competition; (3) acquisition
and accumulation vs. sharing; (4) riches vs. poverty; (5) the individual
vs. the group; (6) status vs. change.
These fragmenting forces have been accepted, adopted and given priority
by civilizations as they developed predominance. As they grew in
magnitude they limited or subordinated the forces of integration and
unification.
Opposites and oppositions lead to confrontations along class lines,
geographic lines, cultural lines, color lines, racial lines. The
traditional confrontation of rural vs. urban life is doubly underlined
by two factors: first, the countryside operates generally on a use
economy with pay for services largely in kind or by barter. The city
operates under a market economy with payment for services usually in
money. Second, the standards of life and work are more primitive in the
countryside than in the city. Third, as the civilization advances toward
maturity, city population increases while it declines in the
countryside. Consequently vigorous, energetic, adventurous people leave
the deteriorating countryside.
Increasingly the owners of land and capital live in the cities, visiting
the countryside for holidays and recreation, leaving rural areas to
servants, peons, serfs and slaves. Small owning farmers are bought out
or expropriated. Unable to make a living in the countryside they move to
the city. Lacking city skills they work as casual labor or are
unemployed.
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