The influence of urban and rural lifestyles on the health of schoolchildren. Characteristics of the urban and rural social environment Comparison of the lifestyle of a city dweller and a rural dweller

Russia has always been considered an agrarian-type state, the bulk of whose population lives in countryside. The situation has changed somewhat in last years after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

For Russia, the rural way of life has always been the leading and predominant among the population. At all times, Russia has been an agrarian-type country, and today the share of agriculture in the economy remains quite significant. This is due to many features of the geographical and political situation of the country. Firstly, the vast territories and favorable climate of the central part of the state have always created appropriate conditions for the development of agriculture. Secondly, from time immemorial, Russian people have been inextricably linked with land and agriculture - many folk epics, fairy tales and songs confirm the special love and tenderness experienced by Russian people for their native land.

Even in ancient times, Russian society was characterized by a special commitment to agriculture. Subsistence farming and natural exchange were widespread among the peasants. Where the climatic conditions were most favorable, the peasant communities produced grain both for personal consumption and for sale.

Later, in the Middle Ages and during the existence of the Russian Empire, serfdom became especially widespread, which was inextricably linked with the rural way of life. The landowners owned large villages and villages, whose inhabitants were engaged in the production of grain, meat and other products. The percentage of rural residents has always been high, so even at the beginning of the 20th century the proportion of rural residents in the Russian Empire was more than 80%.

In the USSR, a mass policy was pursued to develop agriculture and unite small private producers into large collective farms. Many peasants resisted such transformations, as wealthy villagers did not want to share their property with poor and lazy neighbors. This revealed the main problem of the Russian village. Rural residents, able to provide for themselves with subsistence farms and produce products for sale, most often worked hard and amassed a large farm through their labor. But there were also poor families who, at best, could produce food only for their own survival. The collectivization reform was designed to equalize the property of these two classes, which led to conflict in society and resistance from the rich peasants.

Advantages and disadvantages of the rural lifestyle

The rural way of life at all times attracted the population of the country. But in recent times city ​​life is becoming more and more attractive and easy. What are the pros and cons of the rural lifestyle today?

Benefits of rural life

A village or village is distinguished by a high level of ecology, which is quite important these days. healthy image life attracts many people - clean air, proximity to a river or other body of water, the absence of large factories and factories that produce harmful emissions - all this has a beneficial effect on the general condition of the human body.

The ability to produce your own food is also attractive to many. It's no secret that products sold in stores contain practically no vitamins and may contain various harmful impurities. Village products, on the other hand, have special health benefits.

Calmness, silence and remoteness from the bustle of the city are a huge advantage for many people these days.

Disadvantages of a rural lifestyle

Remoteness from communications and organizations of public importance is perhaps one of the biggest disadvantages. The need to take children to school, to go shopping or to work is one of the reasons why urban residents do not want to move to the countryside.

For most people, subsistence farming and full self-sufficiency with food is a significant difficulty.

Lifestyle of the rural population

Russia is traditionally a peasant country and therefore the events of the 20th century. and intensive urbanization did not have time to oust from the mass consciousness of Russians, even those who now live in cities, the traditions, habits and elements of the rural way of life.

Sphere of work, life and leisure of the rural population modern Russia differs in many ways from the conditions of the past, but certain traditions and skills have survived to this day among the older generation of villagers. The main feature of the peasant's way of life is constant physical labor on any day of the week, especially during sowing, mowing, harvesting, exhausting, from dawn to dusk.

Based on analysis labor activity, the consumption of social services and the use of free time can be characterized different kinds lifestyle of the population in rural areas.

It should be noted that the recreational activities of the townspeople make certain changes in the rural way of life. In many rural settlements, in the summer, and sometimes for most of the year, city dwellers live in their own homes or with relatives. In most cases, especially in relation to remote small settlements, they act as intermediaries between the city and the countryside, supplying the villagers with urban goods, medicines, repairing household appliances, and so on. To a certain extent, they demonstrate to rural residents patterns of urban behavior, urban culture, to which rural youth are especially susceptible.

At present, we can also talk about the way of life in independent farms, which in our country has not been studied at all. The families of farmers who have chosen a rural way of life for themselves, at the same time, are largely oriented towards urban values. For them, the high mechanization of agricultural production and households, the availability of their own vehicles, the consumption of elements of urban culture - radio, television, newspapers, magazines, books - are vital.

