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 developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.

Societal development has always been a major part of mankind evolution throughout the ages, whether we look into pre historic period of Indus valley civilization or medieval period during the regimes of Greek, Roman, Mughals or Mongolians rulers or even the recently grew modern industrial revolutionized society. Various archeological and sociological researches and studies of all these periods has shown the importance of different societies and their characteristics and usually major cities are the point of interest of these studies. I agree with the issue to a certain extent that it may be true while studying past societies but I beg to differ while studying the present world societies.

To elucidate my stand, I would like to present the example of Mohenjo-Daro or Harappa cities of prehistoric Indus valley civilization. Various excavation and digs of areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan has provided substantial evidence of these highly civilized and developed cities of that period. Well developed markets, multi-storied houses, large public bathrooms, proper drainage system shows the societal development of that period. Even during the medieval period, the cities like Athens, Rome, Baghdad, Jerusalem were the epitome of various prominent diverse societies and cultures. The Colosseum of Rome, the pyramids of Giza, temples of Jerusalem or the Summer Olympics of Athens, each tells a different story about the characteristics of that particular society. Studies of these major cities provide a nice bird view image of the societal development during different times.

However, the story of modern society is a little different. Present time major cities whether you talk about either New York of US or Paris of France or New Delhi or Mumbai of India, all are a mixture of people of diverse backgrounds, ethnic culture, religious beliefs. People from nearby places to these cities or even from distant lands are accumulating into these cities in search for better career and future prospects, and the globalization and ease of mobility has eased the way. Studying these cities might not provide the genuine characteristics of the society. Like for example, Paris is said to be the fashion capital of the world, so studying Paris might provide a great view of fashion industry but at the same time, due to globalization Paris is full of people from around the world so, studying these society might not provide the true characteristics of French society like their influence on cheese, perfumes or wines production. Similarly, in India also, 70% of Indian population still live in small towns and villages. Customs like child marriage or ban on inter caste marriage or female fetiocide are still in practice in certain small backward parts of India. So, studying just the major cities like Mumbai or Bangalore, where people are more educated and aware, one might miss these customs and will not get whole idea of Indian society.

So, in conclusion, I would say studying major cities to understand the major characteristics of a society might be true while studying the past societies, where people used to stay in certain parts or areas. However, in the present world, due to ease of mobility and globalisation, studying just the major cities will not provide the complete and true essence of that particular society. Study of small towns and villages is equally important while studying the present world societies.