To understand the most important characteristics of a society, one must study its major cities.Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In deve

To have a deep understanding of a society, a comprehensive study of its major cities are required. This is because major cities are true reflection of a society.

It is the cities which is the most happening place in a society. People from various parts of country come to the cities for different purposes and this leads to an exchange of language, knowledge and culture. In this way cities are unique because its people are a sample representing the whole population. In a major city we can find people from all over the country and so their study will clearly indicate how the society as a whole functions. For example, India can be understood to a great extent just by analyzing people from cities such as Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. These cities, also known as metros, consists of a wide variety of people ranging from billionaires to below poverty liners. Also, people from all parts of the nation come here to fulfill their dreams. Thus, a thorough survey of people from these cities can give a fair idea about the nation as a whole.

But there are certain loopholes to this idea. Cities may give a fair idea about the society, but many important features are present in the rural areas as well. Rural languages, culture and their way of living are completely different form what we see in cities. Important traits of agrarian economy is bound to be missed as agriculture is concentrated in rural areas, and cities will give a proper picture of only tertiary sectors. Another important loophole in this idea is assuming that people from all over the society will flow out to cities for various purposes. Though this is very often seen in small societies having a few active cities, for countries/societies with large area/population, apart from big cities, towns and small cities also burgeon, thus we are bound to miss out on some important characteristics, which are unique to such towns/villages.

So saying that, study of cities is a way to understand most important charatceristics of a society is only partially correct, and its true nature many vary mildly or significantly depending on the type of society.