Factors negatively affecting the health of the villagers

Work, life, recreation of people in rural areas has a number of features associated with the region of residence and type of activity. This includes closer contact with the natural environment compared to city dwellers, and a greater dependence on natural conditions, natural phenomena - floods, droughts, forest fires, snowstorms, etc.

Labor in agricultural enterprises is characterized by a number of specific features. These include double employment of the able-bodied population (in the public sector and personal subsidiary plots), uneven distribution of labor in social production according to the seasons of the year.

In addition, the uneven participation in social labor of certain categories and groups of workers (weak employment of some and excessive employment of others), the duration of the total working time of the population is longer than in the city.

The labor regime in agriculture is less favorable than in industry, transport and other urban activities. In addition to the "broken" working day (for example, for milkmaids due to the peculiarities of production, for field farmers in the southern regions because of the inability to work in the heat in the middle of the day), agricultural workers do not have regular days off or full holidays.

For Russian agriculture, which in the recent past was almost completely collective-farm and state-farm, personal subsidiary farming has acquired great importance. With its help, the main part of the needs of the rural population in food products is satisfied. But private farming requires a lot of money. physical labor and time. This circumstance to a certain extent hinders the development of the human personality due to the reduction of free time.

The activity of people employed in the most popular agricultural professions is associated with a long stay in the open air, which determines the constant impact of weather factors on the body.

Almost everywhere, a significant number of rural residents are constantly in contact with farm animals. This leaves a certain imprint on their lifestyle and may threaten their health, especially when in contact with sick animals. Among livestock breeders and veterinary workers, such a serious disease as brucellosis is widespread, an increased incidence of which in recent years has been noted in Eastern Siberia and the Volga region.

The incidence of tuberculosis is recorded, some forms of which are transmitted by farm animals. Registration of patients with leptospirosis continues. Other diseases associated with animal husbandry are also noted.

Visiting territories with natural foci of tick-borne encephalitis, tuleria, tick-borne rickettsiosis, rabies and other zooanthroposes leads to human morbidity. In recent years, these diseases have also been observed in citizens who are busy working on their garden plots.

Various machines and mechanisms are widely used in modern agriculture. At the same time, many operations have been preserved in which heavy manual labor with high energy expenditure predominates - manual mowing, weeding, manual milking, etc.

The most massive types of labor in agriculture are field cultivation and animal husbandry. In field farming, all types of work (plowing, sowing, harvesting, etc.) are carried out in the open air, and workplace most machine operators - cabs of tractors, combines, motor vehicles. Agricultural work during the transitional periods of the year - in spring and autumn - is carried out at low temperatures, sometimes in the rain. Therefore, among the inhabitants of the village, neuralgia, myalgia, rheumatism and other diseases are often recorded, the cause of which is the cooling of the body, especially during physical exertion.

In summer, high air temperatures are observed in the southern regions of Russia, combined with increased insolation. At the same time, the air temperature in the cabins of agricultural machines closed from dust and exhaust gases can rise to 35 - 37 ° C, even if the outside air temperature does not exceed 25 ° C. In such conditions, overheating of the body, the occurrence of heat and sunstroke is possible. Occupational harm machine operators are caused by dust and gas contamination of the workplace, exposure to noise and vibration. The influence of each of these factors individually, and especially their combination, has an extremely negative impact on the human body and often leads to a decrease in the level of health.

To the listed factors, one should add the injury rate, which is very high among the rural population, especially machine operators. In Russia, among the causes of death among men of working age, injuries consistently rank first, significantly ahead of such causes as cardiovascular pathology. Disability and death as a result of injuries at home and at work is very noticeable due to drunkenness and alcoholism.

The work of livestock breeders is also associated with a number of harmful factors: air pollution with biogenic gases (hydrogen sulfide and ammonia), a significant share of manual labor in cleaning rooms, caring for animals, manual milking. Occupational diseases of milkmaids include neuromyositis, tendovaginitis, periarthritis, etc.

Poisonous chemicals (pesticides), which are widely used in agriculture, adversely affect the environment and public health. They enter the body through the air, with food and water, as well as through the skin and mucous membranes and have a harmful effect on it. It has been proven that harmless pesticides do not exist.

