The sociology of rural life is a study of the rural population rural social oragainisation, and thesocial process comparative, in 3ural Society.8

6 Rural Sociology as de#ined &y Lo-ry Nelson$

7The sub$ect matter of 3ural Sociology is descriptive unless of course of various #ind as theyexist in rural environment.8

@6 :ertrand has de#ined Rural Sociology as gien &elo-$

7!n its broadest definition, 3ural Sociology is the study of human relationship in ruralenvironment.

Rural Sociology

3ural Sociology is therefore the study of rural environment and social facts and socialinteractions that are to be found in 3ural Society. !t is the study of the countryHs rural populationin the mass. !t is concerned to answer the large and important =uestions confronting the countryat large as they affect to that population.

%s a scientific study, it studies the social organisation, structure and set up. !t provides us that#nowledge about the rural social phenomena which can help us in ma#ing contribution to thedevelopment.

Origin o# Rural Sociology$

3ural Sociology, comparatively spea#ing is a new branch of sociology which saw its origin in4nited States of %merica around 01?:. ithin the century a good deal of literature had been produced about this branch of #nowledge and main contributors to the development of 3uralSociology are &harles %nderson of the &hicago university, utter fields of the ichigan4niversity, rnest urnham of the ichigan state &ollege, ;ohn orris Fillian of the Corth*ermot 4niversity, ar#ing +. Fiddings of the &olumbia 4niversity and Thomas Cixon &arver of the +arvard 4niversity.

!t was Eresident 3oosevelt who through the appointment of Jcountry Aife &ommissionH gave agood encouragement and fillip to the development of the 3ural Sociology in the ?:th century.The report of this &ommission was aimed at encouraging the studies of the 3ural Society andcan rightly be called Jagna &arta of the 3ural Sociology.H

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!n 090<, the department of 3ural Sociology was set up by the %merican Sociological Society andin 0909" J% 3ural Sociology *epartmentH was established under the aegis of the Jureau of %griculture conomicsH. *r.&.;. Folpin headed the department and the ureau. Aater on, itsname changed to J3ural Eopulation and 3ural Aife.H The Social Science 3esearch &ouncil notonly encourages but helps the research of study of the 3ural Sociology.

!n 092:, due to depression this branch of sociology got a good deal of fillip and encouragement.!n 092B, a =uarterly (magazine) called. 3ural Sociology was published in 0921 3uralSociological Society was established. Then came the Second orld ar which brought a gooddeal of devastation and destruction.This destruction had to be mending and reconstructed. This reconstruction wor#, brought further encouragement of J3ural Sociology J%merica under its Jpoint @H programme sent ruralsociologists to wor# in under6developed countries and science then 3ural Sociology has beengrowing and gaining ground every day.

Ne-ly Ac+uired Signi#icance o# Rural Sociology

Ine of the common observations of the masses of people in the society is that the village peopleare excessively immobile. They die on the same soil where they are born. The village society ischaracterised as highly static society.

ut, this #ind of common understanding is, believed in the context of large scale five year plansand liberalisation and the revolution in mass media. The earlier village life which did not haveany political and economic power, has now ac=uired adult franchise, democracy and acceleratingtransformation.

*uring the last five decades rural people have witnessed massive changes. Study of rural life,now, no more continues to be full of natural life, hills and forests, streams and rivers, andfol#lore and fol#6tales. The village life has today reached a stage where the glamour of urban lifehas made its inroads inside the village life.

*espite the inroads that urban society has made in the rural areas, however, the facilities,comforts and the sources of income found available in urban community are in a degree wantingin rural community. !t is this disparity which ma#es rural communities different from urbancommunities. %dmittedly, in the domain of religion and culture, the difference in the twocommunities might not appear conspicuous.

hatever advanced societies we see today, whether 4S or /rench, they originate from the villagesociety. The general process is that rural society turns into a town society, then shifts to city,mega city and metropolitan community. +owever, the systematic origin of rural sociology goes bac# to 09th century. Fenerally, when the feudal society too# to capitalism, it gave rise to thesystematic study of rural sociology emphasising the impact of industrialisation and capitalism onrural economy and the subse=uent need for studying rural society

A0R0 Desai o&seresThe impact of the capitalist6industrial civilisation upon the rural economy and the socialstructure in various parts of the world forced the attention of scholars to the study of the trends of

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Sociologists loo# for relationships because we want to understand the causes of trends and problems in society so that we can ma#e recommendations for how to address them. %t the coreof sociology is the recognition that social structures and forces, li#e those described above andothers too, shape a personHs worldview, beliefs, values, expectations, sense of what is normal,

and right and wrong. !n doing so, social structures and forces shape our experiences, how weinteract with other people, and ultimately, the tra$ectories and outcomes of our lives.

ost social structures and forces are not immediately visible to us, but we can find them whenwe loo# beneath the surface of everyday life. !ntroducing students to the field, Eeter erger wrote, 7!t can be said that the first wisdom of sociology is this things are not what they seem.8The sociological perspective urges us to as# the unas#ed =uestions about the things we consider normal, natural, and inevitable, in order to illuminate the underlying social structures and forcesthat produce them.

Sociologists see# complex answers to what many would consider simple =uestions. erger

suggested that there are four #ey =uestions at the heart of sociology that allow us to see theconnections between everyday life and social structure and forces.

0. hat are people doing with each other hereM?. hat are their relationships to each otherM2. +ow are these relationships organized in institutionsM@. hat are the collective ideas that move men (sic) and institutionsM erger suggested thatas#ing these =uestions transforms the familiar into something otherwise unseen, and leads to 7atransformation of consciousness.8

&. right ills called this transformation of consciousness the sociological imagination. henwe examine the world through this lens, we see how our current moment and personal biographies sit within the tra$ectory of history. 4sing the sociological imagination toexamine our own lives, we might =uestion how social structures, forces, and relationships havegiven us certain privileges, li#e access to wealth and prestigious schools" or, how social forcesli#e racism might ma#e us disadvantaged as compared with others.

The sociological perspective always includes historical context in its view of society, because if we want to understand why things are the way they are, we have to understand how they got thatway. So, sociologists often ta#e the long view, by, for example, loo#ing at the shifting nature of the class structure over time, how the relationship between the economy and culture has evolvedover centuries, or, how limited access to rights and resources in the past continues to impacthistorically marginalized people today.

ills believed that the sociological imagination can empower people to ma#e change in their lives and in society because it allows us to see that what we often perceive as 7personaltroubles,8 li#e not ma#ing enough money to support ourselves or our families, are actually public issues problems that course through society and are a product of flaws in the socialstructure, li#e inade=uate minimum wage levels.

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The empowering nature of the sociological imagination points to another fundamentallyimportant aspect of the sociological perspective that society and all that happens within it ismade by people. Society is a social product, and as such, its structures, its institutions, norms,ways of life, and problems are changeable. ;ust as social structures and forces act on us andshape our lives, we act on them with our choices and actions. Throughout our daily lives, in

mundane and sometimes momentous ways, our behavior either validates or reproduces society asit is, or it challenges it and rema#es it into something else.

)a"!le o# A!!lying the Sociological I"agination

e can apply the concept of the sociological imagination to any behavior. Ta#e the simple act of drin#ing a cup of coffee for example. e could argue that coffee is not $ust a drin#, but rather ithas symbolic value as part of day6to6day social rituals.

Iften the ritual of drin#ing coffee is much more important than the act of consuming the coffeeitself. /or example, two people who meet 7to have coffee8 together are probably more interestedin meeting and chatting than in what they drin#. !n all societies, eating and drin#ing are

occasions for social interaction and the performance of rituals, which offer a great deal of sub$ectmatter for sociological study.

% second dimension to a cup of coffee has to do with its use as a drug. &offee contains caffeine,which is a drug that has stimulating effects on the brain. /or many, this is the reason why theydrin# coffee. !t is interesting sociologically to =uestion why coffee addicts are not considereddrug users in estern cultures while they might be in other cultures. Ai#e alcohol, coffee is asocially acceptable drug whereas mari$uana is not. !n other cultures, however, mari$uana use istolerated, but both coffee and alcohol use is frowned upon.

Still a third dimension to a cup of coffee is tied to social and economic relationships. Thegrowing, pac#aging, distributing, and mar#eting of coffee are global enterprises that affect manycultures, social groups, and organizations within those cultures. These things often ta#e placethousands of miles away from the coffee drin#er. any aspects of our lives are now affected byworldwide trading exchanges and communications and studying these global transactions isimportant to sociologists.

% fourth dimension to a cup of coffee relates to past social and economic development. Thecoffee relationships currently set in motion were not always there. Ai#e tea, bananas, potatoes,and sugar, coffee only became widely consumed after the nineteenth century. These relationshipsdeveloped gradually, and might well brea# down in the future due to change.

;ossi&ilities #or the *uture

There is another aspect to the sociological imagination which ills discussed in his boo# andwhich he laid the most emphasis, which are our possibilities for the future. Sociology not onlyhelps us analyze current and existing patterns of social life, but it also helps us to see some of the possible futures open to us. Through the sociological imagination, we can see not only what is

the case, but also what could become the case should we desire to ma#e it that way.

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NATUR) AND SCO;) O* RURAL SOCIOLOGY

Nature o# Rural Sociology

Sociology is considered as a social science. Though, there are debates on the nature of sociologyin international social sciences. y and large, sociology is a science. There are scholars li#e &.right ills, Eeter erger and others who consider sociology as an JimaginationH only as an art.

The debate is not new. !t starts from the period when social sciences parted their company with philosophy.

!n its earlier period, sociology was considered as positivistic science. %t a later stage, it wasrealised that sociology could not be li#e any natural sciences because of its sub$ect matter.ithout entering into the debatable nature of sociology it could be observed that the nature of sociology is scientific.

There is a controversy whether the sociology can be regards as science with his own sub$ectmatter. Science may be defined as body of systematized #nowledge or synthesized body of #nowledge. !n the collection of facts for any #nowledge, when we apply a scientific method it is

called as a science. Science goes with the method and not with the sub$ect matter. Scientificmethod consists of systematic observation, classification and interpretation of data. !t is believedthat rural sociology employs the scientific method.

The nature of rural sociology as a science can determine on the basis of following facts20 Use o# Scienti#ic %ethod$ !t is uniform fact that rural sociology employs the scientificmethod. %lmost all the methods of scientific study viz. observations, interview schedule,=uestionnaire method, case study, statistical methods etc. are employed in the study of ruralsociology. !n the absence of scientific approach the village problems cannot be studied. In suchstudies we formulate generalized principles and laws on which we forecast future trends.

<0 *actual Study$ !t studies the social events, social relationship and process in a factual manner.!t also studies and analyzes the facts and the underlying general principles and theories.

=0 Discoery o# Cause and )##ect$ 3ural sociology formulates its theories and laws on the basisof cause and effect relationship.

>0 Uniersal La-s$ The laws formulated by rural sociology are universal in nature. ecauseunder normal or similar condition they prove to be correct and produce the same result.

0 ;redictions$ Since the laws formulated by rural sociology by rural sociology are based oncause and effect relationship. !t is possible to predict the result.

In the basis of conditions enumerated above, it is said that rural sociology is by nature a science.+owever, there are some factors which limits the scientific sociology is by nature a scientificnature of the sub$ect.

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Li"itations o# Rural Sociology

0. Aac# of Ib$ectivity !t is not possible to have ob$ectivity in the study of rural sociology as in case of natural science.hile in the study of rural sociology and its problems the investigator continues to remain as a part of the society he is studying. +e has own ideas and are influenced by the sub$ect matter.

<0 Lac/ o# La&oratory3ural sociology is not studied in laborites as a natural science. ecause of this it is not possibleto verify and test the theory and principles of rural sociology.

=0 Lac/ o# %easure"ent There is no definite and standard measurement for measuring units of rural sociology.

>0 Lac/ o# )actness!t is lac# of ob$ectivity and different to follow its laws and principles universally. They are notacceptable at every point.

0 Lac/ o# ;redictionecause of lac#s ob$ectivity and exactness the principles formulated by the rural sociology arenot always correct. %s such predictions are not possible.

@0 !t is not possible to draw a line between the rural and urban areas. There is no sharpdemarcation to tell where rural area ends and urban area begins.

40 The science of rural sociology is not fully developed.

Characteristics o# Rural Sociology$

0. 3ural sociology is of recent origin and a very new discipline. +ere sociological principles areapplied for studying rural society.?. 3ural sociology is multi6dimensional in character.2. 3ural sociology is scientific and systematic in character.@. !t has ac=uired an inter6disciplinary status over a period of time.K. !t emphasises on micro studies.B. !t employs comparative method.The development of rural sociology in !ndia has not attained a scientific level. !t is to be hopedthat there will be a development in this direction in the future.

I"!ortance o# the Study o# Rural Sociology

The importance of rural sociology can be evaluated properly when it realize the importance of rural society. 3ural society presents a scientific picture of rural life. Dillages are important because they are the springs to feed urban areas. %s long as the villages and the rural societyassume importance, the rural sociology shall continue to ac=uire importance. an has an urge to#now human relationship and this can be satisfied through rural sociology. The value of ruralsociology can be understood by the following points

16



a6 Rural ;o!ulation is in a %aBority!n almost all the &ountries of the world ma$ority or the world resides in villages in villages. !t ismore true that over 1:L population of !ndia resides in villages.

&6 It Gies Co"!lete ,no-ledge o# 9illage Li#e

3ural sociology gives us complete #nowledge of village life. Dillage is the first unit of development in country. !t is a centre of culture of any country.

c6 Rural Re#or"ation

3ural reformation is the primary aim of rural sociology. !n this context it helps in followingwor#s.

i6 Organi'ationDillage unit which are dis6organized and can be organized through rural sociology. !t improvedin the co6ordination of various units and helps in bringing an improvement in economic, socialand health conditions.

ii6 )cono"ic :etter"entThrough detailed study of village problems and observation rural sociology gives stress on theimportance of increasing the =uantity and =uality of production. This results in to raising thestandard of living.

iii6 ;roide Technology and Syste"atic ,no-ledge and re#or"s in *ar" ;roduction ain occupation of 1:L population of village is agriculture. !n order to improving this mainoccupation of rural people. The earlier researches in rural sociology were made in agriculturalcollege.

i6 Solutions o# ;athological Social ;ro&le"s3ural sociology examines the social pathological problems and it suggests ways for theimproving these problem.

6 )ducationThe improvement t, the development of any community depends on its education. 3uralsociology lays stress on education in rural problems.

i6 ;lanning #or Deelo!"ent3ural sociology encourages the development of various plans for any rural development programme. The wor# must be carried out according to these plans for the progress in ruralsociety.

d6 Rural Sociology Deelo!"ent Relationshi!s o# 9illage -ith Industry0

e6 Rural Sociology is "ost i"!ortant in Agricultural Countries

%bout 9:L of world progress is based on agriculture. !t is only in agricultural countries that people realize the importance of rural sociology. !ndia is mainly agricultural country. /or its allsided development the development of rural sociology is very important.

17



Sco!e o# Rural Sociology

The scope of rural sociology refers to the boundary or sub$ect matter of this discipline.3egarding the sub$ect matter, %.3. *esai is of the opinion that it is a developing science, a youngscience at the stage of infancy and its sub$ect matter is yet to be determined.

Erof. Celson says about the scope of rural sociology that rural sociology is the description andanalysis of progress of various groups as they exist in rural environment.

T.A. Smith also says that the field of rural sociology is the study of pattern of association,groupings and group behaviour of the people who mainly live on agriculture and agriculture istheir means of livelihood.

!t is concluded from the above opinion that the scope of rural sociology is the study of ruralsocieties and complexities of rural social life. !ndian rural community is a veritable mosaic of different communities. !n case of every social science, controversies have ta#en place.

-enya being an agricultural country and village is a basic and important unit of the society. %fter independence the process of rural reconstruction was started and importance of the ruralsociology was recognized. The need of development of the villages and speed of education in thevillages were understood and to achieve this community development programme was started. !tcan be achieved when the planners and administrator correct #nowledge of the rural life.

0. !t is very essential to develop village because !ndiaHs development depends upon the progressof the villages.?. !ndia is agriculture country and poverty can be removed through improvement in agriculture.2. Solutions of rural problems can bring the change in the rural society.@. The country and its society can be reconstructed only through rural developments.K. /or successful implementation of democratic decentralization the village community is to bestudied in detail.B. 3ural sociology can help to organize the disorganized !ndian in detail.<. The extension wor#er must #now the rural culture, rural institutions, problems, resources etc.for successful transfer of technology for improvement of agriculture. !t can be achieved throughthe study of rural sociology.1. Through the technology and communication methods are #nown to the extension wor#ers. Thestudy of rural sociology helps the extension wor#er to transfer the technology.9. /or successful implementation of the community development programmes the #nowledge of rural sociology is very essential.

In connection to sco!e7 there are #our "ain controersies0 They are$

0. 3ural sociology is a science or an art.?. hether rural sociology is a scientific sub$ect matter or special sub$ect matter or it is asynthesis of different social sciences.2. hether rural sociology deals with only village community or includes urban communities.@. hether rural sociology includes only the formulation of different laws or includes /ollow6upaction.

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3ural sociology is the scientific, systematic, comprehensive study !!! rural social organisations,its structure, functions and ob$ective tendencies of development. !t deals with the systematicstudy of social relationship and various problems concerning the rural society mid rural life.

1i6 A Study o# Rural Co""unity$

3ural sociology is concerned with the characteristics, features, nature and human ecology of village community. !t is also the study of activities of rural people. Through these activities we#now the institutional ob$ects of the community.

1ii6 A Study o# Rural Social Structure$

3ural sociology studies the various components of rural social structure. /or example, villagecommunity, caste, class, dominant caste, $a$mani system, caste and politics, aw#ward class etc in!ndia

1iii6 A Study o# Rural Institutions$

3ural sociology studies the structure, characteristics and functions of rural social institutions. !tstudies the institutions li#e family, marriage, #inship, religion, caste etc. in the rural context.

1i6 A Study o# Rural Social Organi'ation$

!n rural sociology rural social organisations are unavoidably studied. !t includes the study of ruralfamily pattern, marriage, rural social stratification, educational system, religion, culturalinstitutions etc.

16 A Study o# Rural ;ro&le"s$

The sub$ect matter of rural sociology includes the problems of rural life such as social,economic, political and cultural problems. 3ural social problems are increasing day6by6day. !t isessential that these should be solved in a planned way.

!t re=uires separate analysis because the cause and conse=uences of these problems are differentfrom the problems in general. These, problems include poverty, illiteracy, religious superstitions,traditionalism, inade=uate housing, rural unemployment etc.

1i6 A Study o# Religion and Culture$

!n rural society religion and culture of rural people are given more emphasis. ecause these arethe indispensable part of their lives. 3eligion plays an important role in rural society. 3uralsociety is basically religion oriented society.

!t acts as an informal means of social control. The rural people follow all the rules andregulations related to religion and culture. &ulture includes old customs, traditions, fol#ways,norms, values, etc. 3ural sociology studies the complexity of rural culture, cultural patterns etc.

1ii6 A Study o# Rural Social ;rocess$

Social process indicates the fundamental ways through which these people can interact withother groups. !A includes associative and dissociative processes. &o6operation as an associativesocial process can be observed more than any other processes. &ompetition and conflict can also

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be seen in rural society. These processes ta#e place in peculiar way in rural society and studiedseparately from a particular angle.

1iii6 A Study o# Rural Social Control$

3ural sociology is also a study of rural social control. Social control is the control over the

society. !t starts from the family level. 3ural sociology significantly studies the infernal means of social control li#e customs, traditions, fol#ways, mores, norms, religion etc.

Social controls are more social than legal. The fear of boycott from the social function is more powerful control than any other legal punishment. Social control may be conducted in variousways. !t varies from society to society.

1i6 A Study o# Social Change$

Social change is the change in the social relationships" the changing aspect of any system of thesociety. *ue to the impact of modern education, means of transport and communication,modernisation, urbanisation, industrialisation, the rural society is now undergoing tremendous

changes.

Inly through change, the way of progress and change can be possible. 3ural sociology studiesthe various factors responsible for social change in a very systematic way.

16 A Study o# Rural Reconstruction$

3ural reconstruction is an important aspect of life and without which development is impossible.3ural sociology studies various plans and programmes relating to community development programmes. !t also studies different laws of government regarding the reconstruction of villagecommunity.

3ural society needs rural planning and reconstruction in a systematic and planned manner. 3uralsociology serves the purpose and provides guidelines to the institutions and organisations whichare engaged in developmental tas#s. Thus planning and reconstruction of rural society forms thesub$ect matter of rural sociology.

1i6 A Study o# Rural( Ur&an Continuu" and Contrast$

3ural sociology studies rural urban contrast and continuum on the basis of social, economic,religious and cultural point of view. oth village and city hypothetically are two contrastingmodes of community life. !t has to be studied in a scientific manner. y studying the comparison between these two, it can meet different plans and programmes for the development of ruralcommunity.

1ii6 A Study o# ;lanning$

3ural sociology is a study of social planning relating to rural society. &ommunity development pro$ects, Eanchayati 3a$, &o6operative movements are coming under this study. Their successand failure can only be measured by the study of rural sociology. !t is the prime ob$ective of ruralsociologist to show exact position of different plans and programmes which have beenimplemented in the rural areas.

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Thus, the scope of the study of rural sociology is very wide and comprehensive. %lthough it is ayoung and developed science, it studies various aspects of social life and social problemsconcerning rural life and rural society to a great extent.

Cow many new studies have been included within the scope of rural sociology, these are

environmental decay and erosion of ecology" problems and structure related to land andagriculture, study of tribal, forest and village people. 3ural sociology also studies thestratification pattern which has emerged from the wor#ing of developmental programmes.Su&Bect %atter o# Rural Sociology$

The sub$ect matter of rural sociology has never been static. !n the earlier days of its development,during 01th and 09th centuries, it studied the society of aboriginals and primitive people. Thecolonial countries of south and central %frica along with !ndia were the target countries for thestudy of primitive people.

The ritish 3a$ along with its anthropologists approached these countries for discovering newmar#ets and spreading &hristianity. The ritish administrators turned to the study of primitive

people. e have in our country administrators6turned sociologists and anthropologists whostudied the primitive people and the indigenous institutions of village, caste and culture.

The initial sub$ect matter of study for social anthropology and in this respect rural sociology wasthe life of village people and the forest dwellers. !n fact, rural sociology remained restricted tothe small places of the type of villages or clusters of neighbourhood.

+enry aine, the ritish administrator, was perhaps the first person to study an !ndian village.+e characterised an !ndian village as a republic in itself. Theoretically, such a #ind of portrait of village life can be criticised vehemently.

Gogendra Singh (091B) provides a criti=ue to such an understanding of village life because hereaineHs emphasis was on showing how each of these social entities (villages) affirmed the principles of segmentation and autonomy rather than being parts of an organic whole.

The sub$ect matter of rural sociology during the colonial period remained confined to the studyof hill and forest people the tribal, the villages and a few of the traditional institutions such asfamily, clan, council of elders, chiefdoms, intercommunity6clan wars, #ingdoms, and caste whichwere pervasive in the small places.

Soon after independence there was a sudden shift and emphasis in the sub$ect matter of ruralsociology. !t was unhistorical to prepare a constitutional agenda for the development of morethan its 0: people in a given village.The &onstitution made it obligatory that the state shall spare no efforts for the development of villages. The &onstitution also laid emphasis on the development of urban and rural areas. Cow,in the real sense, the idiom of our development became the development of village.

The government policy, thus implemented, created the need for the study of village life. ith thiscontext historically created in village development, there came a flood of village studies by the

21





?. -enya is an agricultural country and poverty of this country can only be removed when theagriculture is improved.2. Solution of rural problems can bring about change in rural society.@. The country and its society can be reconstructed only through rural reconstruction.K. !n the interest of democratic decentralization, village community is to be studied in a totality.

B. 3ural sociology can helps in organizing the disorganized !ndian rural structure.

What is rural?

This is defined as remote area or place far away from the seat of government and having noverified or infrastructural facilities, that is, the countryside and the people living in the villages. !talso refers to areas with low population density, small size, and relative isolation, where thema$or economic activity is largely agricultural production. The areas considered rural are thesettlements that have between 0:: and ?:: households.The Rural Socio(De"ogra!hic

ost rural societies are relatively integrated , in the sense that the various components of life(e.g. agricultural and non6agricultural, economic, social and political, religious and secular) are

closely interrelated. 3ural people do not easily recognize the distinctions which planners,extension wor#ers and other government officials ma#e between, for example, theresponsibilities of different agencies or economic and social planning, because in their own livesall these things affect each other. This is why an integrated approach to planning is essential atthis level and why pro$ects or programmes which are planned from only one point of view (eg.the agricultural or the economic) fre=uently fail because they do not ta#e account of other relatedaspects.

Socio(de"ogra!hic Changes

!n the 099:s the 4nited States experienced one of the most robust growth cycles in the economysince orld ar !!. a$or indicators of socioeconomic well6being show that rural regions have benefited from the economic expansion. /avorable changes in rural demographics and economicconditions both promise opportunities and raise =uestions about public programs, including ruralschools. This *igest, which draws information from federal statistics, summarizes changesrelevant to rural education and calls for more research into their impact on rural education.

%ggregated information often mas#s local diversity. 3eaders should #eep in mind that this *igestis merely an overview of nationwide changes in rural conditions. Aocal policyma#ers mustemploy in6depth analysis of uni=ue local circumstances as viewed against the bac#ground of broader developments outlined here.

*ue to the farming and rural manufacturing industries' close ties to the global mar#etplace, ruraleconomies are vulnerable to the impact of changes in the volatile international mar#et. Aocal policyma#ers and educators need to be prudent in planning for their schools' long6termdevelopment.

)"!loy"ent and Inco"e Gro- in Rural Areas

The nation's economy has continued to grow throughout this decade, though it slowed recentlyunder the influence of the international financial crisis. !nflation has not accelerated, consumer prices remain stable, and employment rates continue to be high. 3emar#ably, while economic

23





growth, though still widely uneven across demographic categories (Cord, 099<). The overall poverty rate in rural areas declined slightly since 0992. !n 099K, the rural household poverty ratewas 0K.B percent, compared to the urban rate of 02.@ percent. This rural6urban gap has remainedconstant since 0990. oreover, a large portion of rural residents (?B.2 percent) lived $ust abovethe poverty line, compared with the urban rate of 01.? percent. Such a large proportion of the

population having a marginal income status ma#es rural families particularly vulnerable tochanges in national and regional economies and setbac#s in their personal lives.

3ural lac#s and Cative %mericans suffer from more prevalent poverty. The groups' povertyrates were [email protected] percent and 2K.B percent, compared with 0?.? percent among rural non6+ispanichites. Get, because of the large hite ma$ority in rural areas, almost two6thirds of the rural poor were non6+ispanic hites. The poverty rate for rural children in 099K was ??.@ percent,e=uivalent to 2.? million children living in families below the poverty line. %mong people livingin rural female6headed families, the poverty rate was 29.2 percent in 099K. ore than B: percentof the rural poor were in families with one or more wor#ing members.

Eoverty reduces children's opportunity to learn, both in the family and at school. Schools in ruralareas need to find effective strategies to alleviate the difficulties facing poor children. ven moreimportantly, state governments and local officials must wor# out broader programs to offer moregenerous support for the poor, including social services and $ob opportunities with decent wages.

;o!ulation Gro-th and Net %igration Gains in Rural Areas

3ural school enrollment may grow over the coming years due to the emerging pattern of population growing faster in rural areas than in other places. !n step with the rising economictide, the population of rural %merica has grown since 099:, largely due to migration (eale,099<). etween 099: and 099B, the nonmetro population grew by K.9 percent, which is morethan twice the increase that occurred during the entire 091:s (?.< percent). +alf of the nonmetro population growth since 099: is attributable to a net inflow of 0.K million people from metroareas (+ansen, 099<). The net gain from migration contributes to the rising per capita income because in6migrants have a higher average income than do out6migrants, especially in countieswith amenities such as mild climate, beaches, or la#es (&romartie, 099<).

hile almost all rural counties had some population growth, the following types had relativelygreater growth counties with economies focusing on services and trade, retirement destinationcounties, and counties with high levels of recreational activities. In the other hand, countiesspecializing in manufacturing and counties depending on farming and mining have experiencedmodest to slow growth in population.

!n rural %merica, the number of younger people (under age BK) is growing faster than is thenumber of older people (over age BK). The current age6differentiated growth rate sharply differsfrom that of the 091:s, when the number of older people increased at rates many times higher than that of younger people. These statistics suggest that the 099:s population rebound in ruralareas largely involves younger people. Eresumably, the school6age population in rural areas willincrease as a result of this demographic change. Erogram planning for rural schools may entailexamining local population trends against the national pattern, in order to predict futureenrollment and allocate related resources.

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I""igrants and %inorities in Rural Areas

ducation for immigrants and minorities, who are characterized by young age and low educationcompared to their counterparts elsewhere, is a pressing issue for rural adult education programsas well as elementary and secondary school systems. *uring 091:69:, rural minorities fell

behind rural whites and urban minorities on #ey measures of social and economic conditions,including poverty, income, occupational status, and educational attainment. % comprehensivereport of federal census data concerning rural minorities in that period is available (see Swanson,099B). Cew data regarding rural minorities in the 099:s, though not systematic, suggests mildimprovement of socioeconomic conditions among lac#s and +ispanics.

hile most immigrants (about 9K percent) settle in large metro areas, those who move to ruralareas concentrate in a few locations (ffland N utler, 099<). /or example, in the South, Texas ishome to 0< percent of the total nonmetro immigrant population of the 4nited States. The estaccounts for about < percent of the nation's nonmetro immigrants. Iverall, immigrants to ruralareas comprise only ? percent of the total rural population. The single largest group of rural

immigrants is exican, whose share in nonmetro immigrants has increased from @1 percent inthe 091:s to K< percent in the 099:s.

3ecent immigrants in rural areas tend to be younger than immigrants in metro areas" they arealso, on average, younger than rural natives. This demographic feature demands greater spendingin rural public schools, especially in places with concentrated immigrant populations.

