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

Study of cities is too vague and a vast task to be adopted in order to understand the key characteristics of a society. A city is constituent of both living and non-living things – starting from the people who inhibit it to the animate objects that supports life e.g. houses, streets, technology, law and order, government, and the list goes on. All of these aspects of a city which in turn builds up a vast society cannot be understood simply by conducting a simple study of a few cities. As such, a study of the major cities will not allow a researcher to know the important aspects of a society.

A researcher should primarily study the inhabitants of a country/city in order to get a taste of the main aspects of a society – for people are the main constituent of a society that moulds it for what it is. A study of the people ought to be primarily focused on the demographic details such as the age, race, religion, educational degree to understand the basic characters of the key component of the society. This would help to understand whether the society is driven by older or younger generation, or whether it is driven by white or colored people, whether they believe in a more conservative or unorthodox system and so on and so forth. For example, a society driven by young generation is likely to be workaholic, technology focused and open to innovative ideas. A demographic indicator of such as Islam as the main religion will indicate that the society is likely to follow more conservative beliefs around marriage, dating system, food specifics such as Halaal and Haraam, etc. A simple study of cities will obviously not capture these attributes that are key contributors to how a society is.

Furthermore, there should be studies conducted on the law and order of the country to understand the society in which people live in. For example, crime rate is a pivotal indicator to assess the law and order situation of a country. A country where the crime rate is significantly high, where rapes, murders and week judicial system makes up the headlines of the daily newspaper, it is likely that the society itself would promote more conservative life to protect its existence. Parents living in such a society are likely to detain their female children at home after dark or force them to don on more conservative clothes in order to protect them from an unfortunate event such kidnapping and rape etc. Societies that of Indian sub-continent in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, are living examples of how law and order determines the society to be more conservative rather than that in developed countries like America, Canada, UK, France where a more open and secure society is prevalent that allows its women to roam the roads freely at any time of the day.

It must be, however, noted that studies of a number of cities of a country is likely to depict the rich history, culture and tradition that prevails in it, thus, determining whether the society is rich in arts and culture. A historic building such as the Colosseum in Rome is significant of the rich theatrical history that inhibits the roman society. Anyone walking on the roads of Bangladesh in any of its cities on 1st April of every year will get to be aware of the rich tradition of celebrating the Bengali New Year. Females adorned in symbolic red and white cotton sarees, men in white Punjabis (traditional outfit), streets decorated with colorful festoons, and occasional rallies will only help one to assess the richness of the traditional side of the Bangladesh society.

Study of cities is not likely to reveal the complexities of societal constituents and does not always serve as a helpful tool to understand the key aspects of a society. One must look deeply into the people and their behavioral attribute and look into a country’s state of law and order to understand society, and its key drivers.