The entry of pesticides through the respiratory tract is hygienically significant. The rapid absorption of pesticides into the blood is facilitated by high temperature and air humidity, as well as a significant area (90 m2) of the respiratory surface of the lungs.

The effect of poisons entering the body through the respiratory tract is much more significant than when absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. This is due to the fact that, when inhaled into the body, the poison bypasses the liver barrier. In this case, acute and chronic poisoning can occur, which can affect future generations.

The harmful effects of pesticides are possible during their storage, packaging, transportation, application to the soil, seed dressing, pollination and spraying of plants. Poisoning is possible with the accidental presence of a person in the zone of pesticide application, as well as with the wind transfer of toxic substances sprayed using ground mechanisms or aircraft.

The penetration of pesticides into the human body causes an increase in general morbidity, the development of pregnancy pathologies, congenital physiological and anatomical defects, inhibition of the physical development of children, causes mental depression, memory impairment and the ability to think.

In addition, pesticides have a pronounced carcinogenic effect.

In areas where the pesticide load is more than 5 kg/ha, an increased content of pesticides in environment and food products. In these areas, when analyzing biological media (urine, blood) of pregnant women and milk of nursing mothers, organochlorine pesticides and various concentrations of salts of heavy metals (mercury, copper, zinc, lead) were detected in 90% of cases.

The study of morbidity in areas of high pesticide load revealed a large number of diseases of the respiratory system, gastrointestinal tract in children, as well as low rates of physical development, especially during puberty.

Conclusion. The modern city dweller strives to be closer to nature. This desire is satisfied by the construction of country houses and country cottages, moving from the city center to the city, as well as collecting medicinal and vitamin-bearing plants, mushrooms, berries, fishing and sport hunting. health rural livestock breeder harmful

Modern means of communication, computer technology and transport communications allow people living outside the city to work in cities, which significantly changes the assessment of living conditions in the countryside.

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25. The peculiarity of the rural lifestyle

The migration of rural residents to cities has been going on for a long time, but still about a quarter of the population of our country lives in villages, villages and other rural areas.

The peculiarity of the rural way of life is directly related to the peculiarities of the work and life of the inhabitants: the subordination of labor to natural rhythms and cycles; more exhausting than usual in large cities, working conditions; the practical lack of opportunities for labor mobility of residents; the great confluence of work and life, the laboriousness of labor in the household and subsidiary farms; The choice of leisure activities is limited. The way of life of rural settlements is characterized by elements of a traditional neighborhood community. They have a constant composition of residents, their socio-professional and cultural differentiation is incredibly small, and very close kinship and neighborly ties are typical.

The village is characterized by “openness” and sincerity of communication. The absence of large social and cultural contrasts between the inhabitants, the small number make the communication of the villagers rather close and penetrate into all areas of life. Friendship and camaraderie are poorly differentiated, and, consequently, the emotional depth and intensity of communication with different partners practically do not differ. The smaller the village, the closer and closer the communication of its inhabitants.

Villages and villages, as a type of settlement, influence the socialization of children, adolescents, and young men almost syncretically (indivisibly). It is difficult to determine the degree of impact in the course of spontaneous, directed and controlled by the society of socialization.

In practice, this is due to the fact that in the villages the control of human behavior in society is very common. Since there are few residents, the ties between them are more or less close, then everyone knows everything and about everyone, the anonymous existence of a person is almost unrealistic, every moment of his life becomes an object for evaluation by the public.

The content of social control in many rural settlements is determined by the specific socio-psychological atmosphere. According to the researcher of the modern village V. G. Vinogradsky, the bizarre economic life of many villages gives rise to a combination of conscience and shamelessness, “dashing theft” and “gloomy thrift and even stinginess”, “total double-mindedness”.

The rural family begins to participate in the socialization of its members mainly in the same direction as the village as a microsociety, often regardless of the socio-professional status and educational level of adults.

An important role in the socialization of rural residents is played by the ever-growing influence of the city on the countryside. It produces a certain change in the orientation of life values ​​from real ones (available in the conditions of the village) to those that are characteristic of the city and can only be a standard, a dream for a rural resident.

