Georg Simmel: The Differences Between Village And City Life

The Differences between Village and City Life

Georg Simmel, a wealthy and affluent scholar living in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, saw great disconnects and differences between village and city life. Simmel believed that the roots of conflict in modern society flow from “the attempt of the individual to maintain the independence and individuality of his existence against the sovereign powers of society” (Simmel, 1903). He was of the view that this autonomy was more difficult to maintain in city life and this, in combination with other factors to be later discussed, is what leads to such a difference existing between urban and rural life.

One factor that Simmel appears to view as fundamentally dividing the individual experience of

In an online article for the BBC, Mark Easton examines the differences between city and village life, with the aid of statistics provided by an annual government report published in the Statistical Digest of Rural England. He reports that the data tells us the people of rural England are in better health and less likely to be homeless, that they are safer and have a lower chance of being a crime victim and most importantly, that they are better educated than their city cousins (Easton, 2011). This is quite a difference from Simmel’s view that the metropolis is the source of intellect and wealth. (Simmel, 1903). Easton makes another very valid point in his article that highlights a similarity between village and city life in that the inhabitants of both environments don’t properly understand what life is like for their counterparts, that urbanites often don’t realise the difficulty rural communities face (Easton, 2011), and so perhaps that is why Simmel felt that those in the metropolis have an elite