Significantly, immigrants in rural areas have attained, on average, less education relative to urbanimmigrants. +igh school completion rates, for example, are lower among rural immigrants aged?K and older than among their urban counterparts. %nd this gap seems to be widening" metroimmigrants who have entered the country since 091: report increasingly higher rates of highschool completion, whereas completion rates among recent nonmetro immigrants remain low.Thus, adult basic education and $ob training are in heavy demand in rural areas. These programsoften re=uire other services such as instruction in nglish as a second language, $ob location, andchild care. ith limited albeit reviving rural fiscal capacities, local resources will not besufficient. /ederal and state support must be provided to help rural school systems servecommunities with concentrations of immigrant families and children.

I"!lications #or Rural Schools

3ural communities face both opportunities and challenges that result from the recentdemographic and economic developments. In the one hand, rural areas en$oy the relativelystrong economic recovery that followed the depression of the 091:s, as illustrated in the many baseline indicators. Eolicyma#ers and communities should ta#e advantage of this upswing to provide new resources for school improvement, ranging from facility maintenance, staffing, andcurriculum improvement to serving special needs of at6ris# groups. Telecommunicationstechnology now ma#es it possible for professionals to wor# away from urban centers. 3uralcommunities must ta#e advantage of both the current economic recovery and technologicaldevelopments to sustain their growth. They should focus on updating school programs to prepareyoungsters for future development.

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In the other hand, uneven growth across geographic regions and demographic categories prompts many serious =uestions. %s a recent &alifornia study illustrates, intertwined issues of immigration, poverty, and substandard wor# and living conditions among rural wor#ing families put tremendous pressures on public services, including schools (Taylor, artin N /ix, 0991). !ncommunities with extractive industries (e.g., farming and mining) or places with large numbers

of wor#ing poor and recent immigrants, depression has persisted for decades. School systems inthose communities are fiscally very wea# and typically face grave problems of deep poverty and poor academic performance. The future still loo#s gloomy for children there. The need for strongstate and federal support seems inevitable. %ctive collaboration across levels and agencies of government could remove the barriers bloc#ing these children and their families from reachingeducational e=uity.I"!ortance and Signi#icance o# Rural Sociology

%fter !ndependence it is very much necessary for our country to have a systematic study of therural social organization, its structure, function and evolution. Erof. %. 3. *esai, whilehighlighting the importance of rural sociology, observes, !t is, however, urgently necessary toma#e a scientific and systematic study of rural society" of its economic foundations, social and

cultural superstructure, of its institutions and functions, of the problems arising from the rapid process of disintegration which is undergoing and which even threatens its brea#down.

The practical value of the study of rural sociology is widely recognized today. 3ural sociologywhich aims at providing systematic and scientific approach to rural problems and life isassuming great significance because in !ndia rural society after independence has ac=uired newsignificance.

!ndia is a classic land of agriculture" the economic foundation of village community centrearound agriculture. !t is with the help of rural sociology that it can be possible to find out whatare the causes of brea#6up of the self6sufficiency of the village community.

!t is necessary to understand and to act according to the laws prevailing in the village in order toachieve progress of the villages. This necessitates a special study of the rural society. !n our country, the emphasis of rural sociology is to analyse the implications of traditional rural societyin the modern context.

+aving now, gained some idea of what rural sociology is, let us go ahead to identify and explainmore its needs or significance to any developing country li#e -enya

• xposes the characteristics and problems of realities !t brings to light the main

characteristics and problems of rural areas which enable us to interact with them

• Erovides direct change programme 3ural Sociology provides a change programme

designed to meet the needs of the rural man. The change programme should be a directone such as Fovernmental 3ural *evelopment Erogrammes (F3*E) containing relevantinformation needs about rural people

• Erovides feedbac# to the agricultural agencies on the progress made so far and the

modifications needed in their change programmes

• %cts as a change agent interaction with rural people !nteraction of any change agent with

rural people with sociological #nowledge on leadership, power, roles, norms, culture,

27



family organisation etc, enables him perform his $ob5wor# more effectively because of experience and understanding ac=uired from them

• *evelops greater understanding The purpose underlying the study of rural sociology is to

develop greater understanding of the behaviour of rural people and rural society

• =uips students with tools of understanding !t e=uips students with tools of

understanding to enable them analyse behaviour of rural people in their relationship withothers in rural society. !t helps an individual understand himself and his own socialnature, his relation to people in the society

• +elps to develop a scientific attitude 3ural Sociology helps develop the scientific

attitude of thin#ing critically and ob$ectively with precision. This attitude is useful for future occupation

• Erovides professional training for a future career as a rural sociologist 3ural Sociology

can provide a beginning professional the re=uired training for a future career as a ruralsociologist. /or example, (a) as a teacher or researcher following academic interest in thefield and (b) as a consultant of change and rural analyst in rural community development

• The teaching of 3ural Sociology helps to introduce the learners or students to

sociological concepts and the application of such concepts to the analysis andunderstanding or rural social organisation, rural economic problems and the responses of ruralites to social change

• !t must be emphasised here that we cannot do without the rural areas because they form

the most important sector of the economy since a large ma$ority of people live there. /or a country to develop, it must arise and tac#le the problems in the rural areas and becauseagricultural productivity is indeed the cornerstone in the economic development andsocial progress of any developing country

• 3ural sociology lays great stress on systematization and scientific analysis. any studies

have been made but many of them now are in monograph or article form. Some of thestudies seriously lac# proper analysis and solution.

• Dast ma$ority of population lives in the villages which has its own problems. ven today,

two6third of the world population lives in rural areas. 3ural sociology aims at studying allthose problems and life of rural people.

• 3ural society is the fundamental basis of human civilization and culture. Eeople who are

living in urban areas they are mainly the migrants from the rural areas. So rural area or village is the well6spring of our culture and civilization. Thus to #now about the life of urban community it is essential to #now their original place of living, that is ruralcommunity

• The basic importance of rural sociology has to find out the laws of development and

those principles only can be discovered by studying rural communities in detail

• The importance of rural society cannot be ignored in studying rural problems in !ndia.!ndia is a country of villages, therefore, rural sociology is comparatively more importanthere than in any other country of the world. The importance of true !ndian culture can befound only !n the !ndian villages

• Cow !ndia is facing with problems of social, economic and political reconstruction.

4nless, one understands what rural !ndia is, one cannot understand the problems of !ndiaas a whole and its ancient tradition, customs, culture and ways of life.

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The i"!ortance o# rural sociology is increasing day &y day0 The reasons are$

0. Social life in many societies is mostly the rural life.?. %bout 1:L of !ndian population lives in villages.2. 3ural sociology provides us #nowledge about the study of rural problems and their solutions.@. 3ural society is the store house of ancient cultural heritage. !ts study is having importance.

K. %griculture is the livelihood of the country.B. 4ni=ue nature of transformation of !ndian society.<. Freater interest of democratic decentralization. Scientific study of village community is a pre6re=uisite for it.1. Dillage is the basic unit of study.9. Frowing influence of modernization, industrialization and urbanisation.0:. 3ural sociology is a means of mass media exposure with regards to rural reconstruction.00. !n recent years, the rural sociologists have attached supreme importance to the study of agrarian relations, land reforms, peasant movements, rural stratification system, rural leadershipetc.

The importance of rural sociology cannot be ignored or underestimated. The role of ruralsociology in understanding the solving of rural problems is well emphasised by all. To6day, it isthe slogan, :ac/ to the illages0 I# illage -ill !ros!er7 -e -ill !ros!er and i# illage -ill

!erish7 India too -ill !erish0 The importance of rural sociology is becoming more and more popular in our society. !t is considered as a progressive social science.

%aBor Conse+uences o# Rural Inde&tedness

3ural indebtedness is having many evil conse=uences. !t comes in the way of social change and progress. The nine ma$or conse=uences of indebtedness are 0. !ncrease in Eoverty ?. Slavery andonded Aabour 2. Eroblem of +ealth @. Aoss of Social Erestige K. *eterioration of %griculture B.Esychological Eroblems <. Aowering of conomic Standard and Ithers.

Increase in ;oerty

ost explicit result of !ndebtedness !s the !ncrease in the poverty of the poor people.Eoverty becomes their life6long companion. *ue to indebtedness they are not in a position tosave money and become poorer. Ince he becomes entangled in debt, he remains poor, no matter how much he may exert himself.

Slaery and :onded La&our

!ndebtedness is resulted into slavery and bonded labour. *ue to fulfillment of the socialobligation, in order to repay the ancestral debt, the poor farmer falls in prey to slavery and bonded labour.

;ro&le" o# .ealth

3ural indebtedness leads to the poor health of the debtor. *ue to poverty and indebtedness thefarmer cannot have any nourishing diet and good food. They also cannot afford to have medicalfacilities for themselves and for their children. %ll these leads to lowering of their healthstandard.

Loss o# Social ;restige

29



*ue to indebtedness the farmer feels himself very much inferior in front of the moneylenders. Soit becomes his loss of social prestige.

Deterioration o# Agriculture

%s a result of indebtedness, the condition of agriculture also deteriorated, because most of the

farmers had to wor# on their moneylenders land as servants. The farmers also cannot give proper attention to the lands where they have cultivated. So it leads to the deterioration of agriculture.

;sychological ;ro&le"s

The effect of indebtedness leads to frustration, depression, mental imbalance and mental conflictof the poor farmer. *ue to heavy burden of loan, the farmers are neither able to repay the loannor able to improve their economic condition. They remain in a dilemma. Sometimes theycommit suicide out of extreme frustration.

Lo-ering o# )cono"ic Standard

*ue to indebtedness, farmersH purchasing power are reduced, they cannot meet their own andtheir familyHs basic need. ith this, economic standard of the fanner considerably comes downand down.

In(digni#ied )!loitation o# %an &y %an

*ue to ignorance and illiteracy the farmer easily falls into the prey of the moneylender. Themoneylender tries to exploit him in many ways. *ue to lower social prestige, he cannot raise hisvoice against the moneylender. So, indebtedness results in !n6dignified exploitation of man byman. %t times even the whole family of the borrower is forced to wor# for the moneylender.

Increase in Landless La&our

!ncrease in landless labour is also because of rural indebtedness. Ince a farmer is in the trap of the moneylenders, gradually the amount with !nterest goes on increasing. % stage comes whenthe poor farmer has no other alternative but to sell his small piece of land to the moneylender and $oins the ran#s of landless labour.

Characteristics o# the Rural Society

The following are the main characteristics of the rural community are as follows

Si'e o# the Co""unity

The village communities are smaller in area than the urban communities. %s the villagecommunities are small, the population is also low.

Density o# ;o!ulation

%s the density of population is low, the people have intimate relationships and face6to6facecontacts with each other. !n a village, everyone #nows everyone.

Agriculture is the %ain Occu!ation

%griculture is the fundamental occupation of the rural people and forms the basis of ruraleconomy. % farmer has to perform various agricultural activities for which he needs the

30



cooperation of other members. 4sually, these members are from his family. Thus, the membersof the entire family share agricultural activities.

Close Contact -ith Nature

The rural people are in close contact with nature as most of their daily activities revolve around

the natural environment. This is the reason why a ruralite is more influenced by nature than anurbanite. The villagers consider land as their real mother as they depend on it for their food,clothing and shelter

.o"ogeneity o# ;o!ulation

The village communities are homogenous in nature. ost of their inhabitants are connected withagriculture and its allied occupations, though there are people belonging to different castes,religions and classes.

Social Strati#ication

!n rural society, social stratification is a traditional characteristic, based on caste. The rural

society is divided into various strata on the basis of caste.

Social Interaction

The fre=uency of social interaction in rural areas is comparatively lower than in urban areas.+owever, the interaction level possesses more stability and continuity. The relationships andinteractions in the primary groups are intimate. The family fulfills the needs of the members andexercises control over them.

!t is the family, which introduces the members to the customs, traditions and culture of thesociety. *ue to limited contacts, they do not develop individuality and their viewpoint towardsthe outside world is very narrow, which ma#es them oppose any #ind of violent change.

Social %o&ility

!n rural areas, mobility is rigid as all the occupations are based on caste. Shifting from oneoccupation to another is difficult as caste is determined by birth. Thus, caste hierarchydetermines the social status of the rural people.

Social Solidarity

The degree of social solidarity is greater in villages as compared to urban areas. &ommonexperience, purposes, customs and traditions form the basis of unity in the villages.

Eoint *a"ily

%nother characteristic feature of the rural society is the $oint family system. The family controlsthe behaviour of the individuals. Fenerally, the father is the head of the family and is alsoresponsible for maintaining the discipline among members. +e manages the affairs of the family.

The village is the unit of the rural society. !ts people carry on the business of living together within a distinctive framewor# of caste and social custom. &aste is a dominant social institution permeating social and economic relations. Traditional caste occupation mostly prevails. &o6operative labour of different castes is re=uired not only for agro6economic activities but also for

31



socio6religious life. The large villages have within its population all the occupational castes, havea comparatively more integrated and self sufficient economic as well as socio6religious life thansmaller villages.

The village as a social and cultural unit possesses a basically uniform organisation and structure

of values all over !ndia. any problems are common to the entire country side or society.

The ethnic, linguistic, religious and caste composition of a village largely determine its character and structure. Some villages of hamlets are inhabited almost exclusively by certain castes as inthe case of %graharams for rahmins. ven in a village with mixed population the differentcastes usually live in different sections of the same village. !nter caste rivalries are present.

omen do not have full e=uality with men in several aspects of life.

3ural society is predominantly based on agriculture. Eossession of land carries with it social and prestige value, besides being considered as an economic asset. !n many villages, the land is

mostly distributed between two or more castes, or among a few families, or between one big landowner and the rest of the community. Aandless labourers and tenants constitute a considerable part of the population depending on agriculture.

very village has its own organisational set up, authority and sanctions. !t has its growing body,the panchayat, based on local tradition since long, but now constituted on a regular basis

Social distance or isolation has a bearing on the nature of the organisation of a village and of itsview on the world. %vailability of or nearness to modern means of transport or communicationsalso modifies the setting and fabric of a village.

Dillage settlements are generally governed by certain regional and local traditions. The layout of the village, construction of the house, the dress, the speech, and manners follow the set pattern of the cultural area. ach village possesses an individual of its own. Some have a reputation for generosity, hospitality and fair play, while others are notorious for their meanness and corruption.Some villages are #nown for their co6operatives, while some are noted for their litigations andfactions.

The important characteristics of the !ndian villager was summarised by 3eddy (091K) ashospitality, feminist traditionalism, fatalism, religiousness often combined with superstitious beliefs, leisure attitude to life, and low standard of living. Cevertheless most villagers arecapable to change and will respond to the teachers whom they trust even though their past sadexperiences ma#e them conservation and hopelessness about the future. They are eager to learnhow to help themselves and they represent paternalism.

Rural Society and its I"!ortant Characteristics

Dillage community is a group of rural people living within a continuous geographic area, sharingcommon values and feeling of belonging to the group, who come together in the commonconcern of daily life. Dillage in general terms refer to settlement which originated many thousandyears ago, during the early period of human society.

32



Dillage is a historical necessity and the factors li#e land, water, climate, conditions of agriculture,economy, peace and security have played a very important role in the growth of villagecommunity. The primary forms of human association are far older than the secondary. arliestmen apparently lived in relatively small bands, formed on the basis of family and blood ties.

Their economy consisted of seed and food gathering, of hunting and fishing.

Today, from two6thirds to three6fourths of the worldHs people are living in rural communities.Their culture stands intermediate between that of the band or tribe and urban patterns. % villagecommunity can be defined as a group of rural people living together in a continuous geographicarea in such a way that they share, not this of that particular interest, but the basic conditions of acommon life.

Interrelationshi! &et-een Rural Sociology and Agricultural )tension

%gricultural extension and rural sociology are extremely close to each other. oth fields aregreatly concerned with the study of rural life. +owever, following are the ma$or points which

clearly indicate the relationship. 3ural sociology is the scientific study of rural manHs behaviour in relationship to other

groups and individuals with whom he interacts. %gricultural extension is a non6formaleducation for farmers (rural people) with a view to develop rural society on desirablelines.

3ural sociology studies the attitude and behaviour of rural people whereas agricultural

extension see#s to modify or change the attitude and behaviour of farmers. 3ural sociology studies the needs and interests of rural society and agricultural extension

helps farmers to discover their needs and problems and build educational programmes based on these needs and wants.

3ural sociology analyses rural social relationship or group or organisation and leaders in

rural areas. %gricultural extension utilises the #nowledge pertaining to groups,organisations and leaders to achieve the ob$ective or agricultural development.

3ural sociology studies social situation s and collects social facts of rural society.

%gricultural extension ma#es uses of such social data as basis for building up extension programmes for farmers.

3ural sociology investigates the social, cultural, political and religious problems of rural

society. %gricultural extension also studies these problems with special reference to their impact on agricultural extension wor# in the village.

/rom the above interrelationship between the rural sociology and agricultural extension, onecould understand that rural sociology will help the extension agent to identify problems of

farmers and develop an extension programme to help in solving the problems of farmers. Thus itcan be concluded that both sciences are closely related and benefited with each other by sharingthe #nowledge of each other.

Rural society o# ,enyans in the 23th and <2st Centuries

Sociological Rural Deelo!"ent

33





3ural people are different from those in living in urban areas. The distinctive characteristics of rural life can easily be shown by comparing them with those of urban (city) life. The differencein cultures or subcultures of these two areas differences in attitude and behavior and perhaps indress and dialect (language use in a region or area). The cities are large, impersonal and complexin social structure, while rural communities are small, intimate and simple in organization.

Though there are differences, there are also common attitudes and behaviors that both rural andurban people share as a member of larger culture. &ommon elements between urban and rurallife is0. &ommon language, literature, philosophy etc.?. &ommon institutions li#e religion, education, family life business and political organizationsetc.oth rural and urban people have own characteristics. The characteristics of rural life can bestand most easily recognized by comparing those or urban life. /ollowing are the some rural O urban differences

Di##erence &et-een Rural and Ur&an Li#e

nvironment effects human life to a greater extent. +uman beings live into two types of environments6 namely rural and urban. There is a difference in the social life of both theseenvironments. The simplest summary of the differences between the two types of socialorganization is to say they tend to be opposites here as rural community is homogeneous, theurban community is heterogeneous and so on. There is sharp difference between the city andvillage life though with the expansion of urban influence on the villages, this difference is becoming more and more a matter of degree. +owever in spite of the recent trends of urbanization the village still retain many traditional features and present a sharp contrast with theurban life.

Rur

al

Li#e

Ur&

an

li#e

0 nvironment&lose 5directcontact

withnature.Ereliminariesinfluenced

Freater isolationfromnature.Ere

dominanceof manmade(artificial

35



bynaturalenvironmentalelementsli#erain,heat,drought,frost,

sowetc.over whichther e isnocontrol.

environment).

? Icc

upation%gr iculturalisthefundamentaloccupat

ion.a$ority of populationisengage

Co

fundamentaloccupation.ost of peo pleengage

d in principallyinmanufacturing,mec

36





elyco6related.

@ *ensityof Eopulation*ensityof populationislow

er.*ensityandruralityarenegativelyco6related.

Sizeof communityislarge insize.4rbanityand

sizeof communityare positivelyco6related.

K +omogeneityandheterogeneity of populati

onor ehomogenous insocial,raci

or eheterogeneousthanrural.4rbanit

yandheterogeneityare positively

38



aland psychologicaltraits. Cegativeco:6relationwithheterogeneity.(o

stareagriculturistsaredirectlyconnectedwith

agriculture).

co6related(*if ferenttypeof populationisseenincities,diff erent plac

es,religions,caste,classrace,community,

economicandculturaldiff erences,occupationsand

behavioral patternalsodiff erent).

39



B Social*iff erentiationsAowdegr eeof socialdiff erentiation

+ighdegr eeof socialdiff erentiation

< Soci

alStratificationor erigid/ewer econom

ic,occupational,andsociopoliticalclasses.Aes

ssocialstratificationthanurban.

Aes

srigid4rbancommunityismuchmor e

strategicthantheruralwithhavingmuchmor e

economic,occupationalandsocial

40



politicalclasses.

1 Socialo bilityo bility islessintensive.Terr itori

al,occupationalandother for msof social

mobilityof the populationarelessintensive.The

yfollowssameoccupation,stayin

Socialmobilityismor eintensive.Eeo plechange

occupationandevenleave placesinsear ch

of newand better occupation

41



thesamevillage

9 Social!nteractionAessnumerouscontacts.

Theareaof interactionsystemisnarr ower.or

e prof essional,sim ple,facetoface.!nforma

l,sincererelations.

or enumerouscontacts.%rea of interactions

iswider,therelationaresuperficialandshor t6

lived.The popular aremor efor malandshowy.

0: Social

Social

42



SolidaritySocialsolidarityor cohesivenessandunityaremor estro

nger 5greater thanurban.&ommontraits,simi

larity of experiences,commonaimsand pur pos

es,commoncustomsandtraditionsare

solidarity islessstronger thanrural,dissimilarities,divisionof labour,interdep

endence,specialization,impersonal,strictlyfor

malrelationshipsresultscom parativelylesssense of

belongingandunity.

43



the basis of unity invillage.Strongsense of belongingandunity.

00 Soci

al&ontrolSocial pressure bycommunityisstro

ng.&onfor mity of nor msismor e byinformal

social pressure.

&on

trolismor e byfor malimpersonalmeansof law

s, prescribedrulesandregulations.

0? Social&ha

4rbansoci

44



nge3ur alsociallifeisrelativelystaticandstable.

allifeisunder constantandrapidsocialchange

02 &ultureSacr

ed(3eligious)culture.

Secular (Co

n6religious)culture.

0@ AeadershipEattern

&hoiceof leadershipmor e onthe basis of #nown

personal=ualitiesof individual,dueto

&hoicesof leadersh

ip iscom parativelylessonthe basis of #now pers

onal=ualitiesof individual

45



greater facetofacecontactsandmor eintimate#nowledgeof individual.

0K Froup3ur alsocietyissim ple4nit6

groupsociety

4rbansocietyiscom plexmulti6group

society.

0B Social!nstitutionsost of

theinstitutionsarenaturaloutgrowth

Cumer ousenactedinstituti

ons.

46



of ruralsociallife.Aessenactedinstitutions.

0< Standardof Aiving

+omeconveniences, publicutilities,educational

recr eationalreligious,medical,communicationand

other facilitiesfor livingcan be pro

!nurbanareas

suchconveniencesandfacilitiesare provided

duetogreater densityof population

47



vided if sup ported bysuff icient population base

01 Standardof living

islow.

Standardof living

ishigh.

These can further distinct in the following

Distinction in social organi'ationF

The biggest distinction between rural and urban society is that of social organization. Theseexhibits in the following respecti6 *a"ily

!n the villages the families are comparatively stronger than families in the towns, where greater importance is attached to the individual.!n the villages the system of $oint family is to be found in greater measure than in the towns.!n the villages there is greater control, intimacy and organization than the families in the towns.

ii6 %arriage

!n towns, compared to villages, one finds a greater number of love marriages and divorces. !ntowns freedom is allowed in the selection of life partner.

iii6 We #eeling

!n rural community the Jwe feelingH is found to be far stronger than in the urban community. The

influence of community on the individual in the village is greater than in the towns.

i6 Neigh&ourhood

!n the villages the neighborhood has a greater importance than it does in the towns. !n the towns,sometimes people donHt even #now their neighbours.

48



6 ;osition o# -o"en

Fenerally the women in the villages are not much, if at all, educated and their social status is alsolow.

i6 Social solidarityThe degree of social solidarity is greater in the villages. &ommon experiences, common aims,common purposes, common customs and traditions are the basis of the unity in the rural society.!n cities, the social relations are secondary and formal. They can be called indirect. *egree of intimacy is lesser in urban areas.

ii6 S"aller is Si'e

The village communities are smaller in size in comparison with urban communities. Theagriculture is the fundamental occupation in the rural society. /or agriculture, some land isre=uired. So the land to man ration is higher in rural society whereas in urban areas there isscarcity of land.

Distinction in )cono"ic Li#e

There is great difference between lives of the villages and towns. !n this respect ma$or differences are the following.i) !n the villages the ma$or occupation is agriculture while in towns the ma$or occupations are of industrial nature.ii) Standard of living in the villages is lower than that of towns, because the means of earningmoney are limited in the villages.

Distinctions in Cultural Li#e

i) &ulture is more static in the villages than the towns.ii) !n the village the basis of culture is caste and purity. !n the cities it has a secular basis.iii) Traditions have a very important place in rural culture, while urban culture does not attachmuch important to them.

Di##erence in Social Restrictions

i) !n the rural community custom is the #ing, the fol#ways and mores control most of the behaviour. ut the control of police, law, court etc. is greater in the towns than in the villages.

*ifference in social mobility and stabilityi) There is greater social disintegration in the urban towns than in the villages. Sorokin and

Zimmerman have written, 7The rural community is similar to calm water in a pale and the urbancommunity to boiling water in #ettle8. The degree of social mobility is greater in cities. The people in urban areas fre=uently shift from one occupation to another or from one place toanother place.

Di##erence in Social Relations

i) !n comparison with the social relations found in the cities those in the villages are more personal.

49







K. &ontinuity of a culture from one generation to other helps for the formation of a group.B. &ommon interests, shared values and norms may be important constituents of a group.<. The formation of group is affected by many forces i.e. blood, marriage, religion, caste,common possessions, common areas, common interacts, responsibilities and occupation etc.1. *ifferent groups have different durations and purposes.

Ty!es o# Grou!s

ven though completely ade=uate classification has been developed, different types of groups based on group attributes or characteristics have been identified. %lthough the types are notinclusive and do overlap. Some of the ma$or types of groups are described here.

;ri"ary and Secondary Grou!s

The persons in the primary group have face to face relationships, such as family and playgroup.% secondary group is one where the relationships are indirect. The members of secondary grouphave little personal affection and their relationships are governed by the fulfillment of someob$ectives. The specific characteristics of primary and secondary groups are compared here.

;ri

"ar

y

gro

u!s

Sec

ond

ary

gro

u!s

0. Small,mostlylessthan?:to2: personsaremembers

Aar ger insize

?. Eersonal

andintimaterelationshipsamong

!ndi

r ectr elat

52





other communicationme

dia

@. ostly per manentmembershi

p

Tem por ar y

mem ber shi p

K. 3el

ationsamongthemembersmostly

The

r elationis

54





% group may be organized at any time when some individuals feel that there is need that cannot be satisfied individually and there is no group already in existence to meet that need. % newgroup may be organized even if similar groups are located elsewhere or these cannot serve their interests. % group may be organized with or without a stimulus from outside.

!n organizing groups for action the needs, interests and goals of the individuals are made tosubservient and channeled to the needs, interests and goals of the group. % minimum amount of cooperation amongst the group members is essential to hold the group together and act as a unit.

!n a democratic group, decisions are generally based on ma$ority opinion. &ompromise decisionor decision by consensus may sometimes be re=uired to ma#e to avoid conflict situation in thegroup. The group process is an important as the group decision.

xamples of communication in groups are result demonstration, method demonstration, groupmeeting, small training, field day or farmerHs day, study tour etc.

%otiation in Grou! *or"ationotivation means movement or motion, an inner state that energizes, activates or moves anddirects human behavior towards goals. !t is need satisfying and goal see#ing behavior. To getwor# done by others is probable the most difficult tas#. !t is always easy to motivate others ingroups. ecause in groups people thin# that they are doing things collectively and they ta#eris#s. y ta#ing this in mind extension people form social groups to communicate with people because they #now that in groups the communication will be more rewarding than individual persons. Eeople can be motivated to form groups" To secure themselves as far as economic. social, psychological and spiritual security is

concerned To satisfy their physiological needs

To satisfy their need for achievement

To adopt new practices by convincing

Role o# Social Grou! in Agricultural )tension

%n individual needs group participation because he has grown up in a group and has ac=uiredwants that can only be satisfied by other persons. Some groups that have common interests,others have divergent interests. The extension wor#ers need this information about groups in thevillage to gain their rapport in disseminating information and for other aspects of his wor#. Thesegroups li#e women at drin#ing water well, men sitting at blac#smithHs shop, self help groups,

youth clubs are important in decision ma#ing. The extension wor#ers are re=uired to #now aboutthese groups and should plan the strategy of his approach in accordance with the influence of these groups. Social groups have following roles in agricultural extension" it enables the extension agent to have face to face contact with a number of people at a time

people can be easily motivated to accept change due to group influence

less expensive than others method in stimulating action

56



!n groups people can be enhanced and members of groups can be involved for in6depth

discussion.

Social Ine+uality and ;oerty

Glo&ali'ation and )cono"ics o# Rural Li#e

Social structure and interaction" models of society

The rise of poverty in rural society

hy poverty and marginality continue

Flobalization and conomics of rural life continued

Social control, crime, and deviance

+omelessness, rural poverty and housing insecurity

Social Stratification" /unctions of Stratification" ases for Stratification/orms of Social Stratification"

The %eaning o# Settle"ent ;atterns and 9illage Organisation

% settlement pattern is the manner in which a population distributes itself within the geographicalspace it occupies. ith specific relation to the rural people, the term refers to how the peoplelocate themselves on their farms. Dillage organisation on the other hand, could be referred to as asettlement pattern but it involves more than the distribution of the population on the land it

occupies. !t includes the patterns of social interaction, ordering and the governance of the peoplewithin that settlement.

Settle"ent ;atterns and their Associated *actors

The settlement pattern of any group of people can be related to some factors.

These include

• Social conditions such as the need for defense against external aggressors, type of family

organisation, arrangement of economy6particularly in the case of landlords, feudalisticetc. These conditions tend to determine whether people live in clusters or in scatteredsettlements.

•

The nature of physical conditions such as land, farms or topography, soil type, water availability, type of vegetable among others. These conditions determine how much landwill be available to the population both for habitation and the practice of its economic pursuits.

• The nature and organisation of the prevailing agricultural economy. That is, whether

permanent or semi6permanent, nomadic type of farming is practiced. The decision of agroup of people to occupy a particular land area is generally determined by the physical,

57



natural or geographical conditions of the area whereas the pattern of settlement might beaffected by a combination of the foregoing factors.

There are two main types of settlement patterns in -enya. These are the cluster or nucleated or compact village and the scattered or dispersed settlements.

The Cluster or Nucleated Settle"ents

These types of settlements are more thic#ly populated and highly urban. xamples are -isumu,ldoret, Ca#uru, ombasa, Cairobi towns and villages in the outs#irts of these towns. Theytypically comprise clusters of located compounds each of which might be separated by mudwalls or reeds fences. &luster settlements have their origin from the peopleHs need in the past, for self defense against =uarrelsome neighbours.

