The author claims that when understanding the most

important characteristics of a society, one must study

its major cities as they may have a particular

administrative, financial, historical and/or cultural

status in a country. Although studying the major cities

can bring numerously valuable information, we

cannot ignore our focus on the rural areas which

arguably play a more important role in discovering the

crucial features of a society.

First, the research on the studying of major cities could always

help us to understand some key points of a society. For instance,

the primary governments of each country are often located in the

major cities. When it comes to economy, large cities serve as the

prominent center of trade, banking and finance. Furthermore,

people from various places would love to go to sizable cities for

advancing future careers because those areas have developed

ample opportunities and great services in every aspect. These

advantages of large cities can be attributed to their remarkable

geography location and political support from their local

governments. Therefore, studying the major cities is a fine method

to analyze the main characteristics of a social group because

different people, who come from various areas, are inevitably

carrying their own local features. As a result, it is easy to do a

cross-national research about key aspects of a given society in its

large cities, without having to travel excessive miles.

Nevertheless, compared with examining the major cities, some

small towns and rural areas are more valuable for studying the

characteristics of a society, especially referring to its culture.

Oftentimes, we can find representative cultural traditions in the

rural areas. Suburbs and small cities are less convenient for

foreign visitors, so there are fewer possibilities for integration

from alien culture compared with those of big cities. In addition,

because of the uneven economic developments in a society,

people live in rural areas may have less material needs and

social desires due to the economic inclination in developing

metropolises. Consequently, local traditional rituals and customs

mostly exist in countryside areas in many countries as the

citizens in suburb areas perhaps do better in respecting their

local traditions, and therefore, cultural practices in small cities

are more untouched and complete.

Although we can find the representative cultural elements in the major

cities as every society puts a considerable amount money and effort into

building national museums and colossal theatres in the sizeable cities,

such like the most renowned museum, Louvre, in Paris, the capital of

France, the project of studying major cities to realize the characteristics

of a society is limited by the homogenous development of these cities.

Influenced by modernization and globalization, major cities have lost

many of their own special features and share a lot in common.

Nowadays, we can observe more and more communication and

integration between different social groups across nations. As the major

cities are on the frontline of this integration, they are most likely to

influence one another through this assimilation process. That is why an

individual may experience similar sensations towards any major city,

may it be Shanghai, Tokyo or New York, as they share a large number of

analogous traits such as skyscrapers, busy road intersections and

complex traffic routes. Here, the disadvantages of studying major cities

in trying to understand the most characteristics of a certain social group

become evident.

Accordingly, I strongly believe our central focus on

studying the characteristic in a society should be

placed on the small cities rather than simply on the

major ones.