The Preindustrial City Author(s): Gideon Sjoberg Source: American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 60, No.

5, World Urbanism (Mar., 1955), pp. 438445 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2772531 . Accessed: 12/05/2013 09:40
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THE PREINDUSTRIAL CITY

GIDEON SJOBERG

ABSTRACT cities of medieval Europe and of otherparts of the world certainelements(e.g., In the preindustrial economic,class, and family systems)are foundwhichare commonto all urbancommunities. But their form fromthat in the industrial in the preindustrial can be attributed city differs markedly city.The difference primarily to industrialization itself.

In the past fewdecades social scientists fromthe industrial-urban community, alin a num- thoughWeber,Tonnies,and a few others field studies havebeenconducting cities. perceived differences between the two.Yet ber of relativelynon-Westernized ofNorth sucha survey knowledge is neededforthe understandacquired Theirrecently inso-called and variouspartsof Asia, combined ingofurbandevelopment underAfrica indi- developed clearly countries and,forthatmatter, in withwhatwas alreadylearned, cates that these citiesare not like typical parts of Europe. Such is the goal of this analysisshouldalso citiesof theUnitedStatesand otherhighly paper. The typological research. areas but are muchmorelike serveas a guideto future industrialized thoseof medievalEurope. Such communiECOLOGICAL ORGANIZATION for herein"preindustrial," ties are termed that from stimulus without have arisen they citiesdependfortheirexPreindustrial which we associatewith istenceupon food and raw materialsobofproduction form revolution. theEuropeanindustrial tained from without; forthisreasonthey are RecentlyFoster,in a most informative marketing centers. And theyserveas cenof thepreindustrial tersforhandicraft tookcognizance article, In addimanufacturing. emphasiswas upon the tion, they fulfil His primary city.1 important political,relipeasantry(whichhe calls "folk"); but he gious, and educational functions. Somecities social have becomespecialized;forexample,Bethisto be partofa broader recognized whichincludesthe preindustrial naresin India and Karbala in Iraq are best structure between knownas religious city.He notedcertainsimilarities communities, and Peithe peasantryand the city's lower class. ping in China as a locus forpoliticaland authorsoughtto ana- educational Likewisethepresent activities. thepeasantry ofwhich lyzethetotalsociety of urbanites The proportion relativeto parts.2 thepeasantpopulation cityare integral and thepreindustrial is small,in somesoFor want of a bettertermthis was called cieties a few eventhough about 10 percent, folk (or "primi- preindustrial "feudal." Like Redfield's cities have attained populative") society,the feudal order is highly tions has been of100,000 ormore. Growth it by slowaccretion. however, stable and sacred; in contrast, These characteristics are It is char- due to thenonindustrial socialorganization. has a complex natureof thetotal stateand edu- social order.The amountof surplusfood developed acterized byhighly and by available to supportan urban population institutions cationaland/or religious a rigidclass structure. has beenlimited by theunmechanized agriThus farno one has analyzedthe prein- culture,transportation facilitiesutilizing dustrialcityper se, especiallyas it differs primarily humanor animalpower,and inand efficient methods of food preservation 1 George M. Foster, "What Is Folk Culture?" storage. LV (1953), 159-73. Anthropologist, American of the preinThe internal arrangement 2 Gideon Sjoberg,"Folk and 'Feudal' Societies," JournalofSociology,LVIII (1952),231-39. dustrialcity,in the natureof the case, is American
438

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IV (1934), 27-79; Jean orientales, Bulletind'dtudes 4 Dickinson,op. cit.,p. 27; 0. H. K. Spate, India Kennedy,Here Is India (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1945); and relevantarticlesin American and Pakistan (London: Methuen & Co., 1954), p. 183. geographicaljournals.

closelyrelatedto the city'seconomicand such as is functionally necessary in indusare merepas- trial-urban Most streets socialstructure.3 In medievalEucommunities. for peopleand foranimalsused in ropeand in otherareas citydwellings often sageways Buildingsare low and crowded serveas workshops, transport. and religious structures centers.4 com- are used as schoolsor marketing The congestedconditions, together. district" does not knowledge, Finally,the "business bined with limited scientific that it enof dominance serioussanitationproblems. hold the position have fostered community. More significant is the rigidsocial segre- joys in the industrial-urban has led to theforma- Thus, in the Middle East the principal typically gationwhich tion of "quarters"or "wards." In some mosque,or in medievalEurope the cathethefocalpointofcommunity cities (e.g., Fez, Morocco, and Aleppo, dral,is usually is theForbidden of Peiping from each other life.The center Syria)theseweresealedoff by walls,whosegateswerelockedat night. City. The quarters reflect the sharplocal social ECONOMIC ORGANIZATION groups live in special divisions. Thus ethnic citydiofthepreindustrial sections.And the occupationalgroupings, The economy infrom thatof themodern in char- vergessharply somebeingat thesame timeethnic The primedifference is the center. resideapart fromone an- dustrial acter,typically which ofindustrialism a specialstreet of the absencein theformer or sector other. Often as thatsystem ofproduction almostexclusively by mem- maybe defined cityis occupied ofpower areused sources inanimate bersof a particular trade;citiesin suchdi- inwhich Preindustrial as medievalEurope and to multiplyhuman effort. vergentcultures of goods contain streetswith cities depend for the production modernAfghanistan (humanor aninames like "street of the goldsmiths." and servicesupon animate Lower-class and especially "outcaste" mal) sourcesof energy-appliedeitherdior indirectly through suchmechanical liveon thecity'speriphery, at a dis- rectly groups pulleys,and wheels. theprimary centers of activity. devices as hammers, tancefrom on the community, the limitedtransporta- The industrial-urban Social segregation, generators tion facilities, the modicumof residential otherhand, employsinanimate and steam and the crampedlivingquarters of power such as electricity mobility, caenhance the which productive greatly wellof the development have encouraged newform ofurbanites. Thisbasically are almostpri- pacity which neighborhoods defined one which for ofenergy requires production, marygroups. and survival a specialkind the evidence its development Despite rigid segregation complex, effectsstriking of land use of institutional no real specialization suggests in and sothe economic, ecological, changes 3 Sociologistshave devoted almost no attention of cities in whichit has centers.However, cial organization to the ecology of preindustrial do providesomevalu- becomedominant. worksofothersocial scientists data. See, e.g., Marcel Clerget,Le able preliminary of the preOtherfacetsof the economy urbaineetd'histoire?conode geographie Caire: Atusde are associated its parwith city industrial mique (2 vols.; Cairo: E. & R. Schindler,1934); of There is little ticular production. system City (LonWest Dickinson, The European RobertE. The ofwork. orspecialization fragmentation don: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1951); Roger Le (Casablanca: handicraftsman Tourneau, FPs: Avant le protectorat in nearly every participates Soci6t6Marocaine de Librairieet d']dition, 1949); phaseofthemanufacture often ofan article, Edward W. Lane, Cairo Fifty Years Ago (London: in own out the his home or in work carrying JohnMurray, 1896); J. Sauvaget, Alep (Paris: Lithelimits Paul Geuthner,1941); J. Weu- a smallshopnearby and, within brairieOrientaliste lersse, "Antioche: Essai de geographieurbaine," ofcertain regulations, guildand community