The features of the rural way of life are associated with the peculiarities of the work and life of the inhabitants: the subordination of labor to the rhythms and cycles of the year; more difficult than usual in the city, working conditions; low opportunities for labor mobility of residents; the great confluence of work and life, the immutability and laboriousness of labor in household and subsidiary farms (for example, work on household plots, in the garden, and the garden literally takes half the life of the villagers - an average of 181 days a year); Free time activities are quite limited. Elements of the traditional neighborhood community have been preserved in the way of life of rural settlements. They have a fairly stable composition of residents, its socio-professional and cultural differentiation is weak, and close family and neighbor ties are typical.

In general, modern villages and villages retain many of the traditional features of the rural way of life. The rhythm is measured, unhurried, retains elements of natural conformity. Time is not always considered by a rural dweller as a fleeting one, as a social value.

The village is characterized by “openness” of communication. The absence of large social and cultural differences between the inhabitants, the scarcity of real and possible contacts make the communication of the villagers rather close and covering all aspects of life. Rural way of life and socialization. Villages and villages, as a type of settlement, influence the socialization of children, adolescents, and young men almost syncretically (indivisibly), i.e. it is practically unrealistic to track their influence in the process of spontaneous, relatively directed and relatively socially controlled socialization.

This is largely due to the fact that social control of human behavior is very strong in rural settlements. Since there are few residents, the ties between them are quite close, insofar as everyone knows everyone and about everyone, the anonymous existence of a person is almost impossible, each episode of his life can become an object for evaluation by the environment.

The content of social control in many rural settlements is determined by the specific socio-psychological atmosphere. Today, it is characterized by the alienation of residents from the feeling of the owner of the land on which they live, drunkenness and alcoholism. According to the researcher of the modern village V.G. Vinogradsky, the bizarre economic life of many villages gives rise to a combination of conscience and lack of conscience, "dashing theft" and "gloomy thrift and even stinginess", "total double-mindedness".

All this leads to the fact that even the school, due to its close integration into rural life, influences the upbringing of the younger generations much less than the urban one. And this is despite the fact that it has more opportunities than the city school to influence the lives of its students.

City and urban lifestyle. City - a type of settlement, which is characterized by: the concentration of a large number of inhabitants and a high population density in a limited area; a high degree of diversity of human life (both in labor and in non-productive areas); differentiated socio-professional and often ethnic structures of the population.

Cities differ from each other in a number of ways.

By size: small (up to 50 thousand inhabitants), medium (up to 350-400 thousand), large (up to 1 million), giants (over 1 million).

By dominant functions: industrial (Cherepovets, Rubtsovsk, Komsomolsk-on-Amur); administrative-industrial (Kostroma, Volgograd); administrative-cultural-industrial (Samara, Novosibirsk); ports with developed industry and cultural and administrative areas(Arkhangelsk, Vladivostok) and specialized (Vanino, Nakhodka); resort (Kislovodsk, Sochi); "science cities" (Obninsk, Sarov).

By region: Arkhangelsk in the Northwest. Eagle in the Center, Kemerovo in Siberia.

By duration of existence: ancient (more than 500 years) - Veliky Novgorod, Veliky Ustyug; old ones - Voronezh, Yelabuga; new (less than 100 years old) - Nizhnekamsk, Norilsk, Magnitogorsk.

According to the composition of the inhabitants(according to the ratio of sex and age, socio-professional and ethnic groups of the population): “young” (Urengoy), “old” (Myshkin); socially differentiated to a large extent (Kursk) and poorly differentiated (Pushchino); monoethnic (Mtsensk), with two or three predominant ethnic groups (Kazan, Ufa), polyethnic (Moscow, Rostov-on-Don).

By population stability - the ratio of native city dwellers and migrants from rural settlements, other cities and regions.

A city (medium, large, giant) has a number of characteristics that create specific conditions for the socialization of its inhabitants, especially the younger generations.

Modern city objectively - center of culture: material (architecture, industry, transport, monuments of material culture), spiritual (education of residents, cultural institutions, educational establishments, monuments of spiritual culture, etc.). Thanks to this, as well as the number and diversity of layers and groups of the population, the city is the focus of information potentially available to its inhabitants.