The entire village may be surrounded with a high mud wall li#e in the part of Teso *istrict, or awall and thic# euphorbia hedges as in the villages of Cya#ach or %hero locations. Suchsettlements may contain over ?:,::: people thereby generally overcrowded. The farms are

located outside the settlement areas and farmers have to wal# long distances to their farms. !nsome instances, farmers establish farm camps where they spend parts of the wee# and then returnto their villages on wee#ends and on festival days.

%erits o# the Clustered Settle"ents$ These include

• Security from attac# by either wild animals or external enemies

• &loser social interaction due to proximity which also gives individuals some

psychological security

• There is easier transmission of information on technologies (innovations) to a large

number of people within a short time

• There is enhancement of a more efficient use of social amenities. That is, more people

have access to a single social amenity in such settlements.

De"erits8Li"itation o# Clustered Settle"ents

• The system encourages gossips and undue interference in the private life of neighbours

• The system worsen the problems of sanitation and ma#es such settlements susceptible to

epidemic outbrea#s

• !n case of fire outbrea#, more destruction of life and property is li#ely to occur in a

clustered or nucleated settlement than in a scattered settlement area

• /armers have to travel long distances to get to their farms. This discourages mixed

farming (raising of crops along with rearing of livestoc#). -enyan farmers usually live inclustered settlements to maintain their animals within the same environment that theythemselves inhabit.

So"e Ty!ical 9illage Organisations

The structural organisation of -enyan villages and their internal governments have social physical as well as historical bac#grounds. +istorically, a village may have been founded merelyon its own. !t may have been a branch village to another village elsewhere or it may have been

58



established to serve as a camp. here a settlement is a temporary camp either for migrantfarmers or road side traders it may have a recognised village head. elow are brief discussions of some typical village organisations.

9illage Organisation o# the Luos

The Auo ethnic group live in the western part of -enya (former Cyanza Erovince). The variouslineages that constitute the modern Auo settled their current homeland in -enya in an extremelycomplex and lengthy series of migrations that began in the late fifteenth or sixteenth century andcontinued through the end of the nineteenth century.

The regional settlement pattern consists of individual patrilineal and patrilocal extended familyhomesteads scattered over the landscape without any larger traditional concentrations of population (although the multi6ethnic la#e port city of -isumu was established in Auo territoryduring the colonial period, as were a number of small administrative and mar#et centers). achhomestead (dala; plural mier) is occupied by an extended (usually polygynous) family. % manmust always marry in the homestead of his father, rather than that of his grandfather"

conse=uently, when a man's eldest son is ready for marriage, he will move out from his father'sdala and found a new one of his own.

Thus, each homestead has a three6generation life cycle. hen the last of the original inhabitantsof a homestead has died, the settlement (now called gunda; plural gundni) will be left fallow for a period and then used as farmland by the sons of the former head of the homestead. Thelandscape also shows traces of significantly larger gundni with earthen ramparts (gundabur) dating to the nineteenth century and earlier. !n South Cyanza, there is also evidence of largegundni surrounded by stone walls called ohinga. % gunda bur is identified by the name of anancestor6inhabitant, and they fre=uently serve as anchors for lineage claims to territory.

ach dala is bounded by a euphorbia hedge6fence and the houses are arranged in a highlyordered pattern on the interior. The spatial and temporal organization of the Auo homestead is acomplex symbolic representation of the genealogical structure and the relations of authority in both the homestead and society. Aines of structural opposition and alliance between co6wives,and within the broader #inship and political system, are correlated with house placement onalternating sides of the homestead. 3elations of seniority and authority are also represented andnaturalized through temporal se=uences of house construction, repair, and a host of dailyactivities and rituals that ta#e place in the homestead.

!n terms of interaction among members of each of the other ethnic groups in -enya the Auo arecloser than with other non6members. /or example, marriage, rituals, chieftaincy can occur among members of each ethnic group, and in fact, more fre=uently among members of each subethnic or dialectic group than with non6members. This has today changed and intercommunitymarriages are widely practiced.

The Auo village is often the compact type of village. !t often consists of a s=uare and wallscovered with corrugated iron sheets and thatched roofs as well. any of the walls are mud plastered, while some which are owned by well6to6do farmers who are financially buoyant, particularly cotton farmers, are plastered with cement. Inly very few buildings are painted. The

59



buildings are often arranged in an irregular fashion with little consideration given for village planning.

%ccording to ;ibowo (099?), a typical Auo village consists of the following structures0. !ndustrial centres on the village for processing palm oil in particular. The cattle slaughter slab

is located at the end of a fairly big village. The reason for locating the industries at the end of thevillage is to facilitate the disposal of the industrial wastes into the bush conveniently and avoidmessing up the village with industrial wastes and odour.

?. 3esidential houses as described in the preceding paragraph, where people rest after the dayHswor#. The houses of well6off farmers have #itchens and walled bac#yards where coo#ing, processing of some agro6industrial products such as garri, crac#ing of palm6#ernel, drying of farm products on a cement slab e.g. cassava flutter, parboiled rice ta#e place.

2. The centre of the village where the house of the village head could be located. The house of the village ancestor, a community shrine, a town hall or other symbiotic structures could also be

located in the village centre.

@. Dillage shrines which are located at the end of the village or in a nearby bush outside thevillage at times.

K. &hurches, shrines, os=ues for uslim worship which are fre=uently located inside thevillage. &hurches ( Kanise) for &hristian worship are often situated in conspicuous places, suchas road sides within or outside the village.

B. hen the village is large, a small mar#et place is established at the end or centre of it. Dillage people and those from nearby smaller villages converge at the specified mar#et place every fiveor nine days to sell their farm products to buyers from bigger towns and neighbouringcommunities.

The Auos are a predominantly urban people. They often live in large towns and cities but theywor# on farms. Their commitment is largely to the towns and cities.

Su&sistence )cono"y

Auo subsistence depends upon a mixture of agriculture, animal husbandry, and fishing.Subsistence agriculture is performed almost exclusively by women in scattered multiple small plots in the general neighbourhood of the homestead. Erimary agricultural production to feed her family is considered the duty of every rural Auo wife, and there is little dependence on purchasedfood (aside from small6scale target selling and buying of foodstuffs at the local mar#ets and the purchase of a few imported items such as tea, sugar, and salt). +oe agriculture is predominant, but oxplows are found in some areas. The primary grain crops include sorghum, maize, andmillet" cassava and sweet potatoes are ma$or root crops. Sorghum and cassava are especiallyvalued for their resistance to drought.

These starches are complemented by various #inds of beans, lentils, and greens. !n the higher elevation zone bananas are also grown. The early Auo settlers in -enya had a pastoralist

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The primary division of labor is genderbased. Subsistence agriculture, childcare, coo#ing, anddomestic maintenance are all female tas#s. omen are also the primary or exclusive contributorsto several #inds of craft production (especially pottery), although men contribute to some crafts(e.g. bas#etry) and are the exclusive producers of others (e.g. iron wor#ing). en are the predominant ritual, political, and oral history specialists. !n the pre6colonial era they were also

the warriors. xternal wage labor and cash cropping also tend to be predominantly maleactivities. ar#et traders, on the other hand, are predominantly women, but men are alsoinvolved in the selling of some items, especially goods coming from outside the Auo area.

Land Tenure

The traditional system of land tenure was one in which land was corporately held by patrilineages and was not individually alienable. This included farmland, pasture, water,firewood, and clay sources. omen received usufruct rights to agricultural plots and other resources by virtue of their husband's membership in a patrilineage. These rights were distributedamong the women of a homestead by the husband or senior co6wife (mikayi), and they dependedupon various dimensions of seniority relations.

%ccording to %chola Eala's (omen's access to land., 0912) calculations, the ma$ority of women wor# between three and five small, scattered parcels of land totaling @600 acres ([email protected]) but spread over a wide area. +owever, this system has been sub$ected to various #indsof pressure from increasing population density (hence land shortage), and from land tenurereform programs implemented by the colonial and, especially, postcolonial states. The goal of thereform programs is primarily to consolidate land holdings and register individual title to land.The effect has been to transform land into an alienable commodity in a system of almostexclusively male individualized ownership with little concern for women's access to it. The saleof land for cash has created serious moral tensions as well as sometimes leaving aged mothersand widows landless.

,in Grou!s and Descent

-inship has a powerful role in structuring Auo social life, identity, and politics, as well as thelandscape. Auo maximal lineages (dhoudi; singular dhoot)! sometimes called clans in theanthropological literature, are exogamous land6holding units. *escent is patrilineal and womenremain members of their father's lineage after marriage. % cluster of maximal lineages occupyinga distinct territory (piny) is called oganda (plural ogendni). These clusters are often referred to assub6tribes, or even, by one source, vans6Eritchard (09@9), tribes. %ll these groups claimdescent from a common ancestor named 3amogi. Their genealogical relationship to each other isa product of a long and continuing history of fluid segmentation of lineages. ach cowife'shouse (ot) in a polygynous homestead is seen as the potential #ernel of a future lineage. % person's identity is viewed as depending upon nested membership in the family of a particular father ("okawuoro) and grandfather ("okak#warn) within some distinct minimal lineage that is asegment of a given dhoot and oganda.

%arriage

The Auo are mar#edly polygynous (doho) in both ideology and practice. Eost6marital residence is patrilocal in the strictest sense of the term that is, the wife goes to live with the husband in thehomestead of the husband's father. arriage involves a protracted series of exchanges and

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ceremonies between the families of the bride and groom, and most crucially the payment of substantial bride6wealth to the bride's family. /ormerly this involved cattle (and, in the pre6colonial era, iron hoes)" now it involves cattle and cash. Ince bride6wealth has been paid, thechildren produced by the marriage are considered to belong to the husband's lineage. *ivorcenecessitates a return of bride6wealth. arriage is not simply an individual affair it establishes an

enduring relationship of mutual obligations between affines that can be invo#ed for aid in timesof hunger or other need.

Do"estic Unit

The basic domestic unit is the polygynous household. ach co6wife must have her own house(ot) in the homestead (dala) occupied by the patrilineal polygynous extended family. Thehusband, considered the wuon dala (head of the homestead), rotates among the houses of hiswives for eating and sleeping, although he often has a small independent house (duol) for entertaining other male guests. ach house, occupied by a woman and her children, also has itsown granary and is responsible for raising its own subsistence, although there is often a greatdeal of cooperation among cowives or neighbors in labor of various #inds.

Inheritance

!nheritance is patrilineal. Sons inherit cattle and other forms of wealth, as well as rights to theland of the father's gunda, from their father. % woman generally does not inherit wealth from her father or husband the property of the husband passes to his brothers. omen do sometimesinherit small household items from their mothers6in6law.Sociali'ation

&aring for young children is shared by mothers, grandmothers, and older siblings. y the end of the twentieth century, school also played an important role in socialization. /rom the time theyreach the age of puberty until they marry, boys live together in a house called samba $ust insidethe main gate of the homestead. /or women, who typically marry young (traditionally before agesixteen), there is a great deal of post6marital resocialization in which the mother6in6law plays anauthoritative role. The spatial organization of the settlement itself has an important part inchanneling the flow of social relations and inculcating beliefs and attitudes about proper behavior, authority, and relationships. The Auo have no formal initiation rites to mar# thetransition to adulthood and they are not circumcised. +owever, until the 09<:s it was a common practice to extract six lower front teeth at some point in the pre6adult phase of the life cycle.Sociopolitical Irganization

Social Organi'ation

Aineage membership is the primary structuring principle of social organization. The distant pastis perceived as the history of successive segmentation of patrilineages from a common Auoancestor (3amogi) resulting in a dendritic system of connections among all Auo lineages.embership in a lineage implies a specific social distance from all other Auo lineages which iscalculated on the basis of the temporal distance of the segmentation event. This temporal andsocial distance has practical significance in structuring personal interaction, as it determineswhom one can marry, where one can expect political allies, with whom one is expected to share,whose funerals one must attend, where one has rights to land, and other relations.

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Fenerational time structures relationships between individuals within lineages or lineagesegments. /or example, two males of identical chronological age may stand in the relationship of either brothers or of father and son, depending upon the temporal depth of their genealogical connection. This structural relationship will have a great deal to do with the behavior considered appropriate between the two and will have much more to do with

determining seniority than the relative times of birth.

;olitical Organi'ation

%lthough at the beginning of the twenty6first century they live with an administrative system of local chiefs imposed by the ritish colonial government and continued by the postcolonial-enyan state, the Auo have traditionally had a strongly egalitarian political ethos and lac#edcentralized authority. They do, however, have an indigenous term, ruoth! that is used to refer tomodern chiefs. !n the precolonial era this term more li#ely meant something closer to leader or man of influence than to the institutionalized political role it has come to signify. +owever,oral histories indicate that the degree to which individuals in the past were able to transform their informal influence within councils of elders into naturalized positions of authority and power

varied somewhat from region to region. Traditionally, there was no pan6Auo centralized politicalauthority or formal political hierarchy. 3ather, the Auo are considered to be a classic example of a segmentary lineage system with fluctuating ad hoc alliances among lineages structured bygenealogical distance between the disputants. The modern administrative boundaries within Auoterritory, which were defined during the colonial era, effectively froze into static form what had previously been a series of highly dynamic factional and territorial struggles between competingsubgroups organized according to lineage affiliation and military expediency.Social Control

elief in witchcraft and the potentially lethal supernatural conse=uences of violating culturalcodes has been a powerful traditional force for social control. !n this strongly egalitarian society,ostentatious accumulation of riches and deviation from the obligation to share are thought to provo#e $ealousy and the attention of witches, resulting in sic#ness and death. oreover,violation of a range of cultural practices (especially temporal se=uences of ritual acts thatemphasize relations of seniority and authority and codes of personal interaction between classesof #in and affines) is thought to result in a state of supernatural illness called chira! which can befatal, sometimes for entire families, if not expiated through appropriate rituals.

!n the precolonial period, the arbitration of disputes within the smallest local territorial unit, the(village) gweng! was handled by a council of elders ("odongo). The possibility to become aninfluential leader in this context re=uired the building of prestige and moral authority, and these=ualities were ac=uired from several possible sources. The most immediate criteria weregenealogical position and the strength of the lineage the most genealogically senior member of the dominant lineage of the gweng had responsibilities to settle disputes within the gweng, andhe met with other similar leaders to attempt to resolve disputes between gwenge. *isputes thatcould not be settled peacefully were resolved by fission and migration, or by armed conflict.Eragmatic alliances often formed in which strong lineages would secure the support of wea#er "odak (tenant) lineage groups that had settled in their territory after being forced out or fissioning elsewhere. &hiefs appointed by the -enyan state now fulfill many of these localconflict mediation roles and the law courts are the locus of higher level disputes.

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Con#lict

/rom the late fifteenth to the end of the nineteenth century, the Auo, in the course of their southward migration and intrusion into the territory of antu6spea#ing peoples, were fre=uentlyengaged in armed conflict. There was little to distinguish internal and external fighting since inthe segmentary lineage system fighting could be directed at one time against other Auo lineages

(such as the earlier settlers) and at other times it would be against antu spea#ers. /ightingmostly ceased with the imposition of ritish colonial rule. ith the exception of occasionalisolated s#irmishes, territorial disputes have since been displaced into the court system and thelegislature. % number of Auo men were also drawn into larger conflicts when they wereconscripted into the ritish colonial army during orld ars ! and !!.

Religious :elie#s

3eligion among the Auo exhibits a complex creative hybridity of traditional beliefs and practicesand those imported by &hristian missionaries of a wide range of competing sects. oth &atholicand Erotestant missions of uropean and %merican origin have been active in the area since theend of the nineteenth century. ven more numerous are the independent %frican churches (of

which over ??: are officially registered in -enya) that have splintered off from the uro%merican churches. any of these independent churches actually originated among the Auo andthey are extremely popular. Cearly 9: percent of ;oluo are professed adherents of &hristianity inone or another of these manifestations. The charismatic independent churches, such as 3oho andAegio aria, often incorporate traditional Auo beliefs in such things as spirit possession with&hristian symbols and practices. +owever, even adherents of the more orthodox uro %merican&hristian churches often see no contradiction in maintaining or adapting traditional beliefs and practices. In the other hand, churches of both types sometimes target specific traditionalelements (e.g. drin#ing) for prohibition as a way of positioning themselves as a force capable of,for example, liberating people from witchcraft. Traditional beliefs include various forcescalled "uogi (spirits), tipo (shadows), and kwere (ancestors), which can act positively or negatively, as well as a creator or life force god (Cyasaye or ere).

Religious ;ractitioners

Traditional religious practitioners include several #inds of witches, sorcerers, or magicians anddiviners. These go by various names depending upon their attributes. Those who use medicinesare called "obilo. They are feared and respected for their powers of divination and their ability touse #illing magic on enemies. $"uoke is a more general term for witches or sorcerers,while "opuok%"a"uok is used for nightrunners and those (usually women) who have the power tocause sic#ness through the evil eye (sihoho). itchcraft and magical powers can be inheritedor learned, depending upon the circumstances and type of powers. The independent %fricanchurches have a range of parallel religious specialists (priests, bishops, popes, prophets, etc.)derived from the &hristian tradition. Aeadership roles in these churches tend to be predominantlymale, while church membership is predominantly female.

Cere"onies

The largest and most ostentatious Auo ceremonies are funerals. These can last for several days,during which time the host family must supply a large gathering of #in and affines with a steadysupply of food and beer. The ritual involves a parade of the cattle owned by the deceased and agreat feast accompanied by dancing and praise songs. % person's prestige can be measured by the

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http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Christianity.aspx





who nowadays live in Cairobi and rarely visit Auoland, nevertheless have learned to spea# *holuo fluently.

&hildren are given names that correspond to where they were born, the time of day, or the day of the wee#. ven the #ind of weather that prevailed at the time of a child's birth is noted. /or

example, one born during a rain storm is called $koth (female) or &koth (male). ;ust about everyAuo also has a pet name used among close friends.

The 9illage Organisation o# the ,alenBin

ndo &hebleng'. -eiyo lgeyo. -ipsigis Aumbwa, Sote#. -ony ong'om, o#, lgon aasai,lgonyi, Sabaot. ara#wet &herang'any, aragweta, Sengwer. Candi &hemwal, Teng'wal.I#ie# %#iy, *orobo, Igie#. Eo#ot Ea#ot, Su#. Sebei -ipsorai, bai, Sabaot, Saping', Sor.Teri# Cilotic Tiri#i, Cyang'ori. Tugen &herangani, -amasia.

The typical settlement pattern is scattered.Froups of family homesteads ma#e up a neighborhood(Candi koret ), and today (in -enya) several neighborhoods are combined into a sublocation, the

smallest unit of government administration. Ceighborhood size varies, but twenty to fifty or sixtyhouseholds is typical. %mong the Candi, -ipsigis, pastoral Eo#ot, and Sebei, local communitieshistorically were not, or were only to a limited extent, #in6based" among some other -alen$in,they were based on patrilineal clans.

ost -alen$in combined neighborhoods to form a pororiet!a unit with mutual6defense functions.Ild6style houses are round, of wattle and daub, thatched, and divided internally into two rooms"the bac# room traditionally sheltered sheep and goats. odern houses (still the minority) areusually s=uare and of permanent material, with iron6sheet roofs. % typical household consists of asmall extended family, or a nuclear family with some attached nonnuclear #in, living in acompound composed of several individual houses facing each other.

Identi#ication

The -alen$in are related ast %frican peoples (-ipsigis, Candi, -eiyo, Tugen, ara#wet, ndo,Sabaot, Teri#, I#ie#) who form one branch of the +ighland Cilotes, formerly referred to asSouthern Cilo6+amites or sometimes Candi6spea#ing peoples. This description focuses onthe Candi" about one6third of all -alen$in and second6largest of the -alen$in subgroups, they aregeographically the most centrally located.

Location

The -alen$in live mainly in the highland of western -enya, although the Sebei and some Eo#otare located in eastern 4ganda. Ehysical environment and ecological adaptation vary throughout-alen$in country. The Candi and -ipsigis live primarily on high plateaus with good agricultural potential average elevation of 0,1:: to ?,::: meters, thic# topsoil, and 0K: to ?:: centimeters of rain annually distributed over the entire year. any of the -alen$in groups (-eiyo, Tugen,ara#wet5ndo) live along escarpments in the 3ift Dalley system, and the Sabaot on ountlgon. !n these cases, most cultivation occurs between 0,2K: and ?,::: meters, animals areherded in low6lying plains, and some communities may be situated at elevations of over ?,<::meters. The pastoral Eo#ot, the northernmost -alen$in, live in arid lowlands where little

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cultivation is possible. The I#ie#, mountain6forest6dwelling -alen$in spea#ers, historically areforagers.

De"ogra!hy

There are probably $ust over ? million -alen$in, at least 9K percent of whom live in -enya. The

-ipsigis were 2? percent of all the -enya -alen$in in the 09B9 census, followed by the Candi(?< percent), Eo#ot (02 percent), Tugen (1.B percent), -eiyo (1.K percent), ara#wet (B percent),Sabaot (@? percent), and I#ie# (less than 0 percent by official census figures, but perhapsundercounted). The number of 4ganda Sabaot (Sebei) is close to their number in -enya. !n the09<9 census, there were 0,BK?,?@2 -alen$in in -enya. They were the fifth6largest ethnic group0:.1 percent of the population. The vast ma$ority of -alen$in are rural, and population densitydiffers greatly throughout -alen$in country owing to highly varied ecological conditions.

Linguistic A##iliation

%lthough the -alen$in are regarded as a unit on the basis of spea#ing a common language, thereare numerous dialects. %ll of them, it seems, are mutually intelligible with practice, although not

necessarily immediately. Candi and -ipsigis are distinguished by small sound and terminologydifferences, similar to the difference between nglish as spo#en in ritain and the 4nited States.Spea#ers of these dialects cannot immediately understand Eo#ot, Sabaot, and regional variants of ara#wet. Freenberg (09B2) classifies -alen$in as a Southern Cilotic language (astern Section, Cilotic ranch, astern Sudanic Aanguage /amily). %side from Tatoga, which is spo#en by afew small peoples of northern Tanzania, the nearest language to -alen$in is aasai.

The oral traditions of all the Cilotic peoples of ast %frica refer to northern origins. There is aconsensus among historians and linguists that the Elains and +ighland Cilotes migrated from aregion near the southern border of thiopia and Sudan shortly before the beginning of the&hristian ra and diverged into separate communities shortly thereafter. hret (09<0) believesthat pre6-alen$in who already were cattle #eepers and had age sets lived in the western -enyahighlands ?,::: years ago. Eresumably, these people absorbed other populations already living inthe region. /rom some time after a.d. K:: to about a.d. 0B::, there seems to have been a series of migrations eastward and southward from near ount lgon. igrations were complex, and thereare competing theories about their details.

The Candi and -ipsigis, in response to aasai expansion, borrowed from the aasai some of the traits that distinguish them from other -alen$in large6scale economic dependence onherding, military organization and aggressive cattle raiding, and centralized religious6politicalleadership. The family that established the office of orkoiyot (warlord5diviner) among both the Candi and -ipsigis were nineteenth6century aasai immigrants. y 01::, both the Candi and-ipsigis were expanding at the expense of the aasai. This process was halted in 09:K by theimposition of ritish colonial rule.

!ntroduced during the colonial era were new crops5techni=ues and a cash economy (-alen$inmen were paid wages for their military service as early as orld ar !)" conversions to&hristianity began (-alen$in was the first ast %frican vernacular to have a translation of theible). &onsciousness of a common -alen$in identity emerged to facilitate action as a political6interest group during and after orld ar !!Phistorically, the Candi and -ipsigis raided other

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-alen$in as well as the aasai, Fusii, Auyia, and Auo. The name -alen$in is said to derivefrom a radio broadcaster who often used the phrase (meaning ! tell you). Similarly, Sabaot isa modern term used to mean those -alen$in subgroups who use Subai as a greeting. Candi and-ipsigis were early recipients of individual land titles (09K@), with large holdings by %fricanstandards because of their historically low population density. conomic development schemes

were promoted as independence (09B@) approached, and afterward many -alen$in from morecrowded areas resettled on farms in the former hite +ighlands near -itale. Today's -alen$inare among the most prosperous of -enya's ethnic groups. -enya's second president, *aniel arapoi, is a Tugen.

The typical settlement pattern is scattered. Froups of family homesteads ma#e up aneighborhood (Candi koret ), and today (in -enya) several neighborhoods are combined into asublocation, the smallest unit of government administration. Ceighborhood size varies, buttwenty to fifty or sixty households is typical. %mong the Candi, -ipsigis, pastoral Eo#ot, andSebei, local communities historically were not, or were only to a limited extent, #in6based"among some other -alen$in, they were based on patrilineal clans. ost -alen$in combined

neighborhoods to form a pororiet! a unit with mutual6defense functions. Ild6style houses areround, of wattle and daub, thatched, and divided internally into two rooms" the bac# roomtraditionally sheltered sheep and goats. odern houses (still the minority) are usually s=uare andof permanent material, with iron6sheet roofs. % typical household consists of a small extendedfamily, or a nuclear family with some attached nonnuclear #in, living in a compound composedof several individual houses facing each other.

Su&sistence and Co""ercial Actiities

The -alen$in are essentially semipastoralists. &attle herding is thought to be ancient amongthem. %lthough the real economic importance of herding is slight compared to that of cultivationamong many -alen$in groups, they almost all display a cultural emphasis on and an emotionalcommitment to pastoralism. &attle numbers have waxed and waned" however, cattle5peopleratios of K0 or greater (typical of peoples among whom herding is economically dominant) have been recorded only for the pastoral Eo#ot. !n their late6nineteenth6century heyday of pastoralism,the Candi and the -ipsigis approached this ratio" 0620 is more typical of the -alen$in, and insome communities the ratio is even lower than 00.

The staple crop was eleusine, but maize replaced it during the colonial era. Ither subsistencecrops include beans, pump#ins, cabbages, and other vegetables as well as sweet and uropean potatoes and small amounts of sorghum. Sheep, goats, and chic#ens are #ept. !ron hoes weretraditionally used to till" today plows pulled by oxen or rented tractors are more common. Theimportance of cash crops varies with land availability, soil type, and other factors" among the Candi and the -ipsigis, it is considerable. Surplus maize, mil#, and tea are the ma$or cash crops.-alen$in farms on the 4asin Fishu plateau also grow wheat and pyrethrum.

!n most communities there are a few wage wor#ers and full6time business persons (shop#eepers,tailors, carpenters, bicycle repairmen, tractor owners) with local clienteles. !t is common for young married men to be part6time entrepreneurs. +istorically, women could brew and sell beer"this became illegal in the early 091:s. Some men wor# outside their communities, but labor migration is less common than elsewhere in western -enya.

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Industrial Arts

Traditionally, there were no full6time craft specialists. ost ob$ects were manufactured by their users. The blac#smith's art was passed down in families in particular localities, and some womenspecialized in pottery.

Trade

Traditionally, women conducted a trade of small stoc# for grain between pastoral6emphasis andcultivation6emphasis (often non6-alen$in) communities. 3egular local mar#ets were rare prior tothe colonial era. Today large towns and district centers have regular mar#ets, and womenoccasionally sell vegetables in sublocation centers.

Diision o# La&our

There was little traditional division of labor except by age and sex. en cleared land for cultivation, and there is evidence that married men and women cooperated in the rest of thecultivation process. +usbands and wives did not (except during a limited historical period) and

do not typically cultivate separately, other than the wife's vegetable garden. Today women domore cultivation if their husbands are engaged in small6scale business activities. &hildren herdedcattle close to the homestead, as well as sheep and goats" warriors (young initiated men) herdedcattle in distant pastures. omen and girls mil#ed, coo#ed, and supplied water and firewood.Today boys are the main cowherds, and girls are largely responsible for infant care. Thechildren's role in domestic labor is extremely important, even though most children now attendschool.

Land Tenure

!n Candi, individual title to land replaced a system in which land was plentiful, all who lived in acommunity had the right to cultivate it, and a man could move with his family to any locality inwhich he had a sponsor. Aand prepared for cultivation, and used regularly, was viewed as belonging to the family that used it, and inherited from mother to son. The tenure systems of other -alen$in were mainly similar. The -erio Dalley groups cultivated on ridges and at the footof ridges, using irrigation furrows that re=uired collective labor to maintain. This labor was provided by clan segments, which cleared and held land collectively, although cultivation rightsin developed fields were held by individual families.

%ll -alen$in have patrilineal clans, but clans do not universally have strong cooperativefunctions other than regulating marriage (with various rules). Specific patrilineal lin#s are tracedfor only three to four generations.

-in terminology is basically Imaha. The most common sibling terms do not differentiate gender.There are a large number of specific terms for types of affines.

%arriage

Traditionally, marriage too# place in two stages ratet! a small ceremony after which the couplelived together, and tunisiet , a large public feast held only at the completion of bride6wealth payment. %mong the Candi, these stages have typically occurred in rapid succession since aboutthe turn of the twentieth century" among some other -alen$in, at least during certain periods, a

70



separation of many years has been customary, probably depending on availability of cattle or other livestoc#. ost -alen$in with some exceptions, notably the I#ie# pay bride6wealth incattle. Ince payment is complete, marriage is theoretically irrevocable. Traditional divorcegrounds and proceedings exist, but divorce is in fact extremely rare, even in modern times.Eermanent separations occur but do not technically negate marriage.

Eolygyny is prestigious and, in the 09<:s, was practiced by about ?K percent of ever6married Candi men. &hristians were monogamous slightly more fre=uently than non6&hristians. oman6woman marriage, found among Candi, -ipsigis, and, since about the mid6twentieth century,among -eiyo, is not customary among other -alen$in. oth women and men are active innegotiating marriages and reconciling separated couples. +usbands are $urally dominant, withthe right to beat wives for certain offenses. ives are publicly deferential" private relations aremore nearly egalitarian. Aeisure is spent with same6gender companions more than with one'sspouse.

Do"estic Unit

ach wife has her own field, cattle, and house within the family compound. % separate farm for each wife is the ideal. &ompounds may include the husband's parents or mother, and other #in,depending on circumstances. rothers and their wives may share a compound, although this israre.

Inheritance

Traditional norms of cattle inheritance have been extended to land, money, and other property.ach wife's house6property consists of cattle given to her at marriage, ac=uired by her on her own, or given as bride6wealth for her daughters. These may be inherited only by her own sons(or, in Candi and -ipsigis, the sons of her wife). % man's other property is inherited in e=ualshares by each wife's house. /ailing lineal heirs, a man's property reverts to his brothers or their sons, a woman's to her co6wives' sons.

