Sociology and Space, No. 35-36, 1972.
Review article
The Agrarian Exodus and Contrasts between Town and Village
Vlado Puljiz
Abstract
The author of the article first deals with the town/village dichotomy. He
points out that the town, which now dominates the village economically, developed
only with the industrial revolution. It is the industrial revolution which brought
the town its productive domination over the village. Before that, the town was
just a centre of consumption and exchange and thus depended on its agrarian
surroundings.
The author then goes on to discuss the history of urbanization in Yugoslavia.
His basic idea is that the territorialization of Yugoslavia's population came at
a rather late stage, and thus the crystallization of Yugoslav towns came as a belated
process. Towns developed first in the coastal areas and then (with trade
turning towards the continental parts of Europe) in the Pannonian Plain. In the
interior, which was under Turkish rule, there developed trade and craft centres
of the oriental type. The development of any major centres was prevented by the
fragmentation of the national territory and by the orientation towards foreign
capitals (Vienna, Graz, Budapest, Salonika, Trieste). The development of major
towns was also slowed down by the lack of continuity in Yugoslav urbanization.
Urbanization since the war has not moved in the direction of big concentrations
of the urban population, either. The spread of urban achievements to rural
areas and the large-scale migration of the rural population to towns have helped
to reduce the contrasts between town and the country. Due to differences in economic
position and political status, the contrast between agricultural and nonagricultural
population is perhaps more emphasized in Yugoslavia than in other
countries.
The second part of the article deals with sociological differences between
the urban and the rural way of life, especially those which relate to work, the
family, social environment and consumption.
That there has not only been an urbanization of the rural areas but also a
ruralization of towns can be seen from the various elements of peasant culture
introduced into towns by immigrating peasants. Since more than one third of
the population of Yugoslav major towns are immigrant peasants, their influence
on life in these towns has been considerable. At the end of the article the author
discusses the various forms of this influence.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
119629
URI
Publication date:
9.6.1972.
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