In the same time the city is the focus of criminogenic factors, criminal structures and groups, as well as all kinds of deviant behavior. The city is also characterized by a historical urban lifestyle, which includes the following main features (they have certain specifics depending on certain parameters of a particular city):

the predominance of anonymous, businesslike, short-term, partial and superficial contacts in interpersonal communication, but at the same time a high degree of selectivity in emotional attachments;

the low importance of territorial communities of residents, mostly underdeveloped, selective and, as a rule, functionally determined neighborhood ties (cooperation of families with small children or the elderly to look after them, “automobile” connections, etc.);

high subjective-emotional significance of the family for its members, but at the same time, the prevalence of intensive out-of-family communication;

variety of lifestyles, cultural stereotypes, value orientations;

instability of the social status of the city dweller, a large social mobility;

weak social control of human behavior and a significant role of self-control due to the presence of various social connections and anonymity.

Citizen mobility.Mobility in this case is understood as a person's reaction to the variety of incentives that the city contains, as readiness(but not necessarily as preparedness and aspiration) to change in your life.

The city creates conditions for the mobility of its residents in various aspects of their life.

The most elementary of them is territorial mobility.

For the socialization of the city dweller, it is of primary importance that the city creates conditions for social mobility, both horizontal (changes in occupations and membership groups within one social stratum) and vertical (transitions from one social stratum to another - up or down the social ladder).

In general, the role of the city in the socialization of children, adolescents, and young men is determined by the fact that it provides every city dweller with potentially wide opportunities for choosing circles of communication, value systems, lifestyles, and, consequently, opportunities for self-realization and self-affirmation.

Another thing is that, depending on the typological characteristics of the city, the area in which a growing person lives, on its socio-cultural, gender, age and individual features the way he uses the opportunities provided by the city also differs significantly.

Features of a small town. A small city, differing significantly from large cities, creates specific conditions for the socialization of its residents, which is why it is singled out for special consideration.

Main signs of a small town as a factor of socialization count the number of inhabitants(up to 50 thousand); the presence of a historical past, exceeding a hundred-year minimum; employment of the population in non-agricultural sectors; specific socio-psychological climate.

In a small town, the population is professionally differentiated, which is associated with the presence in it of several organizations of various types - industrial, transport, communications, educational, cultural, recreational, medical, administrative, trade, etc.

The socio-psychological climate has a number of features in comparison with larger cities, on the one hand, and with the countryside, on the other.

Modern small towns retain in their way of life much of the traditional neighborhood community, in which everyone knows everyone and about everyone, in which anonymity is practically impossible. Residents of a small town usually “keep strong family and neighboring clans, in the evenings and on weekends they dig in household plots or garden plots, celebrate weddings and see off to the army in a village way” (A.I. Prigogine).

Lifestyle, cultural stereotypes, value orientations bear the imprint of the rural lifestyle. “Information spreads instantly. Unity of opinion is almost always guaranteed. Both support and assistance to each other, as well as tolerance for mistakes, miscalculations are provided ... And one more important feature: stability, stability, immutability are valued much higher here than success, the tendency to inertia is stronger than to development ... Divorces are rare , there are many children in families, they leave the city extremely rarely ”(A.I. Prigozhin).

A settlement is a type of settlement specific to Russia (as well as a number of republics of the former USSR). Settlement - an absolutely or relatively territorially limited concentrated form of resettlement of people: a) emancipated from the rural way of life; b) not rooted in the urban lifestyle; c) deprived of the reliance on historical traditions characteristic of the inhabitants of a small town.

This general definition covers various types of townships:

workers - at mining or processing enterprises, as well as large railway stations;

resettlement, to which villagers were “brought” from flood zones during the construction of hydroelectric power stations and reservoirs, as well as territories of closed zones being created;

internally displaced persons and refugees from the former republics, "hot spots" and environmentally polluted territories;

suburban settlements, whose residents mainly work in the city;

settlements inside large cities where workers of one factory live or migrants of the first generations (who were called limitchiks) are concentrated.

Despite the typological diversity and, accordingly, differences, settlements, as a rule, have much in common in their way of life and socio-psychological atmosphere, which allows us to consider them as a specific factor in human socialization.

In the village, a person finds himself, as it were, at the crossroads between traditional being, characteristic of a village or a small town, and the actual urban way of life. As a rule, he assimilates a certain fusion of traditional and urban norms created in such settlements, which is not similar to either one or the other. This peculiar fusion should hardly be considered a transition from rural to urban norms. Rather, it can be seen as a very special way of life.

The two poles of attraction - the city and the countryside, defining the middle character of the village way of life, dictate the dominant behavior of the inhabitants. Here, the average behavior, the average lifestyle, the average human characters are most approved.