Sociali'ation

!nfants are treated indulgently, but strict obedience (enforced by corporal punishment) isexpected from children by about the age of B. 3outine care of infants and toddlers is largely theresponsibility of girls between ages 1 and 0:. &hildren are economically important and haveheavy responsibilities. !t is common to spend a part of childhood fostered by a relative, helpingwith domestic wor# in exchange for board and school fees.

%dolescent initiation (circumcision for boys and clitoridectomy for girls, and instruction for both) is a #ey feature of -alen$in life and ethnic identity. These are sex6segregated rituals for most, but not all, -alen$in groups. %dolescents are allowed a period of license to indulge incourtship and sexual play before initiation for girls and afterward for boys. Firls marry directlyfollowing initiation" boys become warriors. Today some (mostly highly educated) girls refuseinitiation.

Social Organi'ation

3otating age sets formerly existed among all -alen$in, with the same or nearly the same namesin all groups. There were eight sets among the Tugen, ara#wet, and Sabaot and seven among

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Religious ;ractitioners

very neighborhood has elders who serve as ritual experts. *iviners foretell events by patterns of pebbles poured from a calabash. The -alen$in also believe in an array of different named typesof sorcerers and witches.

Cere"onies/ormerly, there was an important communitywide festival,kipsunde! after the harvest. The ma$or ceremonies now are the life6cycle rituals, many (e.g., those for for newborns) restricted to thefamily. The most important larger ritual is initiation.

Arts

The most highly developed visual art is decorative beadwor#. xpressive culture and leisureactivities include storytelling, singing and dancing, beer drin#ing (for men), and games of strategy. % lyreli#e stringed instrument traditionally accompanied singing but is now becomingrare.

%edicineTraditionally, doctors (male), with primarily supernaturally based s#ills, could ascertain thecause of bad luc# or illness and treat it. These practitioners still treat patients, particularly for mental illness. /emale herbalists' and midwives' s#ills are more technical than supernatural.

Death and A#terli#e

*eath customs varied. The Candi buried only infants and elders. &orpses of adults were left to beconsumed by hyenas. !n some -alen$in groups (e.g., ara#wet), only barren people were left for scavengers. *eath was polluting, and corpse handlers (sons or other close #in) had to be ritually purified and compensated from the estate. any stories refer to an afterlife that is an idealizedversion of precolonial -alen$in life. !n a family ceremony, elders decided which ancestral spirithas been reincarnated in a newborn infant.

I"!lications o# the Di##erent 9illage Organisations in ,enya #or Initiating Technological

Change

The various patterns of village organisations among the different ethnic groups in -enya should be ta#en cognisance of in designing and implementing programmes of social and economicchange for technology (innovation).

0. The change agents can reach the rural Auo in groups in the village via the village head. This is because they live in compact villages to which they return for rest after the dayHs wor# on thefarm. The 'uoth, lango ("aduong gweng) who is the head visits the residents on matters of public interest. The elders and family heads could be called by the public crier in large familyvillages.

?. To wor# effectively in +ausa and /ulani villages, the change agent should obtain permissionfrom the district head who will authorise the village heads to allow the people to wor# effectivelywith the change agent. /emale change agents are needed to go into the gweng to wor# with suchfemale during the day who professes the same religion as themselves.

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RURAL IN*RASTRUCTUR)

De#inition and Characteristics o# Rural In#rastructure

3ural infrastructure, according to !dachaba and Ilayide (091:) is defined to include the systemof physical, human and institutional forms of capital which enable rural residents to better perform their production, processing and distribution activities as well as helping to improve the

overall =uality of life. The most basic elements of infrastructure comprise rural roads, mar#ets inrural towns and rural water supply facilities. 3ural infrastructure also includes socialinfrastructure, most significantly rural health and education facilities.

%t some higher level development, it includes rural electrification, telecommunication facilitiesand access to electronic mass media. 3ural !nfrastructure is a very loose concept however,sometimes conceived narrowly to include only roads and water supply as well as socialinfrastructure. The definition here is broad to capture the concept that the inputs necessary todevelop agriculture the ma$or occupation of the ruralites and reduce poverty, are indeed allembracing.

%griculture cannot be developed in isolation from physical infrastructure development, ruralhealth and education or even from sound urban development policy (orld an#, 0992). 3ural!nfrastructure as defined above possesses certain characteristics. These are heavy capitale=uipment beyond the reach of the average individual rural resident, huge initial capitalexpenditures, benefits accrue to all members of the society (or non6excludability in usage) andstoc#s of capital yielding streams of services over a number of years.

Ty!ology o# Rural In#rastructure

There are four ma$or types of rural infrastructure. These are0. 3ural physical infrastructure?. 3ural social infrastructure2. 3ural institutional infrastructure@. 3ural farm infrastructure

3ural physical infrastructure is defined to includea) Transportation systems such as feeder roads, access roads, rail roads, bridges, ferry services, boats, ports, footpaths, etc. b) Erocessing facilities such as public processing facilities, machinery, e=uipment, buildings, etc,andc) &ommunication systems such as rural telephone services postal agencies, etc.

3ural social infrastructure is defined to includea) +ealth facilities such as hospitals, dispensaries, maternity health services among others. b) ducational facilities such as primary schools, secondary schools, adult education facilitiesetc. andc) 3ural utilities such as rural electrification, power supplies and waters supplies. The ade=uate provision of these services will tend to raise the productivity of small farmers as well as stem therising rural6urban drift.

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3ural institutional infrastructure includesa) 3ural organisations such as cooperatives, farmersH unions, etc. b) 3ural6based pro$ects such as community pro$ects, etc.c) /inancial institutions such as credit societies, ban#s, government credit institutions, post officesaving ban#s, etc.

d) %gricultural research facilities such as research substations, experimentalOout lying farms,schools of agriculture, demonstration plots, etc.e) %gricultural extension servicesf) &rop6animal protection O control6grading services.g) Soil conservation services (Ila$ide and /alusi 0999)

ssentially, the institutional facilities have to be mobilised or fully financed, or promoted as thecase may be by the public sector or government. !t is the ineffective promotion, financial supportand mobilisation of these facilities by government in various parts of -enya, which is alsoresponsible for the dearth of small farmers.

3ural farm infrastructure is defined to includea) Storage facilities such as silos, warehouses, go6downs, farm bins, open6air storage facilities,etc. b) !rrigation water facilities such as dams, irrigation canals and tributaries, bore6holes, drainagesystems, etc.c) Aand clearing and preparation systemsd) /arm inputs supply systems such as seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, etc.e) /arm roads development5improvement facilities. !t is the rural farm infrastructure that is of direct benefit to the small farmers. !t is this class of infrastructure that has to be given immediateattention as a means of increasing the productivity and aggregate output of small farmers in-enya. ost rural dwellers in -enya derive water from streams and shallow ponds. icyclesservice as a very important means of transporting rural products to urban mar#et

)##ects o# Rural In#rastructure

;roduction )##ects

There are three classes of production effects of rural infrastructure. /irst are the direct productioneffects. These include important contribution to increased production of farm and nonfarmgoads, enhancement of productive ability of rural people through better health facilities, better decision6ma#ing by producers through education that provides access to information andfunctional literacy, and better farm products arising from the results of research institutions.

Second are the indirect production effects that come from the facilitating role of ruralinfrastructural facilities. These include the effects of education on production6distributionmanagement and the effects of improved facilitates on access to opportunities in decision6ma#ing, mar#eting and farm supplies or inputs.

Third is the stabilisation of agricultural production. These effects include farmer operation atnear e=uilibrium levels of optimum production, control of erratic fluctuations in farm productionthrough the interplay of research and extension services, stable production and distribution

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arising from wor#able farm calendar and market outloo# information systems, and stable releaseof produce arising from provision of dependable storage facilities for the marketable surpluses.

Inco"e )##ects

3ural infrastructureHs direct production effects are translated or transformed into enhanced

incomes emanating from increased output and farm produce due to ade=uate storage facilities. !tensures the stabilization of rural farm and non farm incomes. The provision of rural educationalcredit and institutional facilities combine to progressively eradicate rural poverty through accessto sources of rural wealth and income generation opportunities.

Wel#are uality o# Li#e )##ects

3ural communities re=uire more commodity and input programmes that significantly raise andstabilise rural incomes in addition to the need for dignity, self6respect, belongingness, socialrecognition and social participation to ensure continual improvement in the =uality of rural life.

The supplies of communication facilities such as television and redifussion, electricity,

vocational schools and water in rural communities improve the =uality of rural life as well as promote socioeconomic integration. %de=uate and timely information via efficientcommunication systems helps to develop national consciousness in rural communities andtherefore ensures socio6economic and social stability.

)"!loy"ent and Resources Allocation )##ects

The ade=uate provision of rural infrastructures creates new employment opportunities throughconstruction or establishment operations, and direct6indirect effects on farm and non farm production. There is additional effect of the elimination5reduction of underemployment throughthe provision of off6pea# nonfarm employment opportunities that facilitate all6season use of rurallabour resources. /urthermore, 3ural !nfrastructure guarantees and continually improves theallocation of such resources as land, labour, capital and water in farm and nonfarm ruralenterprises.

;roision o# Rural In#rastructure

&onsidering the above listed benefits and salutary effects of 3ural !nfrastructure to rural productivity and socio6politico6economic welfare of our communities, the need arises for anexamination of probable methods of providing ade=uate the facilities. These probable methodswill be discussed briefly in terms of five ma$or efforts.

0. Fovernmental efforts !t is essential that governmental awareness of the importance andeffects of rural infrastructure should be matched by e=ually important expenditures on their provision.

Cational state and &ounty government in -enya will need to ensure that about ten percent of planned expenditures in the 099:s will to be allocated to rural infrastructural development toensure rapid and successful integrated rural development in -enya.

?. The class of community efforts at contributing positively and significantly to the ade=uate provision of rural infrastructure !n the field of environmental hygiene6wealth facilities, rural

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roads, processing facilities and community development pro$ects, the role of self helpmechanisms with governmental matching grants cannot be overemphasised. The villageapproach to the stimulation of community efforts promises the most powerful strategy and toolsfor ade=uate provision of rural infrastructures.

2. &ooperative efforts +ere again, the village approach through cooperatives promises aneffective mechanism for the supply of rural infrastructure. ultiple purpose and single6purposecooperatives can through service associations provide rural infrastructure at cost. xamplesinclude rural electrification, rural water supplies, irrigation supplies, rural telephone services,rural health clinics, rural transportation services, etc. processing and credit cooperativesorganised on intra6village and inter6village basis constitute an effective mechanism for the provision of rural infrastructure.

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%ARRIAG) AND *A%ILY

The Conce!t o# %arriage and *a"ily

The family is usually defined as a #inship group lin#ed by blood and marriage and occupying acommon household. % household is not the same thing as the family. !t refers to all personsoccupying the same house. These include relatives as well as lodgers.

The family as a social group is made up of a man, his wife or wives and children living under acommon roof, interacting and influencing the behaviours of each other in a more intimatemanner than with others who do not belong to it.

%s a social institution the family entails the formalised, regular and patterned way or process bywhich family life is carried out. !t involves

• % set of common procedures such as betrothal or engagement, courtship, honeymoon,

wedding

• % common set of values and norms e.g. incest taboo which forbids sexual intercourse

with blood relations thereby necessitating marriage outside the immediate family

(exogamy), love between husband and wife in a way different from that which isexpected between brother and sister.

arriage involves choice of mates. arriage allows the social relationship in which sexualexpression is expected to ta#e place for the ma$or purpose of procreation. ut if much sexualexpression within and outside marriage is for the purpose of sexual urge gratification rather than procreation, then sex plays an important role in self6fulfillment in both rural and urban areas.arriage is sanctioned by the society. !t provides the social systems within which social rolesand statuses are prescribed.

*eatures o# the Rural *a"ily

The rural family is characterised by many features such as familism, production andconsumption of goods and services, continuity, size, child bearing and rearing, socialisation, participation in family decision ma#ing, marital expectations and evaluation.

/amilism could be described as the degree to which members of the family show solidarity in the process of performing the multifarious role of the family institution. !t involves the followingfactors

• The extent to which personal goals are made secondary to be consistent with family goals

• The extent to which control is exerted over individual members so that family values are

imposed on each member, who in turn accepts the values

• Eersonal security of individual members of a family which shows familism is generated

by members through their deep sense of integration into the family• !t embodies an intergenerational family group in which many generations live under one

roof near one another

• xistence of family property such as land, house, shares in companies, animals and farm

crops. This practice discovers ageHs individualism among members

• &ontinuity of the family ensures that members bring in their children into the fold so that

it does not discontinue when certain members die

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• utual help exists among members who are assisted to set up their own farms, pay

education costs, dowries, burial and other forms of expenses when the need arises.

The advantages of familism include

• -eeping the children in greater contact so as to deepen affection for one another.

• xercising control over members to protect the family integrity" ethnic and ruralstandards" apprenticeship in the family early occupation, which is fre=uently farming inthe rural area

• %ssistance in financing early education, purchase of wor# e=uipment and marriage

expenses, feeding, clothing and other personal expenses

The disadvantages of familism include

• Self centeredness, which ma#es a family to always loo# for the interest of its members,

while it fre=uently closes its eyes to the consideration of other families

• embers tend to be narrow6minded and parochial" the personalities of members are at

about the same level

• /amilies limit chances of allowing members in rural families to ta#e up other occupations

• The system of seniority fre=uently adopted lowers the rate of self6realisation of talented

family members

• henever a family member violates the norms, the family image rather than that of the

individual is considered as tarnished.

*unctions o# the *a"ily

The family performs many societal functions to ensure the welfare and progress of its members.The functions include

• 3eproduction of the human species. That is grant life

• &are and rearing of the young offspring particularly at infancy and years of dependence.• ducation of the children.

• Erotection from enemies, danger and psychological isolation, provision of love and

affection to reduce tension and frustration.

• &are of the aged and disabled family members.

• Eroduction and consumption of goods and services.

• oral and financial support to family members in time of $oy and trouble.

• Social, psychological and material support in time of bereavement, disaster or other

forms or adversities

• Erovide socialisation. That is, the family e=uips the individual with the #nowledge which

he5she will need in order to plan his5her roles in the society.

Stages in the *a"ily Li#e o# a Rural *ar"er

The family life and the farm business life of a rural farmer are intricately interwoven. Thesuccess of one highly influences the viability of the other. +owever, some stages aredistinguishable in the life a farm family.

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*or"s o# %arriage

!t was earlier said that marriage involves choice of mates. This may be done outside oneHs groupor blood relations in which case it is described as exogamy, or within some specified group, thecase of which could be described as endogamy.

here one man and one woman are involved, the marriage is described as monogamy. heremore than two people are involved, it is called polygamy. Eolygamy can assume three forms.Ine is the case of one man married to two or more women. This is called polygamy. This is mostcommon among traditional villagers. This second form of polygamy is one involving one womanand two or more men. This is #nown as polyandry and has been identified among very few tribesin the world.

Leirate %arriage

This is a type of marriage which involves the inheritance of a widow by the deceased husbandHsmale relations. This form of marriage is based on reasoning that a wife is part of the possessions

of the husband which are passed down the extended family line on his demise. Aevirate marriageis a secondary form of marriage and entails no elaborate ceremony.

*actors Associated With ;olyga"ous %arriage

Eolygamous marriage in -enyans could be attributed to many factors.

Significant among these are20 )cono"ic Reasons

!n societies where little mechanisation is practised, most economic production is carried outmanually. Therefore, the greater the number of hands available, the greater the productivity of the family. Eeople who have large areas of farm land usually marry more than one wife so as toenhance the available free labour force.

<0 Religious :elie#s

The oslem religion permits its adherents who are able, to ta#e as many as four wives. The well6to6do among them have married more than one wife.

=0 The Need #or Children

Sometimes a man may ta#e a second or third wife if the first is not productive or fruitful. !n thetraditional practice, a barren woman in fact, went out of her way to marry another woman for her husband. !n addition, in the traditional society a manHs prestige was enhanced by the number of children in his compound and so the more women he ac=uired, the larger his compound grew. !nsome cases, the need for a male child who would inherit the property of the family alsoencourages men to ta#e additional wives.

>0 Social or Cultural O&ligations

Some men in Cigeria have found themselves with more than one wife purely due to social or cultural reasons. % successful businessman or traditional leader may be given a girl gratis bysomeone who desires to pay homage, indicate respect, see# favour or $ust see# a closer relationship with him. &ulture warrants that such a gift be accepted gratefully. Similarly, tradition

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There are various forms of formal educational facilities in rural areas.These include the followings20 )tension )ducation

This is an informal out6of6school education given to rural families by experts in agriculture,home economics, health, small6scale industries among others. This type of education is often

#nown as extension education.

<0 Adult )ducation

This is semi6formal literacy education organised for adults who had no opportunity to ac=uireformal education at earlier age.

=0 *or"al )ducation

This is the type of education offered at the primary and secondary levels to rural children andadolescents. %t the primary level, two main types of education can be identified. These are thewestern type of education

;ro&le"s o# the Rural School Syste" and their SolutionsThe rural school is of fundamental importance in the life of any nation. This is because it is thearea in which basic values, attitudes and other cultural dimensions of a society are transmitted tothe succeeding generations of citizens. ost of these citizens invariably move to the urban areasto constitute the cream of the society. The rural school experiences many problems whencompared with their urban counter parts. Some of these include

The pupil O teacher ratio is lower in the rural than urban areas.The anxiety to send children toschool is still lower in rural areas than in urban areas. !n agrarian societies some reasons areresponsible for this. Some parents want their children to help them on the farm" some parents donot have sufficient money to give their children even for daily feeding at school" some are notinterested in formal education because they believe that it ta#es children out of the home after graduation" instead they prefer their children to remain with them on their farm. !n many rural parts, many parents do not want their children to go to formal school

The average salary of the rural teacher is lower than that of the urban teacher. This is because theaverage =ualification and experience of the rural teacher is lower than that of the urban teacher.

The average rural teacher is saddled with a heavier teaching load than his urban counterpart. Thisis because of fre=uent shortage of teachers in many sub$ects, particularly at the high school level.

Teachers, who specialise in a field such as agricultural science, may be re=uired to teach relatedscience sub$ects such as chemistry and biology. !n the elementary school, many schools in factre=uired the same teacher to teach all the sub$ects because he is considered as competent enoughto handle all the sub$ects at that level. The outcome is over6loading of the teacher, whichfre=uently results in inefficiency.

The staff6turn over in rural school is much higher than that of urban school. Staff in rural schoolsfre=uently disturbs the school supervisors to post them to urban schools. arried female teachers

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educators and social scientists in the country that schools had problems which could be largelycorrected through consolidation of schools. &onsolidation is expected to bring the followingmerits

• ore =ualified teachers, more effective supervision and school administrations"

• ore ade=uate school located centrally

• 4se of the consolidated school plant as a natural social centre for its arena"• % large and more heterogeneous range of contacts for rural children"

• !ncrease school attendance"

• !mproved educational programme based on the social needs of rural children and aimed

at improving them mentally and physically"

• %de=uate number of children in schools to facilitate healthy competition and social

stimulus in school wor#, development of group and pro$ect wor# and satisfaction of extra6curricular activities"

• !mprovement in adult programmes in areas served by the consolidated schools"

The demerits5criticisms of consolidation are• Students from low socio6economic bac#ground might bring in unwarranted attitudes to

influence other students"

• !t brings students together in one school with disregard to community interest"

• Eutting students in buses from one community to another for long periods of the day is

not in their interest. Schools which are consolidated within each community willeradicate much of the demerits.

The second possible approach to providing solution to the problems of rural schools is tocontinue with the present school structure, but improve on it via community efforts. The parent6teacher association may ta#e the responsibility for providing solutions to some of the constraints.

This will be in form of cooperative relationship between the school and the community. !f the parents want good =uality education for their children, they should play an active role in the process of providing such education.

The third approach is the establishment of private schools to run side by side with those of government. any groups and individuals such as missionary organisations, philanthropicorganisations and private individuals could be allowed to established schools. The governmentshould give guidelines which are to be followed by these groups and individuals for =ualityassurance.

% new approach to providing high =uality education at the rural level is the establishment of ruralschools by philanthropic organisations such as the !nternational Aions &lub and 3otary &lub.Some of these organisations are so rich and endowed with so many talented members that theycould go into community improvement, which is their ma$or goal through the establishment of high =uality rural schools.

86



R)LIGION IN RURAL SOCI)TY

The %eaning o# Religion

3eligion is defined as consisting of institutionalised systems of beliefs, values and symbolic

practices which provide groups of men with solutions to their =uestion of ultimate meaningdeath, difficulties, suffering, etc. ilton (099B) has also defined religion as the attempt to bringthe relative, the temporary, and the painful things of life into relation with what is conceived to be permanent, absolute and cosmically optimistic. 3eligion is a universal human institution. !tentails a set of basic beliefs and ritualistic practices.

These beliefs and practices however vary from one religious organisation to another andresponsible for the multiplication of religious organisations in society.

3eligious practices and thoughts are often associated with descriptions such as power, invisible,mighty, all6pervasive omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, mysterious, miraculous, super6

natural and everlasting being. There is a belief that Fod who is worshiped through religion doesgood things only. There is also a belief that Fod can do evil to those who violate his rules.

Rural Religion in ,enya

Ai#e in many parts of the developing world, religion is an important aspect of the social life of Cigerians in both rural and urban areas. There are three ma$or forms of religion namely,&hristianity, !slam (ohammedanism) and the traditional religion. The first two have manydenominations, while the third has many sub6types.

Christianity

&hristianity was introduced during the period of colonialism, first into the southern part of thecountry. Today it has spread to many other parts of the country. +owever, there is a larger concentration of &hristians in the south than in the northern states.

*ifferent &hristian denominations have been introduced from urope and the 4nited States.These are the &atholic, %nglican, ethodist, aptist, the &hrist %postolic &hurch and the%postolic /aith. Several indigenous church denominations have been formed also. Some of theseare the %frican &hurch, the %frican ethodist &hurch, and &hurch of the Aord, the &herubimand Seraphim &hurch, and the &elestial &hurch of &hrist.

Some other new &hurches introduced are the 3edeemed &hristian &hurch of Fod, the Students&hristian ovement and the /our S=uare Fospel &hurch. The old denominations and theindigenous groups are more common in rural areas than the new introductions which are largelyrestricted to the urban areas.

The rural branches of the denominations are fre=uently accountable to the church district andtheir urban parent bodies. !n small towns and cities, the church continues to attract massivefollowing. ith increase in social change of rising aspirations among urban residents, there has been corresponding increase in crime rate, armed robbery, cases of hired assassinations, andmotor accidents among others. Eeople believe that by moving closer to Fod, they could be

87



spared of these sources of disaster. Ithers believe that by moving closer to Fod, their welfareand success in life could be ensured.The Traditional Religion

This religion is observed mainly in the rural areas. The rural inhabitants of the various states still place much premium on the continued worship of traditional religions. Some of those who claim

to be &hristians and uslims still have traditional gods in their rooms which had been passed tothem from their ancestors to be worshipped.

*unctions o# Religion

3eligion fulfils certain universal functions which include0. The explanation of the un#nown and irregular physical occurrences e.g. flood, earth=ua#es,drought, lightening, etc.?. The $ustification of human existence by stating the nature and role of man in terms of super6natural design.2. Eromotion of group solidarity as religion is a cultural possession.@. The celebration of human achievement. That is, most rituals are connected with some crucial

periods in the society. xamples are puberty, planting of crops, harvest, etc.K. Strengthening of moral order and promotion of social control.B. Support for other social organisations and institutions, e.g. schools, hospital, welfare agencies,etc.<. The rationalisation of individual suffering in the material world thereby ma#ing such suffering bearable.

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;OLITICAL INSTITUTIONS A%ONG RURAL SOCI)TY

The Conce!t o# ;olitical Institutions

Eolitical institutions serve the people of a nation in form of governments in their traditional andmodern forms which exist at the local, state and national levels. They serve executive, legislativeand $udiciary functions at each level and also relate citizens to each level of government in the performance of these functions. ach level of government also relates to the other in a systematicand coordinated fashion, fre=uently ensuring a division of labour. % system of politicalorganisation is fashioned within which the philosophy and methodology of governance andselection of active participants in the political process evolve.

!n more developed societies li#e the 4nited States, the rural local government is fre=uently acontinuation of the state or national government political structure. +owever, the native !ndiantribes had their own system of rural local governance prior to the arrival of immigrants from

urope and during the early years of uropean settlement in that country.

Today, much of such structures have been obliterated by the forces of modernisation which haveswept across 4nited States particularly during the last two centuries. Aess developed nations or countries li#e Cigeria still retain much of their traditional political forms at the local level,although the modern political structure exists side by side with the traditional forms. The latter which had influenced the lives of the citizens over a much longer period than the former, stillcontrols much of the daily activities of the local people.

4nli#e some %frican countries, -enya did not have institution of political chiefs prior to thearrival of the ritish colonialists in that country. ost of the communities were ruled via acouncil of elders. !n 09:?, the colonial administration passed the village headmen ordinance,which among the other things, provided for the appointment of headmen by the colonialadministrators. They were to rule on behalf of the colonialists at the local level.

;apanese rural area fiefs during feudal times were divided into districts. These were administered by magistrates who were appointed by the fief government. The districts consisted of villages ura. !n the urban areas were cities which consisted of wards and villages. ards weresubdivided into neighbourhoods of five to ten houses, gonin gumi or "unin gumi. The districtmagistrates lin#ed the fief administration with the people. They exercised legislative, executiveand $udicial powers.

*eatures o# the Local Goern"ent in Rural Areas

The following features characterise the rural local government in many societies20 Resistance to Change

The local government is the institution through which the local people show their politicalexpressions, thus li#e other rural institutions it is highly resistant to change. The traditional rurallocal governing processes in many societies have remained the same over centuries.

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Erior to the introduction of the western systems of government in many %frican countries, thetraditional system of government had even remained the same.

<0 In#or"alityAocal government structures and processes are highly informal. They are governed by traditionalmores, practices and relationships.

=0 A .igh Degree o# Autono"y

The local government en$oys a high degree of autonomy irrespective of the state or nationalgovernment which could be a monarchy, republic, democracy or an oligarchy. This is becausecomprehensive local affairs cannot be supervised by the central government which is far fromthe local sense. The influence of the central government becomes more effective in governing thearea with increase in transportation and communication, although the high degree of autonomy isstill common in most rural districts of the world.

>0 A .igh Degree o# Sta&ility

ven in terms of rapid social change brought about by the activities of the modern centralgovernments which open up pro$ects in rural areas, change in the traditional rural system of government is often gradual.

0 Rule &y Discretion

This is a common feature where mores predominate the ruling process. Taxation, administrationof $ustice, maintenance of facilities such as schools, roads and bridges are informally executed.+owever, such traditional political institutions have been largely replaced by centralgovernments with growing difficulties of virtually all societies.

@0 Lac/ o# S!ecialised ;olitical Leadershi!

Those who lead in other spheres of rural life fre=uently ta#e the mantle of political leadership.Seniority in terms of age, wisdom, membership of the lineage of leaders in the community andsocial standing, are some of the criteria for becoming a political leader of a village rulingcouncil. !n many Aatin %merican countries li#e &olombia, there is no financial gain. This is trueof many other rural local governments in other countries.

40 Co"!le"ent o# *or"al Local Goern"ent

The traditional rural local government fre=uently helps the formal government in implementingsome of the programmes at the local level. /or example, collection of taxes, criminalHsidentification, prevention of crime" security and safety of the rural dwellers are best ensured bythe village governments, prevention of crime, for example, is carried out by engaging night6watchmen or vigilantes who are paid by the village residents to help #eep vigil, prevent and fightcrime. The number and effectiveness of the police force is so limited, in many other lessdeveloped countries, that their influence in crime prevention is virtually non6existent at thevillage level.

50 Su&Bection to the Control o# the Central Goern"ent

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The rural local government ta#es instructions from the formal local government, which itfre=uently implements. The formal local government in turn receives instructions from the stategovernment.

30 Lac/ o# *or"al %eans o# )n#orcing its RegulationsThe traditional village government depends on mores, fol#ways, imposition of fine, and similar informal means of enforcing its regulations. %lthough its regulations are fre=uently obeyed because of the existing spirit of sodality among the inhabitants, disobedient members canoccasionally be forced to comply. ith increasing influence of formal political activities at thevillage level, disobedient members who are bolstered by party loyalty fre=uently put the councilin positions of powerlessness to enforce its rulings.

2H0 De#inite ;attern o# Goernance

The rural local government has its own pattern of governance, communication and decision6ma#ing. % village crier is instructed by him to call meetings of village heads of households on

important occasions.

Rural ;olitical ;artici!ation

The farmers indicate a considerable interest in political participation in their villages. Eoliticalgatherings and campaigns are occasions for large assemblages of rural people to meet. Thisencourages solidarity among the rural people. The campaign meetings are accompanied bydrumming, dancing and acrobatic displays to meet important political figures.

Speech6ma#ing in support of a political party whose leaders are on such campaign tours is themain item on the agenda for convincing eligible voters. State and local government level leadersof political parties meet with village leaders and the electorate from time to time to discuss political issues. There are fre=uent occasions for speech ma#ing and merriment by farmers,farmersH leaders, state and local government political parties. %s rival political supporterssometimes clash during campaigns, and for the safety of politicians who sometimes attac# oneanother, thugs are often hired to protect the politicians. This is because police protection is ofteninade=uate, and because of the design of some politicians to use the thugs to cause trouble for members of the opposing political party.

The casting of ballot to elect their representatives is a common practice in many countries, apartfrom those in which military governments have forced themselves into political power for thegreater part of the history of nationhood. 3ural people vote more in relation to the number of people of voting age than the urban people.

3ural people vote more for personality rather than the party. Ine party is also more li#ely to befavoured by ma$ority of the rural people than urban people who are more li#ely to dividethemselves among the parties favoured. !n Cigeria, party support among rural people has been onethnic basis.

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)CONO%IC INSTITUTION A%ONG RURAL SOCI)TY

The %eaning o# the )cono"ic InstitutionThe economic institution in any culture is often concerned with thearrangement of relationships between people for the sustained production, distribution and consumption of goods and services withinthat culture or between it and another culture (biti ?::2). The familyas we have earlier discussed, is the basic economic unit in any society.That is, it acts as the basic unit of production and consumption. %s asociety advances and becomes more complex, specialisation of functions often sets in to the extent that the function of production anddistribution of goods becomes transferred to industrial and commercialfirms. The family however, still plays the important role of providing

the labour or manpower for production and distribution within theseorganisations.The basic factors of production in any economy have been identified asland, labour, capital and entrepreneurship. -arl (099?), however, holdsthat of all these, labour is the most crucial and that labour producescapital and entrepreneurship. !n addition to labour, land is e=ually veryimportant.=0< The Signi#icance o# econo"ic Institutions to Rural

*ar"ers

The economic institution is one of the most significant dimensions of rural life. The institution provides the need of the rural farmers indifferent ways through provision of credit, provision of land, provisionof labour, purchase of e=uipments and supplies, and mar#eting of farm produce.These needs are provided in rural communities where family farms predominate. !n this situation, the initiatives of individual and familyfarmers are mobiliaed to loo# for these services for their farmdevelopment.The foregoing economic services are often performed in rural areasthrough established rural organisations such as0. &ooperative societies performed through cooperative efforts of the rural farmers"?. Fovernment of privately established institutions serving the ruralarea li#e rural ban#s, government parastatal organisations such asagro6service centres where farming inputs such as improvedseeds, fertilizers, chemicals, tractor services are made available tofarmers at subsidized rates, cooperations which are established bythe government to produce and mar#et agricultural products,mar#eting companies and commodity boards which are to purchase agricultural commodities from producers and other

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large scale buyers (%#ingbade ?::2)"2. The efforts of individual farmers who loo# for these servicesfrom other individuals and groups.e are now going to discuss each service in more detail.a6 ;roision o# *ar" Credit

/arm credit is money provided to farmers to meet the cost of executingvarious operations on their farm enterprises. The money is often spenton aspects such as pro$ect farm planning, ac=uisition of land where itcannot be obtained, land survey, labour, procurement of farm inputs andmar#eting. &redit is therefore needed at all stages of agricultural production process.&redit is provided to farmers in two ways. /irst is cash credit, which ismoney loaned to farmers. Second is credit in #ind, which consists of farm inputs li#e improved seeds, agro6chemicals, fertilizers andherbicides, which are given to farmers to cover a part of the loan grantedto farms.

&ash credit is often provided by the an#s. %gricultural &redit&ooperation and Cigeria %gricultural &ooperative and 3ural*evelopment an#s (C%&3*) in many States in Cigeria, give creditin both cash and #ind to farmers. &ollateral security is however re=uiredat times.&6 Ac+uisition o# Land

This is the second manifestation of the significance of the economicinstitution in the rural area. %c=uisition of land for agricultural and other economic purposes is of paramount importance. The system of landtenure in the world falls into two ma$or partsi) State ownership and control, andii) !ndividual ownership and control. The former has developedlargely in the communist countries" the latter is predominant inother parts of the world (C$i#e ?:::). 4nder the state ownershipof land, allocation of this resource by groups and for various purposes is usually done by the government. 4nder individualownership, land ac=uisition is fre=uently through rent, lease, borrowing or outright purchase of land.c6 The Land Use Degree

The Igun State of Cigeria Fazette ?< (09<1) was one of the instrumentswhich published the decree. !t stated that it was in the public interest thatthe right of all Cigerians to the land of Cigeria be preserved by law. !naddition, it was in the interest of the public that the rights of all Cigerians to use and en$oy Cigerian land and its natural fruits in enough=uantity to sustain themselves and their families should be preserved.The right to allocate land to applicants and withdraw such land whennecessary was vested in the Fovernor of each state. % land use andallocation committee was set up in each state to advice the Fovernor onthe implementation of the decree. % land use advisory committee wassetup in each Aocal Fovernment %rea to advise on lands in rural areas

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(;ibowo 099?).The ma$or criticism of the decree is that it allows the rich landdevelopers to ac=uire large areas of land in various parts of the countrywithout paying much money. The provision of the decree which limitsthe area of land which could be ac=uired should be enforced and

possibly reviewed to reduce the area further which each person couldac=uire, so that land could be available for prospective users.d6 Su!!ly o# La&our

3ural labour supply for agricultural development in various parts of theworld is through these ma$or sources such as human labour, farm animalsources, and use of modern machines namely ploughs, harrows,harvesters mounted on tractors. The source of labour appears to beindicative of the level of development of each nation. !n theunderdeveloped and developing parts of the orld, which include thema$or parts of %frica, %sia and Aatin %merica, reliance is placed onhuman labour to execute many farm operations in the rural areas. Aand

clearing, cultivation, planting of crops, maintenance operations,harvesting and haulage are carried out manually (aldwin 099<).The tools used include hoes and cutlasses which demand much humanlabour. as#et is used for haulage of products from the farm. Thisinvolves carrying of products on shoulder or heads. Transportationinvolves tre##ing on most occasions.e6 Ac+uisition o# Technological )+ui!"ent and Su!!lies

The ma$or essence of agricultural technology is the ac=uisition of e=uipment and supplies for the improvement of agricultural enterprises.Technology is appropriately described as the study, mastery, ultilisationand systematic application to industrial arts of the #nowledge of manufacturing methods (a#an$uola,0991). %gricultural technologymay then be defined as the systematic study and application of the#nowledge of manufacturing methods to the development of agriculture.%gricultural technology exists in many forms. %ccording to Ilayide(099:), agricultural technology falls into one or a combination of manyforms. /irst is tool6embodied technology, which is symbolised by manytools and machine such as hammers, weeders, planters, stumpingmachines and sprayer. Second is process6embodied technology which isfound as plans, formulae, blue6prints and procedures embodied in the production and processing of farm goods and services into final products. Third is process O oriented technology which assumes detailed#nowledge of properties of chemicals or physical elements andaccumulated experience of se=uence to follow in production. /ourth isdecision O oriented technology which encompassed practical #nowledgeused by planners, technicians, engineers and producers in analysing bodies of information to determine the practical se=uence which might be meaningfully arrived at from such information. any of the tools ande=uipment used by the small and large scale farmers belong to the firstform of technology as classified above.

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The technology chosen by the small farmers has to meet some basicre=uirements if it is to be effective.a6 Technically *easi&ility

!t should be able to increase productivity by employing itstechnical elements"

&6 Social Acce!ta&ility!t should be compatible with community structures norms, valuesand beliefs"c6 )cono"ic *easi&ility

!t should be characterised by profitability, compatibility with theexisting farming practices and systems, dependability and potential for ris# minimisation"d6 In#rastructural Co"!ati&ility

!t should be capable of accommodation by the existing level of the infrastructure"e6 Other Re+uire"ents

!t should have employment enhancing and generating potential. !tshould ma#e optimum use of basic production resources such asland, labour, water, capital and entrepreneurship so as tomaximise output.

#6 %ar/eting o# *ar" ;roduce

!n more developed nations, mar#eting of agricultural commodities iscarried out largely by specialised mar#eting agencies. xamples arefood crops, livestoc# and dairy. Some individual farmers or groups of farmers engage in the production and mar#eting aspects of agriculture.!n many less developed countries, however, many farmers operate on asmall scale. They fre=uently combine both production and mar#eting of their farm enterprises.Storage and transportation of agricultural enterprises are carried out onthe farm. ar#eting is carried out at the wholesale and retail levels. !n Cigeria storage is only for some months or short period. Some farmersuse their crops as collaterals for obtaining loans from traders. /oodcrops are stored in pots, soil, $ute bags, and rafters, hung above the fire place. Inly a few farmers use the steel or concrete silos provided by thegovernment.Transportation of food crops in Cigeria is done mainly by head andlorries. 3ail and water transportation are minimal. ater transportationis common in riverine areas of the country. Transportation costs varyaccording to the means used. Transportation problems such as badroads, irregularity and excessively high charge of lorries and other transport facilities prevent smooth transportation of agriculturalcommodities from the farm or village to the mar#ets.Ai#e in many other less developed countries, mar#eting efficiency is lowin Cigeria. This is because of many problems such as

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i) Aow level of technical efficiency in processing"ii) &onstant price fluctuations"iii) !nade=uate transportation and storage,iv) Eoor mar#et #nowledge and information, andiiv) Aac# of standardised =uality and =uantity measures which

prevents responsiveness of mar#eting system to consumer direction and lower efficiency of commodity pricing(%deyo#unnu 099:).To improve mar#eting of agricultural commodities(i) The government should establish storage, transportation and processing facilities at low rate for farmers or by individuals or groups of farmers themselves"(ii) &ooperative mar#eting by producers, traders and consumersshould allow greater systematisation and standardisation of mar#eting"(iii) ar#eting education and information should be made available to

all people concerned with mar#eting so as to arrive at $udiciousmar#eting decisions.

SOCIAL INT)RACTIONS IN RURAL SOCI)TY

The Conce!t o# Interaction

Social interaction entails interpersonal contact, reciprocal response andinner ad$ustment of behaviour to the action of others (ood ard0990). Social interaction which assumes a repetitive pattern becomes asocial process. Ear# and urgress( 0910) defined the social process asthose 7respective forms of behaviour commonly found in social life.8&ommonly identified in this category are the processes of cooperation,competition, conflict, accommodation, assimilation and acculturation.This may be grouped further as associative and antagonistic social processes. The associative types include co6operation, accommodationand assimilation while the antagonistic types include competition andconflict. !t is however, necessary to note that in practice, these social processes are not strictly mutually exclusive but exist as reciprocalaspects of the same social experience.hen some cultures coexist in a society through mutual adaptation, theyare able to do this through the process o accommodation. Ine culturemay absorb the other through assimilation, when two cultures are blended, the process involved is acculturation. hen all the componentsof a culture are uniformly distributed throughout a society, the processinvolved is homogenisation. !t is thus important that a student of ruralsociology should understand how these and other rural social processesare operating.=0< Ty!es o# Social Interactions

=0<02 Coo!eration

%s a result of human limitations in respect of time, energy, expert#nowledge and other resources, both individual as well as group goals

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can be more efficiently and less strenuously attained via combinedefforts of two or more individuals. This form of social interaction inwhich two or more people wor# together as a team to achieve a commongoal(s) is termed cooperation.Eeople cooperate for different reasons. %mong these is the need to

obtain personal advantage of benefit as a result of wor#ing with otherswhich the individual would otherwise have found difficult to attainwor#ing all by himself. &ooperation can also arise due to the need toattain group goals e.g. in community development activities and villageimprovement unions.Situations or circumstances may call for cooperation even amongotherwise antagonistic groups or individuals, e.g. families, villagegroups and clans have been #nown to corporate. They abandon their differences temporarily in order to $ointly fight a common cause.Ehysical hazards li#e flood, landslide, locust infestation or menance of wild beasts affecting contiguous villages who are otherwise at war with

each other, may call for temporary cooperative action to eradicate thecommon annoyance.&ooperation is thus an interaction which is oriented towards specificgoal(s). This goal may be a shared goal in which case the ultimatereward is a $oint reward and there is a solitary relationship between thecooperators as in the case of communal land clearing for $ointcultivation. The goals may $ust be convenient while the rewards are purely personal in which case the relationship between the cooperatorswould be symbolic in nature. The relationship between the doctors and patients typify this #ind of cooperation. The patient needs cure or relief from pain and disease while the doctor wants the enhancement of his personal prestige, that of the hospital organisation he wor#s and that of his profession. These two need each other in order to realise their individual rewards.Symbiotic cooperation exists in human interaction. &ooperation isusually classified as either formal or informal pending upon the level of spontaneity or deliberate plan involved./ormal cooperation involves deliberate and rational interaction between persons or groups. The cooperators may not necessarily be ac=uiredintimately but cooperate on contractual basis with the expected mutualobligations being spelt out in advance. !n some instances of formalcooperation, other elements of compulsion or coercion may be involved./or example in such communal labour as village road maintenance,village members are supposed to cooperate but any one who fails to turnup for the wor# may be fined.!nformal cooperation is more or less spontaneous solidarity behaviour among members of such primary groups as the family andneighbourhood. !t entails no formal compulsion or contract but maygrow out of the need to give assistance, strengthen filial bonds or for mere companionship. Fenerally the cooperators in this case are #nown

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may lead to group =uarrel and the division of the village into severalfractions. &hallenge to the security of the village may also engender conflict, for example land dispute. This often triggers off a strong groupdefence reaction resulting in the reappearance of old alignments witheach group trying to obtain dominant position over the other.

3elationship to a single act by an individual if followed with a rebuttalmay soon grow into group conflict e.g =uarrels between children often bring the mothers into conflict.!n community wor#, proposed changes or innovation may be viewedapprehensively and as a challenge to the status =uo thereby engenderingconflict. Similarly, the use of pressure group by a certain part of thecommunity to gain an advantage over the rest may result in conflict. Thechange agency may be regarded by the disadvantaged section or part of the community in such a case as biased.!ndividual conflicts may entail intensive feeling of animosity towardseach other. &onflicting individuals may refuse to greet each other or do

anything together. +owever in group conflict, there may not be illfeelingsagainst any particular individual. The interest of the group as awhole rather than individual relationship determines conflict alignment.&onflict has both negative and positive effects. !ts negative effectsinclude the disruption of social unity" generation of bitterness whichmay lead to destruction and bloodshed, generation of inter6grouptension" disruption of normal channels of cooperation and the diversionof membersH attention from group goals.4ntil there is an overt conflict, people may not #now that certain wrongsor nagging issues exist. Therefore, conflict leads to a clear definition of issues. Ince such issues have been identified they can then be amicablyresolved. *uring conflict, group cohesion and solidarity increase andthis positive effect can be directed for a more efficient attainment of group goals. !n addition, conflict #eeps the group alert to membersHinterest and such awareness helps to prevent future conflicts.=0<0=02 Con#lict Resolution

Eersons and groups who must wor# together must minimise conflict between them. There is no specific formula for resolving conflict butthere are certain general procedures and approaches which might beused either by themselves or in combination. Fenerally, the first aim inconflict resolution is to minimise the feeling of difference and calmdown the contending parties thereby creating a conducive atmospherefor the parties to coexist or wor# together until a more permanent

solution could be found for their difference. This temporary wor#ingagreement between parties in conflict is the process of accommodation.!t enables two strangers or parties to live together and form a family.%ccommodation may ta#e different forms depending upon thecircumstances and the =ualities of the group involved. Fupta (0919)identified eight ma$or forms. These include the truce, displacement,

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institutionalised release of hostility, compromise, super ordination,segregation, third party roles in compromise and toleration.20 Truce

This is a term used to describe a temporary cessation of hostilitieswithout the issues being settled so as to give the conflicting parties time

to either re6group, attend to certain religious rites or observance or for solution to the conflict to be ironed out. Therefore, a truce may bedeclared for a specific number of days or for an indefinite period. /or example, during the Cigerian &ivil ar, a truce period was often #eptwhenever a ma$or peace conference was to be held.<0 Dis!lace"ent

This is a process of ending one conflict by replacing it with another O usually via a process of scapegoating. /or example, a woman may pic# a=uarrel with her husband or man friend for infidelity or unfaithfulnessonly to later ma#e up by blaming a third party for peddling unfoundedstories which led to the misunderstanding in the first place. y so doing

they transfer the hostility between them to a third party, who now is thescapegoat. Scapegoating results in immediate redirection of hostilitiesand may lead to a more lasting resolution of the conflict if thecontending parties are firmly convinced of the culpability of thescapegoat.=0 Institutionalised Release o# .ostilities

This is a process whereby parties in conflict are given the opportunity torelease their hostilities either on each other or on other ob$ects. 4sually,the process is either formally arranged and or guided by certainexpressed or implicitly understood norms. %mong many ethnic groupsin Cigeria, wrestling matches are organised both for entertainment andas occasions for formal release of hostilities. *isputants in some casesmay engage in the use of abusive language on each other. +owever, inall instances, the disputants are bound by societal norms. Similarly inwrestling and boxing, the rules of the game must be observed.

>0 Co"!ro"ise

hen domination or complete defeat is unli#ely to be attained by either of the parties in conflict, they may want to accept less than the full goalsthey had originally aimed at in order to end the conflict. This is the caseof compromise. &ompromise often occurs between e=ually powerful,antagonists. hen one party is more powerful but continued conflictseems disadvantageous, compromise can still be reached but with themore powerful party conceding less to the wea#er party.0 Su!er(ordination

This involves the ending of conflict through the total defeat andsubmission of one group by another. !nstitutionalised methods of releasing hostilities may lead to super ordination as one party may bedeclared the champion. +owever, super ordination may or may not onits own, involve fighting according to rules (i.e. it is not

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institutionalised). hen people are given the chance to release their hostilities, the immediate ob$ective may not be that of establishingspea#ing order among them but that of giving vent to their annoyance.@0 Segregation

!n situations, where parties in dispute stubbornly refuse to yield to any

conciliatory moves by third parties, they may be segregated or placed far apart from each other either to allow tempers cool down or place a permanent distance between them in order to maintain peace in a socialsystem. !n the past, segregation in most traditional Cigeria communitiesused to ta#e the form of banishment or exile, or selling of the unyielding party to slavery.40 Third ;arty Roles in Co"!ro"ise

!n rural areas generally, whenever there is =uarrel, other members of thefamily compound and neighbours would intervene to bring peace between the disputants. The third party may be an individual, usually anelderly person than either of the disputants or a group of people, who

have some influence over them. !n marital disputes for instance,extended family members on either side may play the third party.50 Toleration

!n this case, the contending parties agree to disagree #nowing thatneither of them can or should win. Eeople accept each otherHs right todiffer because certain values may be too much cherished to becompromised or victory may be too costly to bear. ost social systems

maintain their identities because of the willingness of people to tolerateeach other.=0<0> Acco""odation

This is the ad$ustment by a person or group to a conflict or threat,resulting in the recognition and acceptance of the relations which definethe status of a person or persons in the groups or a larger socialorganisation. Subordination and super6ordination accompanyaccommodation when people mix up or mingle. !n the rural family, thefather is the superior. +e normally controls the actions of others. !n hisabsence, the mother steps into his shoes. !n her absence, the eldest childta#es over the mantle of family leadership. hen the culturallyac#nowledged leader spea#s, others accept his authority, listen and obeyhis instruction. The existing pattern of accommodation has enabled each person to accept his status in the group.The share6cropping system is that in which a farm is given temporarilyfor a share cropper to maintain on behalf of the farm owner. ach hasaccepted his position in the process of accommodation involved. This process is still practised in many rural areas of the world. !t was widely practised in the 4nited States rural areas immediately after the civil war, but has been abandoned since the world war after widespreadmechanisation began (;ibowo 09?).%nother form of accommodation between the labourers and the farm

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owners was to receive cash wages from the farm owners for labourscarried out on the field. This form of accommodation is widely in use inmany developing countries. !n Cigeria, hired labourers are fre=uently paid agreed6upon wages on daily basis. Such a rate differs slightly fromone community to another depending on economic situation of each

place. !n general, the nearer a rural area is to a large city, the higher thelabour wage rate. %lso, the nearer a rural community is to an industrialcommunity, the higher the rate of hiring labourers.=0<0 Assi"ilation

This is the process by which people of diverse cultural and racial originsachieve enough social solidarity in the same geographical territory tomaintain a nation. %n immigrant has been assimilated when he hasac=uired enough cultural traits with others. %ssimilation involves asocio6political connotation as well. % person may ac=uire all the culturaltraits of the new society, but may not be accepted or assimilated for socio6political reasons. %ccording to Smith and Sopf (099:), some blac#

people have ac=uired all the while peopleHs culture in the 4nited States,yet they have not been assimilated into the society. Similarly, the share6

cropping system in the southern 4nited States about 26@ decades agoassimilated the white share croppers into the share6cropping culture. Thesocial class, expectations, labour and other features which characterisedthe blac# share6croppers also characterise the white share6croppers.!n Cigeria, many people of the !bo origin from states such as !mo and%nambra have been assimilated into the Goruba subculture. They were born in Aagos, spent most of their lives there, except that theyoccasionally visit their home towns for aster and &hristmascelebrations. They went to school and pic#ed up employment among theGoruba people in Aagos. hen they spea# Goruba, wear Goruba dressand interact with Goruba people, it is not easy to #now that they are of !bo parentage. Some of them have also been assimilated into the +ausasubcultures. These were the children of those who went to the north totrade. The rate of assimilation of !bo into +ausa culture was reduced bythe Cigerian &ivil ar of 09B<609<: and religious crises of the 099:s,which made many !bo people to leave the north for their homes.%ssimilation of Goruba into !bo and +ausa subcultures as well as +ausainto !bo and !bo subcultures is also going on, but at a slow pace.=0<0@ Acculturation

This is the ac=uisition of new cultural traits by individuals or groups andthe use of these in their new patterns of living. %cculturation has no biological connotation involved in it. +owever to some sociologists,assimilation involves some biological mixing of people with the newculture. !ntroduction and diffusion of new agricultural innovations(technologies) is a form of acculturation in many societies because itinvolves blending the culture of the country from where the technologywas developed with that of the recipient society, in relation to the

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specific farm practice. %n example is the introduction of the hybridmaize into Cigeria through the !nstitute of !nternational Tropical%griculture (!!T%). !!T% is expected to have a widespread impact on themaize production culture in Cigeria. The techni=ues of producing thismaize is expected to influence the cutlass6hoe system of maize

production by many farmers in Cigeria.%cculturation also refers to changes in culture arising from constantcontact with other cultures. !n Cigeria today, uropean modes of dressing and a number of other forms of foreign culture have greatlychanged the indigenous culture due to constant contact.

RURAL D)9)LO;%)NT IN NIG)RIA

The %eaning o# Rural Deelo!"ent

3ural *evelopment is the transformation of the rural community into socially, economically, politically, educationally, orderly and materially desirable conditions, with the aim of improving

the =uality of life of the rural population. The wor#shop on 3ural *evelopment in %frica and thewor#shop group on integrated approach to 3ural *evelopment (099B) defined 3ural*evelopment in terms of uniform distribution of national resources.

!t conceived of 3ural *evelopment as a comprehensive way of social transformation whichrecognises that national development must involve all parts of the population. /urthermore, itwas defined as a socio6economic process which see#s to bring about a more e=uitabledistribution of resources and incomes within a society.

!t involves the integration of the rural poor, which constitutes the large ma$ority of the populationof most developing countries, into the national economy. !n many developing countries,agriculture constitutes the occupation of a large ma$ority of rural people. Therefore, agriculturaldevelopment is an important aspect of 3ural *evelopment. any industries also use agriculturalraw materials. /or example, the textile industries use cotton" canning industries use fruits andvegetables" beverage industries use cotton, cocoa, coffee and tea" vegetable oil industries usevegetables" animal products industries use diary, cheese, butter, broiler, sugar industries utilisesugarcane. 3ural industrialisation is thus a significant aspect of rural development.

Goals o# Rural Deelo!"ent

3ural *evelopment aims at attaining some goals or ob$ectives in the rural community. Some of these are0. !mproved distribution between the rural and urban areas to bridge or narrow the differences between the two parts of the society.

?. Erovision of welfare needs in forms of housing, health and infrastructural facilities such asclean and regular water, motorable roads and supply of electricity.

2. /ull and productive employment in rural area5community. This is to change the situation inwhich many rural people are under6employed and operate only at the subsistence level, so that

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they can apply their full productive capacities and generate commensurate benefit from their efforts.

@. !ncreased productivity via sensitisation of the rural people to their potentials for development,and ac=uiring education and training needed to translate the potentials into productive efforts.

K. !ncreased food production. This is the primary agricultural development dimension of ruraldevelopment. !t is expected to lead to a state of improved =uality and =uantity of food availableto the citizens.

B. ide diffusion of literacy so as to allow rural people participates intelligently in the political,economic and social activities of their society.

The foregoing goals can be achieved through coordinated planning and implementation of ruraldevelopment programmes at the local, state and national levels. Cational integrated philosophies, policies and procedures for rural development will help facilitate the efforts.

Strategies #or Rural Deelo!"ent

% rural development strategy is a systematic, comprehensive and reliable tool aimed at bringingabout desirable rural transformation. % strategy for rural development is expected to produceresults" therefore it is tested and found effective under certain circumstances before beingintroduced under similar circumstances in another setting.

!ts expected effectiveness could be due to the fact that it is developed from tested variables. !tcould also be because it is developed on the basis of experience which had wor#ed.

The strategies which have been adopted for rural development by many developing countries,according to illiams (0991) include0. &ommunity development?. %gricultural extension, and2. !ntegrated rural development.

Co""unity Deelo!"ent

&ommunity development aims at using the rural people to develop themselves through self6initiative and motivation, with minimum assistance from government. !t aims at socialdevelopment such as prevention and control of $uvenile delin=uency, and communitydevelopment through self6help pro$ects, health and nutritional improvement pro$ects and similar pro$ects. !t involves community members in planning and implementing programmes for their own development.

!t stimulates or encourages government and other development agencies to provide technicaladvice and materials in planning and implementing the pro$ects. The multi6purpose communitydevelopment agent who is trained in many aspects of community life such as health, agriculture,education, cooperatives, is stationed at the local level where he wor#s with local people.

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To achieve this, the community development wor#er needs to ma#e use of the services of specialised agencies of government in the rural areas. This is because it is not easy for an agentto be s#illed in different areas calling for development attention in the rural sector.

The problems in utilising this approach include these

a) There is often no formal coordination between the agencies wor#ing at the local level, thus thecommunity development agent has no power to enforce cooperation by other developmentagencies"

b) !t is not very easy for one person to be effectively trained in all sectors of rural development"hence the community development agent may become ineffective.

ducation which is the cornerstone of all forms of development should be provided. Therefore, itis advisable that rural people are educated on how to develop themselves. ven wheninfrastructural facilities are provided, the rural people should still be educated on how tomaintain them and even introduce others to them.

Agricultural )tension

%gricultural extention aims at helping rural farmers to bring about agricultural development. !tachieves this by facilitating education of farmers to improve their s#ills, #nowledge and attitudeas related to agricultural development.

!t passes the results of research on how to solve the problems of agriculture to farmers andencourages the application of these as well as other improved technical #nowledge in agriculture by farmers. !t ta#es the problems of farmers to the research institutions for solutions. !t usesdemonstration farms, farm visit, audiovisual aids and methods in teaching farmers.

%gricultural extension concentrates on agricultural development and encourages relateddevelopment agencies to extend their services to the rural areas" community development tries to provide some of the services. The trainings received by the village level agricultural extensionwor#er and community development agents are thus aimed at e=uipping them to perform their various roles.

!neffectiveness in promoting agricultural development is a glaring deficiency of the agriculturalextension strategy. The main reasons for this include.a) !nade=uate number of extension agents who are to teach farmers improved farm practices" b) !nade=uate credit facilities to buy farm inputs"c) Aac# of proper use of local leaders to assist extension agents in teaching farmers"d) Aac# of ade=uate planning of extension programmes"e) !nade=uate motivation of extension agents. !f these and similar problems are vastly solved,extension should become an effective instrument for agricultural development.

Integrated Rural Deelo!"ent

!ntegrated rural development strategy combines the development of the various areas of the ruralsociety including educational, agricultural, health nutrition, rural electrification, rural water supply and cooperative simultaneously. The strategy also aims at improved employment, access

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to production resources, access to social services, and management of development resources.The distinguishing feature of this strategy is that the various development sectors are considered $ointly together rather than in isolation in order to see their relationship clearly.

The utilisation of this strategy involves increased mobilisation and motivation of rural people to

participate actively in decision6ma#ing process concerning their progress and in the developmentactivities.

There should also be established institutional relationships which will facilitate the developmentof the sectors. 3ural development councils should be set up at the national, state and localgovernment levels to educate people, clarify difficulties and mobilise moral and financial supportfor rural development. Fovernment has set up a directorate of foods, roads and infrastructurewhich is charged with the responsibilities for specially facilitating food production, roadconstruction and provision of other rural infrastructural facilities such as electricity and pipe6 borne water supply to the rural area.

any agencies and institutions employ the integrated6strategy for rural development. Somechurch denominations have agricultural and related rural development pro$ects in Cigeria.4niversities have also embar#ed on integrated rural development on experimental basis.

A!!roaches to Rural Deelo!"ent

%pproaches to rural development are the geographical and the sub$ect matter of ruraldevelopment. Three approaches could be identified namely0. The sectorial approach?. The holistic approach and2. The regional approach

The Sectoral A!!roach

!n the sectorial approach, rural development efforts are geared towards developing the differentsectors of the rural society. fforts are made to identify the significant sectors such as theagricultural, health, education and infrastructural sectors of the rural society. *evelopmentefforts are then focused on one sector.

This tradition had tended to favour the development of agricultural sector, which had beenregarded as the most important sector of the rural society in developing countries, becausema$ority of the rural population of these countries are engaged in it.

xperience with this approach had led to some problems such asa) There had been strong criticism of this approach by the professionals from the other non6agricultural sectors.

b) The agricultural sector has not been substantially developed partly because of its relationshipwith other sectors which have not been assisted or supportive.

The .olistic A!!roach

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This approach attempts to develop all the sectors in a given area simultaneously. Theagricultural, health, education, and infrastructural sectors are developed at the same time. The problems with this approach are(a) !nade=uate coordination of the development activities in the various sectors"

(b) !nade=uate number of specialised and technical manpower to implement the prgrammes, and

(c) !nade=uate financial resources to implement development programmes

Regional A!!roach

!n the regional approach to rural development, a society is stoned into development regionswhich are most suited for establishing certain development pro$ects.

!n -enya, for example, while production of potato might be developed in the dried savanna partsof the country, cocoa, #ola nut and oil palm production are naturally encouraged in the rain forestareas of the country. !nfrastructural facilities are developed all over the country.

The ma$or demerits of this approach is that it ignores the fact that scientific rural developmentaims at bringing development facilities to rural areas where they do not exist originally, apartfrom developing the potentials where they naturally existed. xample of this is that water could be channeled into the desert for crop, livestoc# and human consumption. %lso, fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, improved seeds and other scientific inputs are similarly introduced to boost production.