The norms of life in the villages have their own characteristics. Here, even more than in the village, the openness of the life of every person, every family, and at the same time a rather rigid isolation of everyone who does not consider it necessary to “look around” at the opinions of others, if we are talking about your own well-being.

Urban, rural… How many times in our lives have we heard and pronounced these concepts ourselves, not really thinking about their deep meaning! For us, these are antonyms, the meaning of which we learned from childhood. However, do we know exactly and thoroughly what is the difference between the inhabitants of these two "settlements"? It would seem that the answer is unequivocal - yes. But as the reviews of this topic on the Internet and personal experience authors, this is not always the case. As a rule, the understanding of how the urban lifestyle differs from the rural one is based on several stereotypes that are not exhaustive and defining. We hope that our article will help the reader to understand this issue. Let us warn you in advance that we will talk about life in fairly developed and prosperous cities and villages.

We all come from the village...

It seems to be a controversial statement. And, probably, the townspeople in the tenth generation will be outraged to the core. However, if you look into the far far away, this is certainly the case. When a primitive man came out of the cave and built the first huts, it was not at all an urban type of housing, but a rural settlement, where agriculture, keeping domestic animals and livestock, and hunting were in the first place. Moreover, this way of life lasted for thousands of years. Therefore, no matter how proud anyone is of their urban pedigree, its roots grew out of the village.

However, let us return from the distant past to today's present. What are the main characteristics of the modern village? They are hard to miss.

Material

A village, a settlement is always a small community of people living in a relatively small area. For example, in many republics of the former USSR, a standard is still in force - if the number of people living in one settlement (meaning a village, village) exceeds 10 thousand people, then it receives the status of an urban-type settlement (urban-type settlement), that is, almost a city . Again - nowhere in the world you will find a village the size of Paris or Moscow. Although in fairness it should be noted that these cities (like the vast majority of others) also once started with small villages. We list some of the main signs that are mandatory for rural settlements.

• Absence large-scale production. Of course, there are many factories, combines and powerful industrial complexes located far from cities, but all residential and non-residential buildings around them have the status of at least an urban settlement or a specialized town.

• Mandatory presence of subsistence farming. In many of today's villages, modern low- and high-rise buildings with all urban amenities are being built. However, the main housing stock of any rural settlement- This is a private house with a courtyard and a plot of land for planting.

• financial component. Now many villagers do not work on the land, as was the case in the recent past. They work at small, but quite modern enterprises of various specializations, which have been created in many in today's villages. These factories, workshops, individual production shops are no different from similar enterprises in the city. However, it should be recognized that the average salary in the countryside is lower than in the city, and in some places it is quite significant. And these are statistics not only for the CIS, but throughout the world.

• In the countryside you will not meet academicians or designers spaceships. With rare exceptions, great artists or outstanding architects do not work here either. And this is caused not by the lack of talents (everything is just right with this), but by the lack of a material base for the work and creativity of such individuals. In the village you will not find the Bolshoi Art Theater or the Scientific Research Institute of Brain Traumatology. There are no National libraries and Tretyakov galleries here. Whether this is good or bad is an open question. But the fact that this is impractical is clear without words.

• And further. About 20-25 years ago, one could write about uncomfortable living in the countryside (in the territories of the former country of the Soviets). Now this topic is no longer relevant. With today's technology, you can provide yourself with conditions no worse than in the city - even in the remote taiga. It all depends on the availability of appropriate finances. In the West, this problem was solved many decades ago.

Spiritual

Let us also dwell a little on the spiritual component of the modern village. And it occupies a considerable place in the rural way of life.

• The rural population is more friendly than the urban population. This is due to the close ties between the members of this society. Kinship, neighborly relations are much stronger here than in the conditions of a metropolis.

• In the countryside, people are more or less equal in social status; there are no large cultural and material gaps between members of the rural society. The rural intelligentsia (doctors, teachers, etc.) are much closer to ordinary villagers than their urban counterparts are to the so-called hard workers.

• Life, spiritual communication between fellow villagers flows measured, stable and trusting. The very rhythm of such a life contributes to a more sincere relationship between people, their high ability for mutual assistance and compassion. No wonder we all know the phrase: "A neighbor's barn caught fire, and we extinguished it with the whole village." However, no one heard, for example, such an expression: “The neighboring nine-story building caught fire, and we extinguished it with the whole microdistrict.” It is impossible to imagine that during a fire in the village, its inhabitants would gather in a heap away from the flame, take pictures of it on their mobile phones or take selfies against the background of the fire, without even thinking about some meager help to the firefighters who arrived. Unfortunately, this is the norm in the city.