This results in establishment of human settlement, institutions, organisation and industrialestablishments. %nother constraint is that some regions might be ignored while others aredeveloped or favoured on the ground of political advantage

Stages o# Rural Deelo!"ent

The change agent should first of all clarify the concept of rural development to be embar#edupon. This must be compatible with the needs and aspirations of the community to be helped. %nade=uate concept of rural development in a democratic and developing society li#e Cigeriashould aim at permanent development of the s#ill, #nowledge, attitude, sensitivity, consciousnessre=uired to improve the target system educationally, socially, economically and psychologicallyalong with the physical and biological features of their environment.

hen this concept is clarified the wor#er can then embar# on five stages of rural developmentnamely0. n=uiry?. Elanning2. !mplementation@. %d$ustment, andK. valuation.

)n+uiry

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%t the stage of en=uiry, emphasis should be on how to obtain reliable and valid informationabout the community where the programme is to be implemented and the neighbouringcommunities. The resources available within and outside the community in terms of number and=uality of personnel, local and external financial aid available have to be determined.The characteristics of the community and its surroundings, their needs and aspirations among

other information should be determined. The information can be collected through personalobservation, survey, history and records of local events.

;lanning

The planning stage should depend widely on the information collected at the en=uiry stage informulating rural development ob$ectives and methods of implementing them. Gou shouldevaluate the results which the programme might generate. The planning stage should involve theadministrators of the programme, the change agents, farmers representatives and related officialsof the agency.

The planned pro$ect is #ept as a flexible and modifiable document to allow changes for

improvement. Too much emphasis on agricultural development is avoided unless the programmeis conceived mainly as agricultural development pro$ect. !ndustrial development and non6agricultural vocations, saving and investments, cleanliness, environmental sanitation and beautification might be added. %d$ustment programme should be included in the plan.

I"!le"entation

%t this stage the plan is followed with concrete action. !nfrastructural development should begiven priority at this stage. here a substantial amount of infrastructural facilities and naturalresources existed before the statement of the programme, success would be better assumed.3ural development is a complex assignment which re=uires full6time staff.

The role of any part6time staff should be supplementary to the ma$or role needed to realise theob$ectives of the programme.

AdBust"ent

/or effectiveness, the change agent has to understand the community and its resources and startwithin the framewor# of the existing social structure. ven when the programme implementationis in progress, collection of information on the progress of the programme continues.

The timing of the pro$ect along with other areas of the plan and calendar of wor# have to befollowed. hen modifications or ad$ustments are made, they have to be communicated to all people concerned with the pro$ect. &hange could be traumatic. !t is thus necessary to implementthe programme designed to assist the target population ad$ust to the development exercise.

)aluation

This should in fact be a continuous exercise. The programme should be at least evaluated abouthalf way in its implementation to ma#e necessary in6process modification and at the end todetermine accomplishments and provide information from which the programme could benefit infuture.

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;redica"ents o# Rural Deelo!"ent

!n spite of the efforts which various institutions have made in trying to develop the rural area,there is the general dissatisfaction that the rural area is still generally bac#ward in manysocieties, especially the less developed countries. This state of limited development could beassociated to many constraints which have confronted rural development planning and

implementation.

The following problems in the rural development planning by %frican governments were statedin the report of an international wor#shop on designing rural development strategies (099K).

0. Eoor statistical base for effective planning?. rong view of small farmers who are considered as irrational and incapable of ma#ing progress on their own initiatives, although small farmers produce most of the food consumed in%frica. 2. Aac# of commitment to rural development as indicated by expert oriented planning atthe expense of local food production for local consumption.@. Top6down planning in which few top administrators ma#e decision on rural development

programme planning and disseminate this down for implementation.K. Elanning without implementation and implementation without planning of programmes.B. Aac# of plan monitoring and evaluation, thus there is no systematic way of determining programme accomplishments, facilitating effectiveness and efficiency. !n addition to theforegoing design problems, other rural development problems are stated below<. 3ural development programmes on one hand traditionally concentrated on agriculturaldevelopment to the neglect of the other sectors and pro$ects, a situation which has resulted in the problem of over6loading and conse=uent ineffectiveness and inefficiency.1. 3ural development pro$ects being carried out by educational and research institutions suffer from lac# of full attention of the researchers and educators to rural development. This is becausetheir primary concern in the community is much.9. any rural development pro$ects also suffer from shortage of resources and infrastructure.hen plans are made for delivery of these, hardly are the plans adhered to. 3esources such asland, labour, personnel, buildings, e=uipment and financial capital are scarcely obtained asanticipated.0:. !nade=uate understanding of the rural community such as its structure of influence,communication and decision6ma#ing, patterns, existence of functions, norms and values by thechange agent. This is because they rarely live with the rural people. +owever, ade=uateunderstanding is an important foundation for collective wor# in rural communities.00. Aac# of follow6up. any rural development programmes have collapsed shortly after thewithdrawal of the change agent system. This is due to lac# of systematically implemented followup after the expiration of the initial period planned for the programme.The main aim of rural development wor#ers is to provide and implement solutions to the aboverelated problems. !t is then that the state of dissatisfaction can change to relative satisfaction withadvances in rural development.

;oerty reduction in Rural :angladesh through "icro#inance and !oultry deelo!"ent

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@. Supporting investment growth.K. nhancing capacity of ;IGI.

Table6ban#ing is a group funding strategy where members of a particular group meet once everymonth, place their savings, loan repayments and other contributions on the table then borrow

immediately either as long term or short term loans. The women use the money borrowed ascapital for their livelihood pro$ects.

The interest gained from the loans remains with the group and is eventually shared as bonus anddividends. The women use the money borrowed as capital for their livelihood pro$ects. Table6 ban#ing was initially developed by the Eoverty radication &ommission (E&) under the former inistry of Elanning and Dision ?:2:, targeting *F 0 on eradicating ab$ect poverty, especiallyin rural settings in -enya. Table6ban#ing ta#es on the model of the Frameen ban# of angladeshand the village savings and loans schemes of anzibar.

Table6ban#ing was first piloted in Fatanga and ondo constituencies. The results were very

impressive but the government did not continue with the roll out there after. ;IGI adoptedand implemented it in 4asin Fishu, Candi, -a#amega, Trans6Czoia, ungoma and Cairobi.3eports from the said areas indicated ever6rising demand for Table6ban#ing. The success storiesfrom these areas have been impressive necessitating the need for a &ountry6wide roll6out of the programme.

&apacity building has been one of the activities used as a tool to empower our members onissues related to group dynamics, entrepreneurship, business s#ills, record #eeping and manyother areas relevant to our area of operation. ith the help of our development partners, we have been successful in diversifying agricultural production and entrepreneurship s#ills. omen nowown companies, doing horticulture, green house farming, passion fruit and chili, together withthe normal maize, wheat and dairy production.

Issues o# Rural Deelo!"ent and the SACCOs

S%&&IS (Savings and &redit &o6operative Societies) as of now are predominant form of external financing for small and micro enterprises in most of the developing counties (-enya andTanzania inclusive). &ontemporary studies show that S%&&ISH role towards developing thesesmall enterprises is increasing rapidly. &onsidering their contributions" this paper also unveils theconstraints to S%&&ISH development in these countries.

!n -enya, S%&&IS have been noted to contribute over @KL F*E, and it is estimated that at leastone out of every two -enyans directly or indirectly derives his 5her livelihood from these #indsof cooperative movements. In the other hand, in Tanzania cooperatives (including S%&&IS)through financing of Ss contributes about @:L to the countryHs F*E and employs 9@.<L of school leavers every year, ma$ority of these Ss in rural areas depends on co6operativemovements for external financing. The rapid development of S%&&IS in both countries has been caused by growth of the private sector" which hugely demands external financial resources.S%&&IS in the two countries have more or less similar constraints including lac# of welltrainedofficials and proper administrative framewor#, bureaucracy, inability to raise vast financialresources and many others.

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T.) RURAL CO%%UNITI)SThe Conce!t o# a Co""unity

% community is an aggregation of families habitually living together within a definitegeographical location, more or less rooted on the soil they occupy, living in a state of mutualinterdependence, supporting some basic social institutions and having some measures of politicalautonomy in relation to other communities. The term community has been used e=ually to denotesomething both psychological and geographical. Esychologically, it implies shared interests,characteristics or association as in the expression *ommunity of interests, the businesscommunity, the academic community or a farming community.

Feographically, it denotes a specific area where people cluster. +owever, the sociological

definition of a community combines the two meanings and denotes a people within a commonlocality having shared interests and behavioural patterns. Such shared interests and behavioural patterns show mainly in the areas of0. Eroduction, distribution and consumption of good?. Socialisation2. Social control@. Social participation andK. utual supports (arren 099B).

The community is particularly characterised by the organisation of these functions on a locality basis. % locality group, the community is made up of families living together within a definitelocation and interacting on a face6to6face basis. +owever, in large communities, all membersmay not #now each other to interact on a face6to6face and effective manner, but members interactin the use of common institutions and facilities, and maintain a consciousness of oneness throughthe sharing of common values, norms, traditions, pre$udices and sentiments.

/arm people live in village communities" some of these are small while others are large. !n either case, they interact and affect each otherHs behaviour in a manner which is different from the waythey affect those who do not belong to these communities.

Co""unity Li#e ;rocess

This is the process in the life of a community, by which the people plan and act together for thesatisfaction of their felt needs. !ts primary purpose is to bring about change for better living,through the willing cooperation of the people.!ts aims are0. To educate and motivate people for self6help"?. To develop responsible local leadership"2. To inculcate a sense of citizenship and a spirit of civic consciousness"@. To initiate self6generative, self6sustaining and enduring process of growth"K. To introduce and strengthen democracy at the grassroots level"

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B. To enable people to establish and maintain cooperative relationships"<. To bring about gradual and self6chosen changes in the life of a community.

!ts significant components are0. %griculture"?. !rrigation"2. ducation6including literacy"@. 3ural industries"K. +ealth programmes"B. +ousing programmes"<. Social welfare programmes"1. Gouth programmes"9. omenHs programmes"0:. &ooperative"

00. Training of village leaders and0?. mployment programmes.

Characteristics o# a Co""unity

0. Shared :onds o# *ello-shi!

This is a feature that distinguishes some people from others. !t may be typified by the demand of obligations from citizens and the conferment of benefits upon them.

<0 Set Standards or ;atterns o# :ehaiour

This refers to the psycho6social situation that arises when people perform mutual actions andreactions upon one another. Such interaction is incessant, and no citizen can wholly cut himself off from such social relations.

=0 A Co""on Culture

This is the aggregate of the social, ethnical, intellectual, artistic, governmental and industrialattainments of a community, and by which it can be distinguished from any other community.

>0 Shared Territory

% community occupies a territorial area, within which its members live and develop the ways of life that give the community the different features that tend to ma#e its identity easilyrecognisable.

0 Shared :elie#s

Shared beliefs are nurtured and cherished by the people in the development of their commonideals, ob$ectives, attitudes and values.

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analytical assessment of what people have written before arriving at a conclusion. Social changehas the following characteristics

S!ace and Ti"e Characteristics

!n analysing any change process, the researcher must specify both the geographical location and

the period of time. !f it is not done, level of generalisation becomes very high.Resistance to Change

!n any change process, there will be some forces which will be resistant to change. These forcestend to promote status =uo even though there may be very strong forces wor#ing towards change./orces li#e industrialisation, urbanisation or scientific innovation will promote change. ut processes li#e socialisation and social control will attempt to maintain the same status =uo. !nany change that you want to introduce, there must be resistance.

Di##erential Rate o# Change

!t is important to understand that not all societies or all parts within a given society change at thesame speed. 4rban areas may change faster than rural areas" educational characteristics may

change faster than religious characteristics. e have to realise that societies change at differentrates.

Change is Ineita&le

!t is normal, necessary and expected. Since people have different ideas, there are bound to bechanges.

Unchanging )le"ents in a Changing Society

e do have certain bias, beliefs (religions) that we do hold on to, something that can give acertain #ind of meaning. e hold on to them as a #ind of security. There are certain things that people hold onto even though the society #eeps on changing. The importance is that when thereis a change and the rural people still hold on to their beliefs and values, you have to realise thatthere are some elements of importance to it and allow them to hold on to it.

Su&Bectie Nature o# ;rogress

&hange itself can be evaluated ob$ectively, but progress re=uires a sub$ective evaluation as towhat is an improvement. hat you may see as progress may not be progress at all to others.!mprovement must not be from the agricultural agentsH perspective alone but from the ruralitesH perspective too.

;lanned and Un!lanned Changes

any of the changes societies go through are unplanned but as the societies become morecomplex with different challenges they meet, the need for planning becomes more acute.Therefore, it is no longer acceptable to simply wait for what will happen or to hope for the best, but we must actively see# for solution to our increasing complex problem.

Sources o# Change in the Society

Social changes are brought about mainly through invention, diffusion and discovery.

Inention

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This involves the recombination of existing cultural traits to fashion new things and the rate atwhich this ta#es place is directly related to the existing cultural base"

Discoery

!t is the sharing with others of a perception of a fact, ob$ect or relationship which has always

existed but was not #nown. Therefore, discovery can enhance the cultural base in a society andthus the rate of invention.

Di##usion

!t involves the spread of cultural traits from one group to another. &ultural diffusion ta#es place both at the material and non6material levels and this process has been enhanced today bya) !ncreased and more efficient communication facilities b) The speed at which people can now travel from one part of the world to another and c) Theexistence of specially trained personnel for the diffusion of innovations.

Ither sources of social change in the Cigerian society include

Religious InstitutionsThese have brought changes mostly in the world view of individuals through formal preaching,indoctrination and the use of metaphors to convert people from one way of life to another, and bythe opening and support of formal educational institutions where a great number of Cigerianshave submitted to instructions in many aspects of life which together has remolded the benefiting population.

Goern"ent ;olices

% number of changes have been brought about in the -enya society generally, via governmental policies.

A!!lication o# Science and Technology

Technology implies the application of scientific #nowledge to the solution of specific tas#. The patterns of daily life in most rural settlements have changed considerably today as a result of rural electrification and water supply schemes. % variety of alien food and cash crops have beenaccommodated within the traditional farming systems and we now raise and en$oy exotic breedsof livestoc# all as a result of research and improved technology.

Natural ;hysical *orces

These include natural forces li#e wind, flood, drought, erosion, insect and pest infestation and allsuch elements of the physical and biological environments. rosion and floods have necessitatedthe relocation of villages while excessive droughts have caused the migration of the whole population within a region. These physical forces generally inflict disaster (which is a change inits own right) which then calls for the application of other mechanisms to bring about solution.

Ur&anisation

The growth of urbanisation or cities has meant the attraction of youths and school leavers tourban areas. ithin the cities themselves, increase in population, rise of industries, increase inretail and wholesale trades, etc. have called for great ad$ustments on the part of urban dwellers.

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The types of changes which a society emphasises are determined by the need it perceives. !f Cigeria perceives food storage as a problem, it will emphasise changes in the agricultural production system, if its perceived need is in the area of science and technology, it will tend toconcentrate its power and investment in that direction.Relatie Isolation and Contact

Societies which have close contact with other societies change more rapidly than those that areisolated. %reas of inter6cultural contact are thus centres of change whereas isolated areas aregenerally centres of stability and conservatism.

Cultural :ase

This refers to the accumulated #nowledge, techni=ues and trait in a culture. %s #nowledgetechni=ues and traits accumulate, an increasing number of inventions become possible within thesociety. !n some cases important socio6cultural changes have had to wait until the supportinggaps in #nowledge and techni=ue are filled. /or example, the cure for sic#le cell anemia, cancer and other terminal diseases which would greatly influence the longevity of millions of people arestill waiting research and new #nowledge.

*iscoveries and inventions in one field usually cross fertilize other fields. /or example, thevarious inventions and discoveries arising as by6products of the space programme in the 4.S.%.have enriched advances in agriculture, medicine and other technical areas.

Theories o# Social Change

Theory has been described by +omans, (09K:) as the form in which the results of observationmay be expressed. !t is thus a generalized conceptualization, a body of logically interdependentgeneralized concepts with empirical reference. Earsons has identified two functions of theory,description and analysis.

%nalysis involves causal explanation and the generation of general laws. Social thin#ers havefrom anti=uity formulated broad theories of social change. %mong early theories are those that base change on divine determination, holding that changes occur in the social world on the basisof manHs obedience or disobedience to the will of Fod.

an was blessed for good deeds and punished for his ill deeds and changes for improvement or deterioration of his lot in his social world accordingly too# place through divine determination.arly Free# social philosophers explained change as development from the original nature of man" man was considered social by nature and changes evolved because of such nature. Ithersfelt that man, while born well as a creation of Fod, degenerates by his own actions. Thus changewas conceived as a departure or development of man from his original nature.

Social change through a series of developmental stages, theological, metaphysical and positive,was the theory of %ugust &omte, the father of sociology. *arwinHs theory of biological evolutioninfluenced the thin#ing of sociologists, li#e Fumplowicz, ard, Sumner, -eller and3atzenhoffer, who applied such thin#ing to social change. The various explanations of socialchange may be classified as belonging to theories of causation, theories of process or theories of functional analysis.

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Theories o# Causation

These ma$or theories can be grouped on the basis of four factors0. Feographic determinism?. iological determinism2. conomic determinism

@. &ultural determinism

Theories that explain social change in terms of some feature or features of the naturalenvironment constitute theories based on geographic determinism. %rnold Toynbee andllswooth +untington are among the leading exponents of such theories. Theories that explainsocial change on the basis of traits or characteristics of the human organism are referred to as biological determinism. !ncluded in such theories are those contained in doctrines of racialsuperiority and inferiority.

Such theories generally were popularized by writers, and %dolf +itler followed this theory in his boo# 7ein #ampf8. Theories that consider economic factors such as production, demand and

supply as the bases of social change are referred to as economic determinism. &ulturaldeterminism refers to theories that see# to explain social change as a result of some element or elements of cultural heritage. ax eber and illiams, /. Igburn are two sociologists who haveexpended theories based on cultural determinism.

hile contributing much to early understanding of social change, these four single factor theories are now largely without support.

Theories o# ;rocess

These theories of social change have been classified into0. Ainear theories conceive of social change as an unfolding line. The concept of evolution is the basic influence in the formulation of the linear theory. %ugust &omte, Aewis +enry organ, and+ebert Spencer are among the formulators of such evolutionary theories of social change.Sociology actually began with evolutionary theory, and much of contemporary sociology bearsthe imprint of the 09th century evolutionary theories.

volutionary theory in the 09th century drew heavily upon the biological sciences" although fewtheorists went so far as &omte in drawing analogies between the social organism and its biological counterpart, the biological sciences clearly provided many models for would bescience of society. -arl arxHs theory of development of a classless society may also beclassified under linear theories. &onflict theorists conceive of social organization, as arising inresponse to a scarcity of desired resources. /or arx, these resources were economic in naturethe means of subsistence, or property generally. arxHs propositions concerning the historicaldevelopment of class conflict derive from his observation of historical data and seem to fit thedata well.

?. &yclic theories stress the undulating character of social change. ach phase of the cycleemerges from the previous phase and gives birth to the next phase. ToynbeeHs cyclic theoryconsisted of three phases 6 the state of social e=uilibrium, the transition to dise=uilibrium, and thedise=uilibrium leading to a new state of e=uilibrium.

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arly sociologists viewed the culture of primitive peoples as completely static, but this wasabandoned with the appearance of scientific studies of preliterate cultures. %nthropologists nowagree that primitive cultures have undergone changes although at such a slow pace as to give theimpression of being stationary.!n recent years the social change has proceeded at a very rapid rate. Since orld ar ! numerous

countries have passed through profound changes not only in their political institutions but in their class structures, their economic systems, their modes of living. Darious theories have beenadvanced to explain the direction of social change. e ta#e a brief consideration of each of them.Theory o# Deterioration$

Some thin#ers have identified social change with deterioration. %ccording to them, manoriginally lived in a perfect state of happiness in a golden age. Subse=uently, however,deterioration began to ta#e place with the result that man reached an age of comparativedegeneration. This was the notion in the ancient Irient.!t was expressed in the epic poems of !ndia, Eersia and Sumeria. Thus, according to !ndianmythology man has passed through four agesPSatyug, Treta, *wapar and -aliyug. The Satyugwas the best age in which man was honest, truthful and perfectly happy.

Thereafter degeneration began to ta#e place. The modern age is the age of -aliyug wherein manis deceitful, treacherous, false, dishonest, selfish and conse=uently unhappy. That such should bethe concept of history in early times is understandable, since we observe deterioration in everywal# of life today.Cyclic Theory$

%nother ancient notion of social change found side by side with the afore6mentioned one, is thathuman society goes through certain cycles. Aoo#ing to the cyclic changes of days and nights andof climates some sociologists li#e Spengler believe that society has a predetermined life cycleand has birth, growth, maturity, and decline.odern society is in the last stage. !t is in its old age. ut since history repeats itself, societyafter passing through all the stages, returns to the original stage, whence the cycle again begins.This concept is found in +indu mythology, a cording to which Satyug will again start after -aliyug is over. ;.. ury in his The !dea of Erogress, pointed out that this concept is also foundin the teachings of stoic philosophers of Freece as well as in those of some of the 3oman philosophers, particularly arcus %urelius.The view that change ta#es place in a cyclical way has been accepted by some modern thin#ersalso who have given different versions of the cyclical theory. The /rench anthropologist and biologist Dacher de Aapouge held that race is the most important determinant of culture.&ivilization, he maintained, develops and progresses when a society is composed of individuals belonging to superior races and declines when racially inferior people are absorbed into it.estern civilization, according to him, is doomed to extinction because of the constantinfiltration of foreign inferior elements and their increasing control over it. The Fermananthropologist Itto %mmon, the nglishman +ouston Stewart &hamberlain and %mericanadison Frant arid Aothrop Stoddard also agreed with the view of Aapouge which may be calledthe theory of biological cycle.Spengler developed another version of cyclical theory of social change. +e analysed the historyof various civilizations including the gyptian, Free# and 3oman and concluded that allcivilizations pass through a similar cycle of birth, maturity and death. The western civilization isnow on its decline which is unavoidable.

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Dilfredo Eareto propounded the theory that societies pass through the periods of political vigour and decline which repeat themselves in cyclical fashion. The society according to him, consistsof two types of peoplePone, who li#e to follow traditional ways whom he called rentiers, andthose who li#e to ta#e chances for attaining their ends whom he called as Speculators.Eolitical change is initiated by a strong aristocracy, the speculators who later lose their energy

and become incapable of vigorous role. Thus ruling class eventually resort to tric#s or to clever manipulations and they come to possess individuals characterized by the rentier mentality. Thesociety declines, but at the same time speculators arises from among the sub$ugated to becomethe new ruling class and overthrow the old group. Then the cycle begins./. Stuart &hapin gave another version of cyclical change. +e made the concept of accumulationthe basis for his theory of social change. %ccording to him, cultural change is 7selectivelyaccumulative in time.8 +e wrote, 7The most hopeful approach to the concept of cultural changewould seen to be to regard the process as selectively accumulative in time and cyclical or oscillatory in character.8 Thus, according to &hapin, cultural change is both selectivelyaccumulative and cyclical in character. +e postulated a hypothesis of synchronous cyclicalchange. %ccording to him, the different parts of culture go through a cycle of growth, vigour and

decay.!f the cycles of the ma$or parts, such as government and the family, coincide or synchronize, thewhole culture will be in a state of integration, !f they do not synchronize, the culture will be in adisintegrated condition. Frowth and decay, according to &hapin, in cultural forms are asinescapable as they are in all living things.3elying upon data drawn from the history of various civilizations, Soro#in concluded thatcivilizations fall into three ma$or types namely, the ideational, the idealistic and the sensate. !nthe ideational type of civilizationH reality and value are conceived of in terms of a 7supersensoryand super6rational Fod8, while the sensory world appears as illusory.!n a word, ideational culture is god6ridden. !n the idealistic type of culture, reality and value areregarded sensory as well as supersensory. This is a synthesis of ideational and the sensate. Thethought and behaviour of man are partly anchored in the materialistic and are partly anchoredwith the other world.!n the sensate type of culture the whole way of life is characterized by a positivistic, materialisticoutloo#. 3eality and value are merely what the senses perceive and beyond sense perceptionthere is no reality. The western civilization, according to Soro#in, is now in an 7overripe8 sensate phase that must be supplanted by a new ideational system.!n recent times %rnold ;. Toynbee, the noted nglish historian, has also propounded a cyclicaltheory of the history of world civilization. +e maintained that civilizations pass through threestages, corresponding to youth, maturity and decline. The first is mar#ed by a 7response tochallenge8, the second is a 7time of troubles,8 and the third is characterized by gradualdegeneration.+e was also of the view that our civilization, although in the state of final downfall, can still Jbesaved by means of proper guidance by the 7creative minority8 by which he meant a select groupof leaders who withdraw from the corrupting influences, commune with Fod, become spirituallyregenerated and then return to inspire the masses.The above concepts of the cyclical nature of social change may be called theories of culturalcycles. They are as a matter of fact the result of philosophical rather than scientific studies. Theauthors of these concepts begin with presumptions which they try to substantiate by marshallinga mass of data from history.

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They are philosophical doctrines, spun from the whole cloth, however heavily documented andillustrated by distorted historical evidences. arnes, while appraising ToynbeeHs wor#, wrote, 7!tis not ob$ective or even interpretative history. !t is theology, employing selected facts of historyto illustrate the will of Fod as the medieval bestiaries utilized biological fantasies to achieve thesame results. Toynbee s vast materials throw far more light upon the processes of ToynbeeHs

mind than upon the actual process of history.. +e writes history as he thin#s it should be tofurther the cause of salvation, rather than as it has really been.8Linear Theory$

Some thin#ers subscribe to the linear theory of social change. %ccording to them, societygradually moves to an even higher state of civilization and that it advances in a linear fashionand in the direction of improvement. %uguste &omte postulated three stages of social change theTheological, the etaphysical and the Eositive.an has passed through the first two stages, even though in some aspects of life they still prevail, and is gradually reaching the Eositive stage. !n the first stage man believed thatsupernatural powers controlled and designed the world. +e advanced gradually from belief infetishes and deities to monotheism.

This stage gave way to the etaphysical stage, during which man tries to explain phenomena byresorting to abstractions. In the positive stage man considers the search for ultimate causeshopeless and see#s the explanatory facts that can be empirically observed. This implies progresswhich according to &omte will be assured if man adopts a positive attitude in the understandingof natural and social phenomena.+erbert Spencer, who li#ened society to an organism, maintained that human society has beengradually progressing towards a better state. !n its primitive state, the state of militarism, societywas characterized by warring groups, by a merciless struggle for existence. /rom militarismsociety moved towards a state of industrialism. Society in the stage of industrialism is mar#ed bygreater differentiation and integration of its parts. The establishment of an integrated systemma#es it possible for the different groupsPsocial, economic and racial, to live in peace.Some 3ussian sociologists also subscribed to the linear theory of social change. Ci#olai -.i#hailovs#y opined that human society passes through three stages" (0) the ob$ectiveanthropocentric, (?) the eccentric, and (2) the sub$ective anthropocentric. !n the first stage, manconsiders himself the centre of the universe and is preoccupied with mystic beliefs in thesupernatural. !n the second stage, man is given over to abstractions" the abstract is more 7real8 tohim than the actual. !n the third stage, man comes to rely upon empirical #nowledge by means of which he exercises more and more control over nature for his own benefit. Solo6view conceivedof the three stages as the tribal, the national governmental, and the period of universal brotherhood.Eritirim Soro#in in his concept of variable recurrence has attempted to include both cyclical andlinear change. !n his view culture may proceed in a given direction for a time and thus appear toconform to a linear formula. ut eventually, as a result of forces that are internal within theculture itself, there will be a shift of direction and a new period of development will be usheredin. Eerhaps the new trend is also linear, perhaps it is oscillating, perhaps it conforms to some particular type of curve. %t any rate, it also reaches limits and still another trend ta#es its place.The description given by Soro#in ma#es room for almost any possibility, deterioration, progressor cyclical change and, therefore, sociologists find little =uarrel with his description. ut at anyrate, Soro#inHs variable occurrence is an admission that the present state of sociological

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#nowledge does not warrant the construction of theories regarding the long6run trend or character of social change.hether contemporary civilization is headed for the scrap6heap via internal disintegration or atomic warfare, or is destined to be replaced by some stabler and idealistic system of socialrelationships cannot be predicted on other than grounds of faith. The factual evidence which is

available to us can only lead us to remar# that whatever direction social change ta#es in future,that direction will be determined by man himself.The Causes o# Social Change$

%bove we have discussed the direction in which social change has ta#en place according to thewriters. ut none of the above theories stri#es the central =uestion of causation of change.%mong the causal theories of social change the deterministic theory is the most popular. Cow weta#e a brief review of this theory.Deter"inistic Theories o# Social Change$

The deterministic theory of social change is a widely accepted theory of social change amongcontemporary sociologists. %ccording to this theory there are certain forces, social or natural or both, which bring about social change. !t is not reason or intellect but the presence of certain

forces and circumstances which determine the course of social change.Sumner and -eller insisted that social change is automatically determined by economic factors.-eller maintained that conscious effort and rational planning have very little chance to effectchange unless and until the fol#ways and mores are ready for it.Social change is an essentially irrational and unconscious process. Dariation in the fol#wayswhich occurs in response to a need is not planned. an can at most only assist or retard thechange that is under way. !t was -arl arx who, deeply impressed by the Ferman philosopher +egelHs metaphysical idealism, held that material conditions of life are the determining factors of social change. +is theory is #nown as the theory of economic determinism or 7the materialistinterpretation of history8.riefly put arx held that human society passes through various stages, each with its own well6defined organisational system. ach successive stage comes into existence as a result of conflictwith the one preceding it. &hange from one stage to another is due to changes in the economicfactors, namely, the methods of production and distribution.The material forces of production are sub$ect to change, and thus a rift arises between theunderlying factors and the relationships built upon them. % change in the material conditions of life brings changes in all social institutions, such as state, religion and family.!t alters the primary socio6economic relationships. To put in his own words, 7Aegal relations aswell as forms of state could neither be understood by themselves, nor explained by the so6 calledgeneral progress of the human mind, but they are rooted in the material conditions of lifeThe mode of production in material life determines the general character of the social, politicaland spiritual process of life.!t is not the consciousness of man that determines their existence, but on the contrary, their socialexistence determines their consciousness.8 Thus the economic factor is a primary one in society,for all social phases of life are dependent upon it and are almost entirely determined by it.%ccording to ngels, a close associate of arx, JThe ultimate causes of all social changes and political revolutions are to be sought not in the minds of men, in their increasing insight into theeternal truth and $ustice, but in changes in the mode of production and exchange.8 %ccording toarx, the social order has passed through five phases called the oriental, the ancient, the feudal,the capitalistic, and the communistic.

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The modern capitalistic system has been moving towards its doom because the conditions it produced and the forces it unloosed ma#e its disintegration inevitable. !n it the class struggle issimplified, revealing itself more and more into the clear6cut conflict of two great classes, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.%s arx puts.. JThe weapons with which the bourgeoisie felled feudalism to the

ground are now turned against the bourgeoisie itself. ut not only has the bourgeoisie forged, theweapons that bring death to itself, it has called into existence the men who are to wield thoseweaponsPthe modern wor#ing class, the proletarian.8 &o#er has beautifully summed up thetendencies of capitalism in the following words.7Thus the capitalist system enlarges the number of wor#ers, orings them together into compactgroups, ma#es them class conscious, supplies them with means of inter6communication and co6operation on a worldwide scale, reduces their purchasing power, and by increasingly exploitingthem arouses them to organised resistance. &apitalists acting persistently in pursuit of their natural needs and in vindication of a system dependent upon the maintenance of profits, are allthe time creating conditions which stimulate and strengthen the natural efforts of wor#ers in preparing for a system that will fit the needs of wor#ing menHs society,8

The resulting social order will not reach its full development at once but will go through twostages. !n the first, there will be a dictatorship of the proletariat during which the proletariat willrule despotically and crush out all the remnants of capitalism. !n the second, there will be realcommunism, during which there shall be no state, no class, no conflict, and no exploitation.arx visualized a society in which the social order will have reached a state of perfection. !n thatsociety the prevailing principle will be 7from each according to his capacities, to each accordingto his needs.8arxHs theory of determinism contains a great element of truth but it cannot be said to containthe whole truth. /ew deny that economic factors influence social conditions of life but few holdthat economic factors are the only activating forces in human history. There are other causesobviously also at wor#.There is no scientific proof that human society is going through the stages visualized by arx.+is claim that man is destined to attain an ideal stage of existence is little more than visionary.+is theory of value and its corollary of surplus value, his theory of the sole productivity of labour as such, and his law of the accumulation of capital are derived from an outmoded, abstract andnarrow doctrine of the e=uivalence of price and cost which has been now re$ected by moderneconomists.oreover, arxHs thesis of the relation between social change and economic process is basedupon an inade=uate psychology. !n a way it may be said that an inade=uate psychology is perhaps the fatal wea#ness of all determinisms. +e does not tell us as how change is reproducedin the modes of production. +e spea#s as though the changing techni=ue of production explaineditself and was a first cause.+e gives a simple explanation of social change and ignores the complexities of habituation onthe one hand and of revulsion on the other. +e simplifies the attitudes that gather aroundinstitution" the solidarities and loyalties of family, occupation and nation are sub$ected to those of economic class. +e as a matter of fact has not s=uarely faced the intricate =uestion of socialcausation. That the economic changes and social changes are correlated, none may deny. ut tosay that the superstructure of social relationships is determined by the economic structure isgoing too far.

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3ussell writes, 7en desire power, they desire satisfactions for their pride and their self6respect.They desire victory over rivals so profoundly that they will invent a rivalry for the unconscious purpose of ma#ing a victory possible. %ll these motives cut across the pure economic motive inways that are practically important.8 The deterministic interpretation of social change is toosimple.

% number of social thin#ers opposed to the theory of economic determinism consider non6material elements of culture the basic sources of social change. They regard ideas as the primemovers in social life. The economic or material phenomena are conceived to be subordinate tothe non6material. Fustave Ae on, Feorge Sorel, ;ames F. /razer and ax eber held thatreligion is the chief initiator of social changes. Thus +induism, udhism and ;udaism have had adetermining influence upon the economics of their adherents.The theory of religious determinism has been criticised by Soro#in in his &ontemporarySociological Theories. +e posed the =uestion" 7!f all social institutions change under theinfluence of the changes in religion, how, when and why does religion change itselfHM %ccordingto Soro#in change is caused by the interaction of the various parts of a culture, none of whichmay be considered primary.

!t means that change is pluralistic rather than monistic in origin. ut this pluralistic theory of social change is initiated in the material culture and thence spreads to other spheres. &hange iscaused not only by economic factors but is also largely automatic in nature.% number of sociologists have held that social change can be brought about by means of conscious and systematic efforts. Thus, Aester /. ard asserted that progress can be achieved bymeans of purposive efforts of conscious planning. Through education and #nowledge intellectcan assert itself over the emotions so that effective planning is made possible. Catural evolution, according to ard, is a slow process, whereas intelligent planning acceleratesthe processes of nature. &harles % llwood agreed with ard that progress is promoted byeducation and #nowledge. Aund6wig Stein, a Ferman sociologist and philosopher, and A.T.+obhouse, an nglish sociologist, also expounded theories closely resembling ardHs.They expressed the view that progress can be achieved through the control of material factors bythe mind. +uman affairs are amenable to control by reason and, therefore, rational element in our nature must be developed so that it may be utilized as a factor in the evolutionary process.I90 ;rocesses o# Social Change$

The term 7Social change8 itself suggests nothing as far as its direction is concerned. !t is ageneric term describing one of the categorical processes. !t only suggests a difference throughtime in the ob$ect to which it is applied. Social changes are of various types and can be explained by different terms such as Frowth, Erogress, volution, 3evolution,6 %daptation, and%ccommodation, etc. +ere we shall consider only two terms, i.e.. Erogress and volution.The %eaning o# )olution$

volution is a process of differentiation and integration. The term JevolutionH comes from theAatin word JevolvereH which means Jto developH or Jto unfoldH. !t is e=uivalent to the Sans#ritword Jvi#asH. !t means more than growth. The word JgrowthH connotes a direction of change butonly of a =uantitative character, e.g., we say population grows.volution involves something more intrinsic, change not merely in size but at least in structurealso, for example when we spea# of biological evolution, we refer to the emergence of certainorganisms from others in a #ind of succession.volution describes a series of related changes in a system of some #ind. !t is a process in whichhidden or latent characters of a thing reveal themselves. !t is an order of change which unfolds

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the variety of aspects belonging to the nature of the changing ob$ect. e cannot spea# of evolution when an ob$ect o system is changed by forces acting on it from without.The change must occur within the changing unity as the manifestation o forces operative withinit. ut since nothing is independent of the universe, evolution also involves a changingadaptation of the ob$ect to its environment, and after adaptation a further manifestation of its own

nature. Thus, evolution is a continuous process of differentiation6cum6integration.The concept of evolution as a process of differentiation6cum integration was first developed bythe Ferman sociologist Don ae and subse=uently by *arwin, Spencer and many others. Spencewrites, 7Societies show integration, both by simple increase c mass and by coalescence andrecoalescence of masses. The changes from homogeneity to heterogeneity is multitudinouslyexemplified" from the simple tribe, to the civilized nation full of structural and functionalunli#eness in all parts. ith progressive integration and heterogeneity goes increasingcoherence simultaneously comes increasing definiteness.Social organisation is at first vague" advance brings settled arrangement which grow slowly more precise" customs pass into laws, which while gaining fixity, also become more specific in their application to variety of actions, and all institutions, at first confusedU intermingled, slowly

separated at the same time that each within itself mar#s off more distinctly its componentstructures. Thus in all respects is fulfilled the formula of evolution. There is progress towardsgreater size, coherence, multiformity and definiteness.8.er&ert S!encer thus !rescri&es #our !rinci!les o# eolution these are$

(i) Social evolution is one cultural or human aspect of the law of cosmic evolution"(ii) Social evolution ta#es place in the same way in which cosmic evolution ta#es place(iii) Social evolution is gradual"(iv) Social evolution is progressive.Social eolution does not al-ays !roceed &y di##erentiation$

ut the point at issue is whether this process of differentiation6cum6integration is sufficient toexplain the general march of society excluding thereby any other #ind of interpretation. Finsbergwrites, 7The notion that evolution is a movement from the simple to the complex can be, and has been, seriously disputed.8 !n every field where we find the forces of differentiation at wor#, therethe opposite trends are also manifest.Thus, in the development of languages where the process of differentiation has been stressed wehave many disconcerting facts. The modern languages derived from Sans#rit li#e engali or Fu$rati cannot be compared in their structure with the richness and diversity of their origin. +erethe process is not towards differentiation but towards simplification.!n the development of religion too the transition from fusion to differentiation is difficult to see.The state has made inroads into the institutions once administered by the church. any of thefunctions once performed by the church are now being absorbed by the state. !nstead of differentiation there is fusion between state and religion.!n the economic system too we find the state controlling more and more the economic activitiesof the people, the period of laissez6faire being over. In the whole we find that social evolutiondoes not always proceed by differentiation, but also by simplification and synthesis.To define, social evolution is the process by which individuals are detached from or fail to beattached to an old group norm so that ultimately a new norm is achieved. %ccording to+obhouse, 7Social evolution is development, planned and unplanned of culture and forms of social relationships or social interaction.8

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Cow it is easy to see why evolution cannot be progress. !t is not logically necessary thatevolutionary process, should always move in the direction of progress. That society has evolved,all agree. That society has progressed, all would not agree because we cannot spea# of progress8without reference to standards, and standards, as we #now, are eminently sub$ective. !f the process of evolution satisfies also our sense of values and if it brings a fuller realization of the

values we cherish then for us it is also progress.*ifferent people may loo# differently on the same social changes and to some they may spell progress, to others decadence. volutionary changes are welcomed by some and are opposed byouters. &ivil marriages, divorce, womenHs participation in public life, free mixing of young boysand girls may appear to some to be in line with progress while, to others it may seemretrogression because they have different values.Erimitivism has always had its champions and it still has them today. any of the conditions onwhich important human values such as contentment, economic security, honesty and freedomdepend are not often realized more ade=uately in the more evolved society. !ndustrialization ledto urbanization and urbanization led to congestion, epidemics, poor health, and more accidentson the road. Similarly, competition, rivalry, corruption and dishonesty are the other effects of

industrialization.!n fact, strong indictments have been drawn against civilization on the basis of social and moralvalues. &learly, therefore, we cannot associate progress with evolution. !n short, no singlecriterion can be used as a test of progress. Societies are complexes made up of many importantelements. Erogress is achieved if, in a society, all aspects of social life move in a coordinatedmanner towards desired ends.To &rie#ly !ut the characteristics o# !rogress are the #ollo-ing$

(i) Erogress is change P a change in some direction(ii) &hange can be called progress only when it fulfills the desired aim(iii) Erogress is communal i.e., related to social system,(iv) Erogress is volitional. !t re=uires desire and volition"(v) The concept of progress is variable. hat is considered today the symbol of progress maytomorrow be regarded as sign of regress.(vi) There are no limits to human progress..ae -e !rogressed?

To the =uestion whether we are progressing or not or whether we are more cultured than our ancestors, no absolute answer can be given. &omte, it may be recalled, believed in the perfectibility of society, although he considered that perfection was something that men wouldhave via science. arx also advanced the thesis that progress was a law of society. Cothingcould prevent the coming of communism where all men would share ali#e and all would becontent. !n those days progress was regarded as a Jcultural compulsion.HIf recent, the social philosophers have changed their mood. They consider the moderncivilization as a failure or as an experiment doomed to failure. Standards of morality are norespecters of technical achievement. +owever, the answer to whether we have progressed or notdepends upon our standards of moral value.Iur parents do not share many of our moral standards, for standards are not ob$ective. !n the near past, progress was ta#en for granted" now in some circles, the very idea arouses indignation, andthe multitudinous deficiencies in human social conduct are pointed lo with somethingapproaching triumph.

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The national wealth of the county has gone up, but is the ac=uisition of wealth progressM ehave invented aeroplanes and other fast6moving mobiles, but does it bring more security of lifeMIur country is on the way lo industrializalion but does this bring health, happiness or peace of mindM Some people marvel at our material achievement but often =uestion whether it reallyrepresents progress.

Thus, there can be much difference of opinion about whether we have progressed or not.Erogress in science is possible but no one is obliged to regard progress in science as a good thingin itself. vidence of progress in morality from preliterate society to modern civilization issimply lac#ing. !n spite of the many technological achievements, big industries and imposingdams the fact remains that in !ndia the evils of unemployment, crime, violence and disease havenot lessened.The family bonds have loosened. ore marriages brea# now than yesterday. The social evils li#edrug6addiction, dowry system, prostitution, alcoholism, child exploitation and delin=uency haveincreased manifold. e are politically hypocrites, economically corrupt, socially dishonest andmorally unfaithful. !n the face of these multitudinous defects in our social conduct it would behard to maintain that we have progressed.

Thin#ers li#e ahatma Fandhi and %urobindo Fhose have warned man#ind against moraldegeneration. Co universal standards of progress. ut as stated above it is all a =uestion of oneHs standard of moral value and outloo#, if we thin# that increased scope for personal development is really better than opportunity for only a few, if we thin# that education ma#es for more enlightened $udgment and further if we believe that in !ndia more people have now scope for developmentthan before, then we may $ustly say that we have progressed. Cobody would deny that we have progressed in the case of technology. Tools have become more varied and efficient.hether the influence of tools on society has been for human happiness or not is a =uestion towhich no definite answer can be given for there are different standards for different people tomeasure human happiness. &onceptions of happiness differ as to ideals of what is good for a people. !n a word it is difficult to find clear and definite standards that all people would acceptand to formulate definite conceptions of progress which may apply to all time and to all cultures.hile general principles do serve as tools to be used in thin#ing out the course of action we wishto pursue, they do not afford specific guidance. hile considering social progress, it is well tonote the time and place =ualifications. Thus, abolition of female labour at night may be deemed astep in the direction of progress but may not be so deemed a hundred years hence.!t may be interesting to speculate on the probability of change in the future. Some thin#ers are of the opinion that men have all what they need in material goods and that there is no need for further invention. +owever, it would be unwise to assert that further inventions be stopped because man#ind has all the material goods it needs. anHs wants are limitless. &hanges willcontinue in future also.

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%acier, 7status is the social position that determines for is possessor, apart from his personalattributes or social service, a degree of respect, prestige and influences.8

*unctions o# Strati#ication

A %eans o# Acco"!lishing Eo&s in Society!n society social stratification contributes as a essential mean to get some of its $obs bydistributing different amounts of prestige and privilege to various strata. %n university is anexample of stratification with clearly defined strata, each mar#ed with visible symbols denotingstatus , specific roles and role expectations, norms and prescribed standards of behaviour andinterrelationships O all clearly organised to do a $ob. The society gives rewards to serve asincentives to get the various $obs accomplished. These rewards are economic, aesthetic,materialistic and psychological.

Regulation and Control o# Indiidual and Grou! Relationshi!s

Stratification regulates and control human relationships in society by defining the roles and roles

expectations. hatever an individualHs position, whether high or low, social stratificationregulates his participation in certain areas of social life. Social stratification tends to regulate participation of groups and individuals in the total life of society, giving them access to certainareas and restricting them to others.Contri&ution to Social Integration and Structure

Stratification in society has a strong integrative function, serving to co6ordinate and harmoniseunits within social structure because in stratified society members are dependent one another.

Si"!li#ication

Stratification of society categorises people into different strata. very status has its particular role. Thus role expectations simplify manHs world in respect to his relations with other people.

:ases #or Strati#ication

!n the system of stratification differential position or status of members are found in all societiesall over the world from the most primitive to the most modern. embers differ in the roles andstatus ascribed to them by society. There are two different sources from which stratification issociety has developed either ethnic, or social.

thnic stratification occurs in society in which two ethnic or racial groups exist and onedominates the other over a long period of time.

Social basis for stratification in society involves the growth of a system of ran#ed strata withinsociety. The social factors that give status to individuals of groups are criteria sociallydetermined, based on the value system and social values of society. The presences of the factorswhich are considered of social worth contribute to oneHs prestige and high status varies fromsociety to society. !n some societies , occupation, income and wealth, education are considered"in other societies, ownership of landed property, ancestry and family name may be mostimportant" in still others education, caste, creed and powder or influence with authorities mayran# high as social values. The universal criteria for determinants of status are wealth, ancestry,functional utility of the individual, religion, biological characteristics.

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*or"s o# Social Strati#ication

%ll over the world there is existence of similarities and differences in various systems of stratification in all societies. The differences in societies are somewhere rigid and somewhereflexible. !n some systems different strata are easily identifiable, while in others the boundaries

are hard to locate. &onsidering the various societies that have existed and do exist in the world,certain recurrent forms of social stratification generally can be identified.

Slaery The term slave is used to denote 7a man whom law and custom regard as the propertyof another8. !n slavery every slave has his master to whom he is sub$ected. The masterHs power over the slave is unlimited. Slaves are in lower condition and have no political rights. The basisof slavery is economic.)states The feudal estates of medieval period have been the basis of social stratification. Thefeudal estates were legally defined. They represented a broad division of labour having definitefunctions to perform. The feudal estates were also political groups.

Caste &aste system is peculiar to !ndia. !n the first place caste is connected with economicdifferentiation. !t is more apparent when we consider the four traditional varnas where there is aclear specification of occupations. !n !ndia &aste is also occupational group.

Social Class % social class system is based on economic considerations. !t represents the groupof industrial societies. Thus the industrial society is divided into upper class, middle class andlower class.

Ty!es o# Role Di##erentiations %ge, Sex, +eredity, conomic %llocation, Eolitical %llocation, 3eligion -nowledge Slidarity,Status

Caste Syste" in India

very society has its caste system, which is an integral part of its social system. !t is more or lessimpossible to away with the system. &aste system is an important characteristic of !ndian society.!t determines the relationship between the various groups and individuals. !t is thereforenecessary to have some #nowledge about caste system in order to understand the structure andfunctioning of the !ndian society. &aste system in !ndia is based upon the birth while in other advanced countries. !t is based upon the colour or the s#in and wealth etc.

hat is &aste SystemM %ccording to 3isley, 7% caste may be defined as a collection of familiesor group of families bearing a common name which usually denotes or is associated with specificoccupation claiming common descent from a mythical ancestor, human or divine, professing tofollow the same professional calling and are regarded by those who are competent to give anopinion as forming single and homogeneous community8. %. . Freen while defining caste says,7&aste is a system of stratification in which mobility, mobility, movement up and down the statusladder at least ideally may not occur8.

Di##erence &et-een Class and Caste Syste"

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&aste is a social category whose members are assigned a permanent status within given socialhierarchy and whose contacts are restricted accordingly. !t is the most rigid and clearly gradedtype of social stratification and has been often referred to as the extreme form of closed classsystem. %n individual is born into the caste of his parents can rise no further, with few exceptionshe cannot fall to a lower caste, but if he violates taboos and other mores of his caste, he may be

expelled from his caste group. Eersonal =ualities or ability have no part whatever in determiningthe caste of an individual, with lineage being the only criterion. The following are thecharacteristics of rigid caste system.

0. embership in the caste is hereditary and unchangeable for life.?. arriages must be made within the caste line.2. There is a caste name and each caste has its particular customs.@. &ontacts with other castes or sub castes in all aspect of life are strictly regulated and limited by mores.K. The hierarchy of caste is well understood and strictly enforced according to its local variations.

Class6Social classes are defined as abstract categories of persons arranged in levels according tosocial status they possess. There are no firm lines separating one category from the other. &lassesare loosely organized groupings, whose members behave towards each other as social e=uals.

The classes may be based on power, prestige, wealth or a combination of these and other factors.0. *efined classes are culturally defined groups recognized as such by society e.g. tribal and non6tribal classes. conomic classes are groups engaged in different economic activities or standingin different relationships to the means of production in a society e.g. business, service farmer andother classes.2. Eolitical classes are groups formed on the basis of political power e.g. Senate, Earliament,&ongress, and &ounty %ssembly.@. Self identified classes are conceived in terms of the identification of their members e.g. 3otary&lub, Aions club etc.

Di##erences

The fundamental points of difference between class and caste are the followingI0 O!en s0 Closed

&lass is more open than caste. % man can change his class and status by his enterprise andinitiatives but in case of caste system it is impossible to change oneHs caste status. Ince a man is born in a caste he remains in it for his life6time and ma#es his children suffer the same status. %caste is thus closed class. The individualHs status is determined by the caste status of his parents,so that what an individual does has little bearing upon his status. In the other hand themembership of a class does not depend upon heredity basis" it rather depends on the worldlyachievements of an individual. Thus class system is an open and flexible system while castesystem is a closed and rigid system.

II0 Diine s0 Secular

The caste system is believed to have been divinely obtained. !n the !ndia the &reator is said tohave apportioned the duties and functions of the four castes. %n individual must do duty proper to his caste. &aste system in !ndia would not have survived for so many centuries if the religious

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system has not made it sacred and inviolable. In the contrary, there is nothing sacred or of divine origin in the class stratification of society. &lasses are secular in origin. They are notfounded on religious dogmas.

III0 )ndoga"ous

The choice of mates in caste system is generally endogamous. embers have to marry withintheir own castes. % member marrying outside his caste is treated as outcaste. Co such restrictionsexist in class system. % wealthy man may marry a poor girl without being outcaste. %n educatedgirl may marry an uneducated partner without being thrown out from the class of teachers.

I90 Class Consciousness

The feeling of class consciousness is necessary to constitute a class but there is no need for anysub$ective consciousness in the members of caste.

90 ;restige

The relative prestige of the different castes is well established but in class system there is no

rigidly fixed order of prestige.

Characteristics o# Caste Syste" in India

0. +ereditary&aste status of an individual is determined strictly by his heredity, i.e. the caste into which one is born. Co amount of personal accomplishments or efforts can alter his caste status.?. ndogamous!t endogamous character strictly prohibits inter6caste marriages. %ccordingly a person born inlow caste can never hope to marry someone in higher caste. ach individual is supposed to marrywithin his caste and sub6caste. arrying outside caste ma#es an individual or Jwithout a castewhich is the lowest category even below ShudraH.=0 .ierarchal$ &aste system has a system of superiority and subordination. %ccording to +indu &aste hierarchy.rahmin occupies the highest followed by #shatriya, Daishya and Shudra.>0 *ied Occu!ationsembers of any caste are obligated to adopt the professions of their caste. +aving developedfrom Darna system the occupation in caste system is definite" son of blac#smith persues theoccupation of his lather, son of carpenter becomes carpenter and so on. (ith development of industries people belong to many castes have lost their occupation and have ta#en agriculture or some other occupation).0 Restricted *ood .a&its$

+igher castes try maintaining their traditional purity by different food habits. Thus rahmins willonly ta#e JSatwilH or JEureH food. -shtriya and Daishya will ta#e J3oyalH food. % Shudra ta#esJTamsiH food. ach individual caste has its own laws which govern the food habits. There is norestriction against fruit, mil#, butter, dry fruit etc. but food can be accepted only from themembers of ounces own or higher caste.@0 Untoucha&ility$ !n !ndian caste system Shudra and out castes are considered to be untouchables. !n certain timesof day even seeing a shudra is considered to be pollution. ven if shadow of a low caste falls ona rahmin, latter is said to have been polluted.

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40 A&sence o# 9ertical %o&ility$ !n a caste system, there is no mobility movement of its members, up or down, the social statusladder. % personHs status at birth is his life time status.

50 Rein#orce"ent &y Religious :elie#s$ 3eligious beliefs have played a significant role in ma#ing caste system unavoidable. 3eligion hasdescribed rahmin as sacred and also an element of reverence and awe is attached to him. !nabsence of religious support such rigid caste system was not possible.

Adantage or %erits o# Caste Syste"

0. Ereservation of &ulture&aste system helped in preservation of culture and these were passed on from generation togeneration.<0 ;reseration o# ;urity$

&aste system, because of its endogenous nature, permitted marriage only within the caste and

thus preserved purity of each caste.=0 Diision o# La&or$

&aste system re=uired each individual to do the wor# prescribed for his caste, i.e. rahmins $obwas to teach, -shatriyas to fight war, Daishyas to run trade and Shudras to serve other castes.This division of labor ensured smooth functioning of society.>0 Co(o!eration -ithin Castes$

&aste system fastened cooperation with each caste. They co6operated with each other to preservetheir culture and protect it from degradation by other castes.0 A&sence o# Co"!etition$

%s social status was hereditary and no amount or personal accomplishments could change it,there was no competition to improve status. Eeople, therefore, utilized their energies for general benefit of society rather than Eersonal advancement.@0 ;anchayat Syste"$

Eanchayat system is an outcome of caste system. %ll disputes within a caste were referred to thecaste Eanchayat. Eanchayats though secular in outloo# exist even now in rural !ndia.40 Increased ;ro#essional ;ro#iciency$

&aste system helped in increasing proficiency in each vocation because accumulated experienceof and store was handed over by father to son.50 .ealthy Social Li#e$ &aste system made people disciplined and co6operative. Eeople carried out the duties assigneddue to their caste with responsibility. There was social amity between members of same caste.30 ;rotected the Society$

3igidity of our caste system was responsible for protecting our society from cultural invasion byalien societies.2H0 ;er"anency and Continuity$

ach casts had a permanent body of constitutions to guide his social behaviors and action. Thecustoms and beliefs were passed on from generation the generation. Thus caste system had permanency and continuity.220 I"!roed Liing Standards$

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ach caste struggled hard to maintain and improve living standards of its members to retain itssuperiority over subordinate castes. This resulted in overall progress and prosperity.2<0 Social Li#e Not De!endent on ;olitical Conditions$

&aste system was predominantly influenced by religion. !t was totally independent of prevailing political conditions and, therefore provided stability in society.

Disadantage or De"erits o# Caste Syste"

20 Unde"ocratic$

&aste system denied e=ual opportunity for advancement to persons belonging to different castes.!t is, therefore, undemocratic.<0 No 9ertical %o&ility$ &aste system expected every individual to adopt the occupation prescribed for his caste, which purely hereditary. %ny amount of struggle could not change cast status. Therefore, these were noupward or downward mobility of labor.=0 )ncouraged Untoucha&ility$

&aste system prohibited any physical &ontact or communication between rahmin and Shudra.

ven if a Shudra was sighted by a rahmin at certain house it was considered pollution. Shadowof Shudra failing on rahmin would defile him. This it encourages untouchability.>0 Created a Class o# Idlers$

rahmins who were well entrenched at the top of social hierarchy stopped devoting themselvesto study and teaching and started living on alms provided by other castes. Thus they become parasites of society.0 O!!ression o# Lo- Caste ;eo!le$

3estrictions were imposed on low caste people regarding their place of living, their movementsand other activities by high caste people so that former may not defile the latter. This resulted inlow caste people being huddled together in a limited area having no access to community andfacilities leading a miserable life. rahmins became virtually tyrants.@0 )ncouraged Conersion$

The caste system was solely responsible for large conversion of people to &hristianity and even!slam to extent. Aow castes people who no hope of any honorable life had found that byconversion to &hristianity they could lead a respectable life.40 Against Integrity o# Nation$

&aste system made people more faithful and devoted to their castes than to their nation. Thuscaste system made national unity and integrity difficult tas#.50 *alse Sense o# Su!eriority and In#eriority$

!n caste system rahmin was superior being, simply because he was born as a rahmin. This wasnot necessarily matched by his intellectual development and wisdom. In the contrary, any one born in a low caste was inferior. embers of high caste considered themselves sole possessors of intellect and wisdom and expected the lower castes to see# their advice before doing anything.This created bad feeling between castes.30 .ind )rance to Socio(econo"ic ;rogress$

%s there was no social mobility. Eeople lost all initiative and this resulted stagnancy in socio6economic conditions.2H0 Nation Not :ene#ited$

%ffairs of the nation were run by a few high caste people. Thus the nation was deprived of benefit of wisdom of the masses.

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220 )ncouraged Treason$ &ontinuous oppression of low caste people by high caste ones made some of them rebets in the

society. They even went to the extent of committing treason and helping invaders against their nation.

What is Culture?

an alone of all the animals creates and transmits a social environment. !t is his uni=uecharacteristic" other animals can ac=uire behavior pattern by initiating other animals or byresorting to trial and error. They do not transmit their learned activities to future generationsthrough languages and other symbolic systems neither they can ma#e physical ob$ects to use astools in their efforts to get food, shelter and other goods nor they pass them on to succeedingenervations. an in ad$usting to the natural environment O and to his fellows O fashions vast=uantities of physical and biological materials and large bodies of through and action pattern. %llthese he uses to fulfill his desires and needs which ma#e it possible for him to satisfy present andexpanding wants, to satisfy new values, to express creative desire, to store product for future useand to transmit them to succeeding generations.

The total content of this produced social environment of a society its culture. !t is the integrated,interdependent whole of these socially produced and inherited action patterns built around a body of socially created physical and biological material. The culture of society therefore thetotal environment of the physio6social, bio6social and psycho6social universes, man has producedand socially created mechanisms through these social products operate.

Cultural Conce!ts

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penalised" e.g., in north !ndian villages people are expected to enter home only after the removalof shoes.

%ores are socially acceptable ways of behaviour that do involve moral standards, violation mayresult in severe social action such as ostracism" e.g., inter6dining of an orthodox high caste

rahmin with an outcaste +indu +ari$an in !ndia. ores are the pattern of behaviour consideredessential by society. They are rigidly enforced, and if not followed, the individual incurs severe penalty from society. If course, clear lines of distinction between mores and fol#ways are notoften distinguishable, and borderline cases certainly occur.

Ta&oo refers to anything (food, place, activity) which is prohibited and forbidden. Theobservance of a taboo has the social se=uence of binding a social group together behind commonrituals and sentiments. The taboo is a symbol of group membership.

Ritual is any formal action, following a set pattern, which express through symbol in public or shared. 3ituals are typically the practical aspects of a religious system and they express sacred

values rather than see# to achieve some utilitarian end. /or example, ritual is often used to refer to any regular pattern of interaction Jhow do you doMH %s a routine method of startingconservation it could be regarded as ritual of everyday interaction.

Tradition refers to any human practice, belief, in6situation or artifact which is handed downfrom generation to the next. hile the content of tradition is highly variable, it typically refers tosome element of culture regarded as part of the common inheritance of a social group. Traditionis often regarded as a source of social stability and legitimacy. ut, appeal to tradition may also provide basis for changing the present.