• The villager has love for his small homeland much stronger than the city dweller. And although many may say that this is a controversial statement, since a lot of village youth leave for the city and try with all their might to gain a foothold there, there are no less examples when a person moves from a small town to a capital or big city. regional center and completely forgets where he comes from, and for decades does not remember the city of his childhood. The village dweller, for the most part, always remembers where he comes from, and at the first opportunity goes to his native birch trees for at least a few days.

Skyscrapers, skyscrapers, and I'm so small ...

A monster, handsome, fantastic, ruthless, indifferent... These, and not only, epithets can be heard in combination with the word city. And we must admit that they are all legitimate. The city is the son of the village, the son of a wayward, eccentric, not at all like his parent. And the difference between the urban way of life and the rural one is striking to any person who has come here from a distant village. Huge, insatiable, absorbing everything that the earth gives, endowed with all known vices - it can sometimes seem like a punishment sent to people for their sins. But if there were no city, mankind would never have risen to the present stage of civilization. All the global achievements of our world were created in cities, and this is an indisputable fact. Cities are necessary for the development of the human community, at least at the current stage of history. Let us consider in more detail the features that characterize a typical urban landscape.

• Huge, multi-story residential anthills, where more people often live in one entrance than in some strong villages. Plants, factories, large industrial and commercial associations are an organic feature of any more or less developed urban settlement.

• advanced medicine, science, large educational complexes(institutes, universities, academies, etc.) - again, an exclusively urban privilege.

• One of the significant advantages of the city over the countryside is a well-developed infrastructure. As you know, this concept combines the presence of a transport system, schools, medical institutions, service complexes, services budget organizations, retail facilities, etc. In other words, everything that makes a person's life beyond the threshold of his house easier and more comfortable can be attributed to infrastructure. Unfortunately, even in modern and prosperous villages, many elements of such a system leave much to be desired.

• A big problem for any village and even a small regional town is the choice of a specialty and getting a job in it. In a large, wealthy city, this issue is much less acute. With perseverance, ability and a strong desire, a city dweller is almost always able to find a job according to his taste and specialty.

• The city is full of all kinds of entertainment. Theatres, exhibitions, numerous sports performances, concerts - all this is quite ordinary, natural things for a city dweller, but for a village dweller it rather belongs to the category of exotic, a rare holiday ...

• Political events, cultural and ordinary revolutions, fundamental reforms always begin in cities and from there spread throughout the country.

• The city has very strong contrasts in the interpersonal communication of social groups. For example, at some critical, crisis moments, the workers of one or several factories can unite and come forward in an organized manner with urgent demands, provide moral and material support to each other. Here we see a certain similarity with the rural community. However, the same workers can live in the same multi-storey and multi-entrance building and really do not even know who lives with them on the same staircase. In the countryside, this is basically impossible. They not only know everything about their neighbors thoroughly, but often have the same information about the whole street, and even about the whole village.

• The disunity of the townspeople has long been the talk of the town. Cases when, for example, a lonely person dies in a neighboring apartment and lies there for weeks, or even months, are not uncommon. Neighbors begin to react only to an unpleasant smell, and then not always. We have given this gloomy example only to show how people living in the city are far from each other in terms of communication, despite the much more crowded living compared to the villagers.

• The rhythm of life in the city is incomparable with the rural pace. He is much taller, more fussy and filled with stress to the limit. It is not surprising that, according to statistics, despite the higher level of medical care, city dwellers, on average, live less than their rural counterparts.

Note. In very rare cases, some of the above factors are present in the village, but this is an exception to the rule, only confirming the rule.

Comparison

Above we have described the most, in our opinion, characteristic features of the urban and rural way of life, although it must be admitted that this is far from an exhaustive analysis. Now let's try to bring all this into one table and draw some conclusions.

Table

The attentive reader may ask: “What does all of the above have to do with the topic of the article - what is the difference between urban and rural lifestyles?” The most direct. For example, the presence of a highly developed infrastructure allows a city dweller to load his day more fully than the same villager.