Role o# Cultural Conce!ts in Agricultural )tension

&ultural concepts are important tools for understanding and analyzing society. efore startingany development programme extension wor#er analyze the situation, where programme has to beexecuted. &ultural concepts have practical implications for programmes of promoted changesuch as rural community development. !n this way cultural concepts play a role in agriculturalextension and extension wor#er cannot ignore their importance and role in their developmental programmes.

ost of the farm practices are also heritage generation to generation. Their old practices are also being tested for their reliability ! todayHs concept and are being fed bac# by the extension wing tothe scientists for teaching etc. the traditionalism serve as a base for the proposed modernagricultural practices.

/amilies in society" &hanges in %griculture" farm crisis and land crisis as central issues in ruralareas

*unctions o# Culture

0. &ulture provides us with design for living. !t is always learned and ac=uired.

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0. 4ltimate Food %cademic 3ecord, &haracter?. !ntermediate *iscipline, %ttainable2. Specific *ecent, 3espectful to society, Eunctual

Attitudes

%ttitudes is or feeling of li#e, disli#e, attraction, repulsion, interest or apathy toward other persons, ob$ects, situation or ideas. %ttitudes are essentially ac=uired and learned. Aearning or ac=uisition or attitudes may be conscious or unconscious.Role o# Social 9alues and Attitudes in Agricultural )tension

Social values and attitudes both resist and accelerate change. So, both have important role inagricultural extension. 4nderstanding of social values and attitudes will allow extension wor#ersto analyse and assess rural situations with greater effectiveness and accuracy and ma#e for moresuccessful promotion of change among the people. +uman behaviour is said to result fromattitudes that people have about ideas, ob$ects, situations or other people. !ndividual live withinthe context of a society, certain values and shared with other members of the society and thesecommon social values of the society also fashion and govern behaviour. % person acts in

conformity with the rules and regulations or norms of society which are based on social values.

Dalues and attitudes in society ma#e it easy or difficult for people to adopt new practices e.g. or society holding attitudes and values which are strongly negative to choose piggery as or profession will present serious obstacle in the planned development of rural society. So, in the path of desired change the importance role of social values of particular group, community andsociety cannot be ignored. ut people are always reluctant to indicate their attitudes and socialvalues. +ence, extension wor#er should understand and appreciate the vital role played by valuesand attitudes in behaviour of both rural and urban people.

Social Institutions

Social institutions are created by man from social relationships in society to meet basic needssuch as stability, law and order and clearly defined roles of authority and decision ma#ing. Theseare organised systems of behaviour to meet basic needs of society.

+orton (09B@) defined institution as an organised system of social relationships which embodiescertain common values and procedures and meets certain basic needs of society. %ccording toAandis, 7social institutions are formal cultural structures devised to meet basic social needs.8

%aBor Institutions in Rural Society

Fenerally, five basic institutions are recognised in rural society the family, religion, theeconomic, government and education.

The #a"ily

!t is the most multifunctional of all institutions in society, and is a system of organisedrelationships involving wor#able and dependable ways of meeting basic social needs. /amilycommonly fulfils the following tas#s in society!. Sex regulation!!. 3eproduction and perpetuation of the family and human race,!!!. SocialisationH

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!D. Erovision of economic maintenance and livelihood in many culturesD. Erovision of love, affection and security to individuals andD!. Erovision of class status to the individual of the family into he has been born

ithin the basic institution of the family are secondary institutions such as engagement,

marriage, courtship and relationships with the family into which marriage has ta#en place.

Religion

3eligion provides a foundation for mores in society. The function of religion is to provide meanswhere man can face the crisis with strength and fortitude. ost religions of the world have thefollowing elements!. % set of beliefs regarding the ultimate power in the universe!!. % set of beliefs regarding the ideal and proper pattern of behaviour!!!. % set of ceremonial ways of expressing these beliefs

Goern"ent!t is also referred as the political institution. !t administers the regulatory functions of law andorder and maintains security in society. ithin this ma$or institution are secondary institutionssuch as military systems, political forces, legal systems, and diplomatic relations with other countries.

)cono"y and %aintenance

Such institutions provide basic physical subsistence for society and meet basic needs for food,shelter, clothing and other necessities. !ncluded are the economic institutions of production O agriculture, industry, and the distribution, exchange and consumption of commodities, goods andservices necessary for human survival. Secondary institutions included within the ma$or economic institutions are credit and ban#ing systems, advertising, cooperatives etc.

)ducation

ducational institutions are those institutions which see# to socialise individuals in society or introduce them in formal ways into their social and cultural world. very new generation must be prepared and trained to play a role in society. This process referred as the process of socialisation, commences informally at home and then formally in the institution of education

Social Organisation

Social organisations are classes of human relationship structures wherein people purposefullyassociated in systematically arranged units to promote and achieve some common purposes or interests that are not specifically expressed in the institution. !n organisation each member has aformal status and role. !t may be defined as a group with special concern and interests that have developed a structureinvolving specific roles for various members, and that have a more or less formal set of rules andregulations for operation.

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%n organisation differs from an institution by its focus on a narrowly limited purpose. !t is groupof people organised to pursue specific ob$ectives. Irganisation may operate within institutione.g. %lumni %ssociation of or &ollege, 3ural Gouth &lub.

Ty!es o# Organisations

Irganisations may be classified in many ways0. In the basis of motives of participation!ndividuals expect organisations either to provide them personal satisfaction and pleasure or toenable them to be service of others. Thus, organisation may be classified into those provide personal pleasure and satisfaction (such as recreational clubs) and service and civic clubs.

?. In the basis of admission to membershipThree categories may be identified.(a) !nclusive6open to anyone who is interested in the purpose of organisation and meets itsre=uirements, e.g. recreational clubs.(b) 3estricted6open to those persons who possess predetermined classification e.g. an associationof agricultural graduates.(c) xclusive6where admission is limited through selection by members of the organisation e.g.3otary !nternational when membership is at the discretion of members of the club within itsconstitutional provision.

2. In the basis of organisational operations.Select where secrecy is maintained regarding goals and membership.Ipen Ipen organisations are generally of public #nowledge.3ole of Social Irganization in %gricultural xtension!n rural areas of developing countries the number of, and membership in organizations isincreasing, fulfilling the rapidly expanding interests of individuals. Irganizations influence the behaviour of rural people which varies in many ways depending on membership or the life of organization itself. They perform the following important functions

0. %n outlet for individual interests%n organisation enables a group of persons sharing a common interest in society to associatewith one another, wor#ing together toward realisation of their interest.

?. % channel for purposeful action4nfulfilling its goal, an organisation may influence social decision and effect or stimulate socialchange e.g. a farmerHs organisation may be instrumental for pinging about land reform and other such measures to benefit rural people.

2. %s a testing ground for new programmes

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ecause of their modest size and flexibility, organization can test new programmes and pro$ectsfor possible advantages.

Social Control Social control is the control of society over individual. Social control includes those laws by

which an individual behaves in concurrence with the mores of the group. !t is by the socialcontrol that every particular group and individual member outcomes tensions and conflicts.annheim has defined social control as,8 the sum of those methods by which a society tries toinfluence human behaviour to maintain a given order8.

*eatures o# Social Control

0. Social control is influence. The influence may be exerted through public opinion, socialsuggestions, religion, appeal to reason, or any other method.?. The influence is exercised by society. !t means that the group is better able to exerciseinfluence over the individual than a single individual is. The group may be the family, church,the state, the club, the school etc.

2. The influence is exercised for promoting the welfare of the group as a whole. Social control isexercised for some specific end in view. The end is always the welfare of the whole.

I"!ortance o# Social Control

very society has tried to control the behaviour of its members. !n the earliest and primitivesociety social control existed as a powerful force in organizing socio6cultural behaviour. /rom birth to death man is surrounded by social control of which he may even unaware. !n moderntimes social control is mostly exercised through an appeal to reason. Today manHs behaviour iscontrolled by showing him through education and propaganda the conse=uences of his action.The aim of social control is always the welfare of the society. So we canHt ignore its importancein modern society. %eans o# Social Control

The numerous means of social control, some formal others informal, have been listed bysociologists. Fossip, sympathy, resentment, the sense of $ustice, public opinion, fol#ways andmores are some of the informal means of social control. !nformal means of social control arevery powerful in primary social groups where interaction is on permanent basis. Theeffectiveness of informal devices of social control is lessened in modern larger communitieswhere contact tends to be impersonal. !n modern times the informal methods have given place toformal ones such as laws, coercion and codes. !n modern times social control is mostly exercisedthrough an appeal to reason. odern society does not favour the use of force through coercivemethods" these are =uite often used in ma#ing individuals obedient to the system. enHs behaviour today is controlled by showing him through education and propaganda theconse=uences of his action. ducation has also been playing memorable role in the field of socialcontrol. Aaw has also been used in various countries for the purpose. Aeadership has also becomea great controlling force in modern times. The leaser controls the mob mentality in times of crisisand excitement. %mong the several means of social control the important ones are fol#ways andmores, custom, law fashion, religion and morality. In#or"al "eans o# social control

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/ol#ways are socially acceptable ways of behaviour, the customary norms of society that do notimply moral sanctions" e.g. Food anners. /ol#ways are customary ways of behaviour insociety in which society exerts some and some, force for conformity. Eersons who do notconform may sub$ect to criticism or to be considered strange, but would not necessarily penalised" e.g., in north !ndian villages people are expected to enter home only after the removal

of shoes.

ores are socially acceptable ways of behaviour that do involve moral standards, violation mayresult in severe social action such as ostracism" e.g., inter6dining of an orthodox high casterahmin with an outcaste +indu +ari$an. ores are the pattern of behaviour considered essential by society. They are rigidly enforced, and if not followed, the individual incurs severe penaltyfrom society.

If course, clear lines of distinction between mores and fol#ways are not often distinguishable,and borderline cases certainly occur.

Social Dalues are attitudes held by the society" those define what society considers correct and of relative importance are referred to as social values.

%ccording to Goung,8 abstract and often unconscious assumption of what is right and wrong8.Freen defined social value as,8 3elatively enduring awareness plus emotion regarding an ob$ect,idea, or person8

Social values do constitute society preferences or estimate of worth in respect of material or non6material ob$ects in society.

%n individual may develop his set of ideas, outside of the area of the value system of society"that determines personal li#es or disli#es. These personal or individual values function within anindividual value system, which usually do not conflict with the value system of society andoperate within the personal sphere of decision ma#ing" a farmer may re$ect the profession of piggery not because it violates societyHs value system, but because it is not in #eeping with his personal set of values.

Corms are the accepted an approved forms of behaviour that are based on and consistent withdominant social values in society. Thus, values and norms go together. % set of social values willalways have an accompanying set of social norms or rules that uphold and support values. Cormsare closely associated with values but are clearly differentiated from them. Dalues are attitudes,held by an individuals, groups or society as whole, as to whether material or non6material ob$ectsare good, bad, desirable or undesirable, the rules that govern action directed towards achievingvalues are called norms e.g. 3eligious worship and respect of Fod usually is considered a value"the observance of religious festivals and performance of rituals and worship and other relevantactivities are an important part of the norms of the society.

Need o# social control

Society is an organised body of individuals and groups, having structure and function, with acomplex of form or systems of social relationships involving social roles, values and norms. The

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components are so organised that they are normally held together in various relationships thatenable them to operate effectively towards the achievement of societal goals. ut, changes in thenormal routine of life create a disturbance in the balance in the functioning of the existing parts,and the customary and socially approved ways of the life no longer prevail and this situationrefers as social disorganisation.

*isorganised society can only be organised by practicing social control. /rom birth to death manis surrounded by social control of which he may even unaware. !n modern times social control ismostly exercised through an appeal to reason. Today manHs behaviour is controlled by showinghim through education and propaganda the conse=uences of his action. The aim of social controlis always the welfare of the society. So we canHt ignore its need in society.

Social Change

Social change refers to an alteration in the material and non6material culture of a society. !t refersto change that occur in the structure and functioning of a social system, thus pointing to changein

The roles individuals perform" Dalues and norms"

Social structure and institutions"

Social relationships among people"

Eattern of social interaction"

/unctions performed by different groups and institutions.

7y social change is meant only such alterations as occur in the social organisation i.e. thestructure and functions of society.8 *avis

Nature o# Social Change

0. Inly such changes are designated as social change that affects the bul# of the community.inor alterations in social life don not usually constitute what is generally accepted as socialchange.?. Social change is a universal process. !t is founded in all societies and all stages of socialevolution.2. Social change does not always depend on the willingness of society and its members.@. Speed of social change differs from society to society and in the same society. any tribal andrural societies change at much slower pace than industrial societies. +owever, the pace of changeof contemporary societies is much faster now than in the earlier stages.K. Social change has both =ualitative and =uantitative aspects. !ncrease in number of household isan example of =uantitative change. &hanges in the composition of households or changes in roles

are the examples of =ualitative change.B. &hange is not synonymous with development" it may or may not lead to development.<. ost of social change that too# place in the earlier years was unplanned and undirected. Cow planned or directed social change is gaining in importance as a means to achieve societal goals inshorter period in a more orderly fashion.1. Social change is the result usually of both internal (endogenous) factors (the community itself recognises the need for change) and external (exogenous) factors, e.g. industrialisation, landreforms and urbanisation.

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Di"ensions o# Social Change

% thousand years ago, the face of society was vastly different from that with which we arefamiliar today. Since the outbrea# of orld ar !, numerous countries have passed through profound changes, not only in their public institutions but in their class structures, their economic

systems, their mores and modes of living6in short, in all the fundamental relation of man to man.Social inventions bring social change. !nvention and discovery are significant characteristics of our age. The present age is often called the 7age of power8, the scientific age. echanisationhave changed not only the economic structure of the society but was also profoundly altered our modes of life and thought. The changes in the means of transport and c communication haveaffected our social relationships. %s the means of transport have changed, the spatialrelationships have also changed. The rapid means of transportation and communication haveencouraged the growth of international trade and interdependence of countries. Today, there isgreater mobility of population. The rapid means of transport and communication have bro#en the barriers of cultural isolation and played a significant role in the diffusion of cultural elements.*ifferent people may loo# on the same social changes differently and to some they may spell

progress, to others decadence. Social changes are welcomed by some and are opposed by others.Elanned social change i.e. social change by planning has a very great importance in our life.&ivil marriages, divorce, womenHs participation in public life free mixing of young boys andgirls are the best examples of social change in our lives.

*actors o# Social Change

Social change is a historical process based on various factors of environment and humaningenuity to create conditions for better survival. a$or factors of social change are thefollowing

The ;hysical )niron"ent

Ehysical factors also #nown as geographical factors include all conditions of natural environmentnamely climate, earthHs surface, water, season, storms, earth=ua#es that are permanent andindependent of human existence. any changes ta#e place in natural environment and thesechanges are regardless of human activities. any social geographers have analyzed the impact of natural conditions on social life. /loods, earth=ua#es, droughts, famine and storms, change of season etc. have significant effect on the social relationships and these are modified by suchnatural occurrences. Cultural *actors

The main cause of social change is the cultural factor. &hanges in the culture are accompanied bysocial changes. &ulture gives speed and direction to social change and determines the limits beyond which social change cannot occur. The pace of change of material and non6materialculture are not the same although they affect each other. Con material factors are affected by thematerial culture.

;o!ulation *actors

ven changes in the =uality of population have an effect on the social organisation as well ascustoms and traditions, institutions, associations etc. increase and decrease of population, achange in the ratio of men and women, young and old, have an effect on social relationships.

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*ecrease or increase in population has an immediate effect upon economic institutions andassociations. The ratio of men to women in society effects marriage, family and the conditions of women in society. !n the same way the birth and death rate also influence social change.

;sychological *actors

ost sociologists regard psychological factors as important elements in social change. The causeof social change is the psychology of man himself. an by nature is a lover of change. +e is alsotrying to discover new things in the sphere of his life, and is always anxious for novelexperience. ecause of this tendency, the mores, traditions, customs etc. of very human societyare perpetually undergoing change. This does not mean that man always considers the newsuperior to the old. hile he is always, attending to what is new and uni=ue" he wants to preserve what is old. &hange is the law of life. hen changes do not occur at the appropriatetime revolution ta#es place, wars are fought, epidemics spread, and changes are violentlyintroduced.

:iological *actors

iological factors too have some indirect influence upon social change. %mong the biologicalfactors is the =ualitative aspect of the population related to heredity. The =ualitative aspect of population is based upon powerful and great men and their birth is dependent largely on heredityand mutation. +ence, biological factor play a part in social change in that extent.

!n the course of human history, it is remar#ed that there are physical and mental differencesamong population distributed in the different countries of the world. This amounts to hereditarydifferences in races leading to ethnocentrism.

Technological *actors

The technological factor has immense influence in social change. To =uote Igburn,8Technological changes society by changing our environment to which we in turn adopt.8 Thischange is usually in material environment and ad$ustment we ma#e to the changes often modifiescustoms and social institutions. !n this way, the increase in the machines and methods due to newdiscoveries has had a very great influence upon social relationships. The form of society isundergoing change because of the development and invention of electric, steam and petrol drivenmachines for production, the means of transport and communication, and various mechanicalappliances is everyday life. ven institutions li#e family and marriage have not remainedimmune to the effect of these developments. The explicit effects of the technological advance arelabour organisation, division of labour, specialisations, high speed of life, increase in productionetc. in modern age" technological factors are among the predominant causes of social change.

Other *actors

!n addition to above mentioned factors, another factor of social change is the appearance of newopinions and thoughts, e.g. changes in the attitudes towards dowry, caste system, femaleeducation etc., have resulted in widespread social variations and modifications. !n fact, ama$ority of social revolutions ta#es place because of the evolution of new ways of thin#ing.Similarly, war is also a cause of social change because it influences the population, the economicsituation, and ratio of male to female etc.

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Rural *a"ily

/amily can be defined as a relatively permanent and socially sanctioned group of parent, andchildren. !t may all so include near relatives of husband or wife as in case of $oint family. Themembers of the family are relate to each other by blood or by marriage. The family as basic unitof all the societies. %lmost all the human beings are born into family. hen they matured they

marry and establish families of their own. embership in the family is permanent except for thewithdrawal of the adult children or in case of family disorganization by divorce. Sometimes theterm family includes all the members of group of person other than mother, father and their children who occupies a common dwelling place.

%ccording to aclver 7family is a group defined by sex relationship sufficiently precise andenduring to provide for procreation and upbringing of children8. Igburn and Cim#off say,7/amily is more or less durable association of husband and wife with children or of a man andwomen alone.8

Classi#ication o# *a"ily

The families can be classified according to various criteriaa) In the asis of Aineage0) Eatrilineal /amily hen properly inheritance and rec#oning descent along the male line(father).<6 %atrilineal *a"ily$ hen it is along the female (mother) line.&6 On the :asis o# .eadshi!$

26 ;atriarchal *a"ily$ !n this case father is head of the family.<6 %atriarchal *a"ily !n this case mother is head of the family.c6 On the :asis o# Trans#er o# :ride Groo"$

26 ;atrilocal *a"ily$ There are the families where wife transfer to the husbands house after marriage.<6 %atrilocal *a"ily$ here husband transfer to the wifeHs house after marriage.atrilinealfamilies are matrilocal families.d6 On the :asis o# Nu"&er o# %ates$

26 %onoga"ous *a"ily$ !n this case the husband marries only one wife.<6 ;olyga"ous *a"ily !n this case the husband can marry more than one wife.=6 ;olyandrous *a"ily$ !n this case the wife can marry more than one husband.

Nuclear or ConBugal or Indiidual *a"ily$

Such a family consists of married couple and their children, and is well separated from other relatives who may pay short visits if at all.

Consanguineal *a"ily$

Such a family consists often of grandparents, their sons, their sons Jwives and even their sonsHgrand children. &onsanguincal literally means 7of one blood8. ldest male member is the head of family.

*unctions o# *a"ily

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0. !t helps in perpetuating the race through procreation.?. !t provides for a means to satisfy sexual needs of man and woman.2. !t helps in socializing the children and ma#e them acceptable to the society.@. !t means the basic needs of its member.K. !t is the starting point of division of labor.

B. /amily as a primary economic unit ensures that economic activities are shared by the familymembers.<. !t provides for education and vocational training of members so that they can share theeconomic burden.1. !t arranges to regulate the sex activities of unmarried members of a family in line with therestraints imposed by the society.9. /amily provides the children with a status till he becomes economically independent.0:. &hildren learn about customs, mores, superstitions and religion while they live in family andthus these are passed on from generation to generation.00. The family carries out certain recreational activities for the benefit of young children and thuseducates and broadens their outloo#.

0?. /amily provides a sense of security to its members.02. /amily contributes towards preservation and enrichment of cultural heritage.0@. /amily loo#s after its aged and disabled members.0K. /amily disciplines its members so that the family is held in high esteem.0B. /amily nourishes its member with mutual love and affection.

Characteristics o# ,enyan Rural *a"ily

0. The 3ural /amily is Eatriarchal in Cature/ather is head of the family. +e shoulders the responsibility towards, government, societies etc.+e possesses some authority and ta#es all the decisions. +e settles the marriages of other sub6ordinate members of the family and distributes the wor#. !f father is not alive then mother or elder brother act as a head of family.<0 Rural *a"ily is Orthodo in Nature$ They generally do not want to change their ways of behavior because of limited education,limited sources, and their occupation depending upon nature. They cannot afford to ta#e ris# andhence they follow the old ways of living.=0 *a"ily Wor/s as the Unit o# ;roduction and Unit o# Consu"!tion$

%ll the members of the family members wor# as a team. The adult family members carry outheavy and ma$or operations in the field li#e ploughing, sowing, transplanting etc. while childrenhelp than in to field operations li#e watching crops, loo#ing after cattle, pic#ing of fruits,harvesting of vegetables etc. Aadies also helps by carrying the meals to fields. hatever produces family gets from farm is #ept for his own consumption.>0 Do"inance o# *a"ily Age!n the rural area there notices what is #nown as feminization The rural people are religious aswell as family minded. They always thin# about the well being of the family. The family pervades in to all acts of individual members of family. They tries to protect food name of thefamily even with the biggest sacrifice. !n 4rban area people are less attached to the family./amilization is that act in which the name of the family pervades in to all action.0 Rural *a"ily is Eoint *a"ily$

This $oint pattern is showing sends of brea#ing still however it is a common form in rural area.

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@0 Rural *a"ily is :ased on ;easant .ouseholds$

The family has also peasant neighborhood. %ll the neighbors of rural family are farmers. Theyalways come in contact with each other and tal# is generally cantered around the agriculture andalide sub$ect.<. 3ural family is more homogenous, stable, integrated and organically functioning than urban

family. The ties, bindings of the members of rural families for instance the husbands and wife parent and children are stronger and last longer than.1. There is greater discipline and interdependence in the rural families.

Eoint *a"ily Syste"

The $oint family is prevalent in !ndia since the times immemorial. This institution was introducedin !ndia and some other countries by %ryans. !t consists of a group of people of common descent,living together under one roof, who worship a common deity, hold common property. !tcomprises of male members having a common male ancestors, unmarried female children andfemales married to male members. The eldest male member is the head of family and its absoluterural. The members of family contribute their labor and receive their share of produce to meet

their basic minimum needs

Characteristics o# Eoint *a"ily

0. The head of family is its absolute rural.?. The family owns a common property and the head of family is the trustee of the property.2. The landed property is prevented from fragmentation. %n agricultural family finds iteconomically profitable to sow larger lands using the lager manpower by $oint family.@. !n a $oint everyone is assured of meeting his basic minimum needs in turn everyone performsthe wor# allotted to him by the head of family.K. &ommonality of place of living saves lot of expenses which would have otherwise to be madeon houses rent of cost of constructing house and cost of the articles of daily use.B. There is little chance of children going astray as there is always somebody to loo# after them,even when parents are away for wor#.<. !n a $oint family every member has to do limited wor#. verybody gets more time for recreation and leisure.1. The family has clear6cut division of labor. The members do their wor# efficiently.9. !n rural !ndia $oint family is still considered a matter of pride.

Disadantages o# Eoint *a"ily Syste"

0. The $oint family under the strict control of head of family tends to be conservative andorthodox. !t cannot change with times.?. ember of family lac# initiative because fruits of their initiative will ultimately be shared byother members who may be lazy and idle. Therefore, nobody puts in hard labor, which is sonecessary for advancement in standard of living.2. *ue to lac# of initiative in its members, the economic condition of the $oint family goes ondeteriorating.@. There is disharmony due to generation gap in the family which affects the progress of thefamily adversely.K. !n a $oint family the women loo# after household chores. Thus their talents are wasted andtheir lives are rendered miserable

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B. The common property is loo#ed after by none and its condition worsens for want of proper attention.<. *ue to diverse temperaments, there is always conflict between males and females and youngand old.1. %s a large family has to live in limited space, there is no privacy.

9. embers tend to spend more and more due to the feeling that expenses will be scared by thewhole family. This ma#es the economic condition of family worse.0:. ecause of presence of numerous other members of family a harmonious relationship basedof mutual love and affection cannot develop.00. %s the responsibility for upbringing of children is shared, there is uncontrolled reproduction.%s a result of this the family economy goes down.0?. hen a $oint family disintegrates, the commonness of property leads to family founds andoften to litigation in courts of law.

Changes in and Dis(Integration o# the Eoining *a"ily

The $oint family structure came into being in !ndia because of its agricultural economy and

because of the needs of the agriculture. Cow the situation has changed. The country is gettingindustrialized. The population has gone up. The houses have become shall and the process of urbanization has changed the socio6economic conditions. ecause of all these factors, theinstitution of $oint family has started changing. !n certain respects it has even dis6integrated.There are reasons for it. The important factors that have brought about the change in the $ointfamily structure are0. !ndustrial development or industrialization.?. *evelopment of the means of communication and scientific and technological development.2. !ncrease in population.@. The process of urbanization.K. !mpact of western civilization and culture.B. ducation and development of individualism.<. *is6integration of village industries.1. Social movements.9. Social legislations, particularly those pertaining to the status of women.

/orestry communities" /ishing communities" mining communities" farming communities

The .ara"&ee S!irit in ,enyaF the Conce!t o# .ara"&ee

any %frican countries have now been independent for ten years or more. Elanning6andimplementation6for development has brought challenges, some success and some frustration.uch of the frustration and the fre=uent inability to achieve broadly based rural developmenthave to do with failure to grasp how development is perceived by the small man. anygovernment programmes, some of them aided and prodded by foreign donors, rest on very wea# ground in terms of #nowledge and appreciation of the aspirations of those who are to bedeveloped. The scale and scope of such programmes are often irrelevant or even alien to thenature of grass6roots development effort.

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This realization has in most countries led to attempts at bottom6up development, assumed toimprove self6reliance by more use of indigeneous resources, and assumed to improve performance by ensuring some popular participation and pro$ect design geared to local needs.

+arambee is a term used in the discussion of economic and social development in -enya, $ust as

similar concepts are used in many other developing countries all over the world. Similar termsused elsewhere include such terms as 4$amaa in Tanzania and humanism in ambia.+arambee is more than a propaganda phrase and contrary to some opinions, +arambee is not ameans by which peasants in -enya are manipulated by the elite. specially in rural areas of -enya, +arambee self6help is estimated to contribute over 2: per cent of developmentinvestment and is an important way of life which is found on indigeneous social institutions.

The -enyan +arambee Self6help movement offers an interesting example of bottom6updevelopment of more than one decade, with little and often no government financial support. Themovement appears to reflect pragmatic local priorities and offers an opportunity to test whatlocal people really want. +arambee self6help existed before the ideological calls for self6reliant

development, and raises the issue whether in fact ideological build6up can or should precedeactual development efforts.

%lmost everybody arriving in -enya, dealing with -enyan development prospects and problems,teaching students and doing research, or trying to explain about -enya to outsiders, will find itnecessary to #now something about +arambee self6help as a development strategy, a way of filling needs, and a way of wor#ing and living in -enya.

The Conce!t o# .ara"&ee

+arambee as a concept, meaning collective effort, pull together, is not new to -enya. Theconcept embodies ideas of mutual assistance, $oint effort, mutual social responsibility,community self6reliance. !t is applied in day6to6day life in such ways as collectiveneighbourhood house6building, weeding, bush clearing, irrigation, harvesting and fund raising.The term is found in the languages of many tribes of -enya" the Auo call it Konyri kendi , theAuhya call it &bwasio, the -i#uyu call it -gwatio, the -amba call it wethia and the asai callit matonyok .

The concept of +arambee is indigeneous to -enya. !t was applied to the activities of a village or neighbourhood, in the activities of age and sex groupings and was supported by the value of mutual self6assistance. The basic social units involved in this form of social exchange werefemale groups differentiated in terms of functions by age and often by #inship and mixed #ingroups such as clans, neighbourhood or village groups. %lthough very structurally specific, theassociations were voluntary and hence to maintain a high degree of solidarity and effectivenessthe group norms, membership and participation values and other criteria were very specific.

Thus, before independence +arambee was a grass6roots form of social exchange of labour andother forms of mutual assistance. The concept became a national slogan, a motto on the nationalcrest and a rally cry on adara#a *ay in ;une 09B2 when the Eresident of -enya, zee ;omo-enyatta formally made it such. %fter this day, +arambee is used to denote collective effort,community self6reliance, cooperative enterprises and all forms of collective self6reliance.

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Cationally, +arambee self6help development effort is distinct from other development activities.Some of the generalized characteristics of +arambee which will be tested later in the boo# include the following6

(a) +arambee self6help pro$ects reflect a bottom6up rather than a top6down development pro$ect

initiation. +arambee pro$ects are normally initiated, planned, implemented and maintained bylocal communities.

(b) +arambee self6help activities are heavily biased towards the use of local resources such ashuman labour, local power such as oxen, don#eys, camels, the use of local materials inconstruction such as wooden structures, earth6bric#s, grass thatch, and the use of donations in#ind such as donations of livestoc#, food, individual material property.

(c) The participation of individuals in +arambee self6help is guided by the principle of thecollective good rather than individual gain. !n emphasising the principle of collective good, participation is organised in such a way that the self6image of each individual is reinforced and

enhanced. This is often through public praise of each contributor. The effort then is meaningfulto the individual in terms of his psychological needs for identity, commitment, re6assurance andworth and also in terms of the individual's membership in active traditionally and politicallylegitimate groups.

(d) The choice of pro$ects is guided by the principle of satisfying the immediate need of participating members and groups. This local level ideology, which can be summarized asenlightened community and collective self6interest8, is a very typical criterion for pro$ectchoice !n most cases it is what the group feels is needful which determines whom the group

Documents

Rural Sociology (Repaired)