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Europe (New York: W. W. NortonCo., 1937), chap. xx; Sylvia L. Thrupp, "Medieval Gilds Reconsidered," Journal of Economic History,II (1942), 164-73.

and apprenticeship directcontrolover conditions Guild membership maintaining are prerequisites to the practiceof almost ofproduction. ofworkand methods a circumstance hand,the any occupation, on theother cities, In industrial obviously a special- leading to monopolization. oflaborrequires To a degree division complex extra-commu-these organizations often group, ized managerial regulatethe work of is their function whoseprimary members and the priceof their in character, nity prodto directand controlothers.And for the ucts and services.And the guildsrecruit intospecific of the activi- workers and co-ordination occupations, typically supervision has been selectingthem according system" a "factory to such particutiesofworkers, lackingin laristic typically criteria as kinship developed,something ratherthanunicities. (Occasionallycentral- versalistic standards. preindustrial is foundin preindustrial The guildsare integrated ized production withstillother slaves elements thestateorganized cities-e.g.,where of thecity'ssocialstructure. They projects.)Most perform construction forlarge-scale certainreligious forexfunctions; in ample,in medieval also,are conducted activities, commercial European,Chinese, and without Middle Eastern cities each guild had its citiesby individuals preindustrial for ex- "patron organization; a highlyformalized saint"and heldperiodic festivals in been his honor.And, by assisting has frequently ample, the craftsman membersin of his own time of trouble, for the marketing responsible the guildsserve as social the pre- security With a few exceptions, products. agencies. cannot support a industrialcommunity The economic of thepreindusstructure ofmiddlemen. largegroup trial city functions with littlerationality, The various occupationsare organized judgedby industrial-urban standards. This into what have been termed "guilds."6 is shownin the general nonstandardization These striveto encompassall, except the ofmanufacturing methods as wellas in the in some products employed elite,who are gainfully and is even moreevident in marGuildshave existedfor keting.In preindustrial activity. economic cities throughout workers(e.g., the worlda fixedpriceis rare; buyerand and handicraft merchants and weavers) as wellas forserv- sellersettletheirbargainby haggling. goldsmiths (Of and even beggarsand course,thereare limitsabove whichcusants, entertainers, thieves.Typicallythe guildsoperateonly tomers willnot buy and below which merand thereare chantswillnot sell.) Oftenbusinessis conthe local community, within such ducted organizations economic no large-scale in a leisurely not bemanner, money linktheir ingtheonlydesired citieswhich as thosein industrial end. in other communi- Furthermore, fellows to their members thesorting ofgoodsaccordties. ingto size,weight, and qualityis not comI For a discussion and spoilofguildsand otherfacetsofthe mon.Typicalis the adulteration city's economysee, e.g., J. S. Burgess, age of produce. And weights preindustrial and measures The Guilds of Peking (New York: Columbia Uni- are not standardized: variationsexistnot versityPress, 1928); Edward T. Williams,China, between one only and the nextbutalso city New York: Thomas and Today (5th ed.; Yesterday within for communities, often different Y. Crowell Co., 1932); T'ai-ch'u Liao, "The Aptheir own systems. Within a prenticesin Chengtu duringand after the War," guildsemploy Journalof Social Studies,IV (1948), 90- singlecitytheremay be different Yenching kindsof 106; H. A. R. Gibb and Harold Bowen,Islamic So- currency, which, withthepoorlydeveloped ciety and the West (London: Oxford University and credit systems,signalize accounting Press, 1950), Vol. I, Part I, chap. vi; Le Tourneau, of rationality in the whole of op. cit.; Clerget,op. cit.; JamesW. Thompsonand a modicum to Medieval economic Edgar N. Johnson,An Introduction actionin preindustrial cities.6
6 For an extreme exampleof unstandardized currencycf. Robert Coltman,Jr., The Chinese(Philadelphia: F. A. Davis, 1891), p. 52. In some tradi-

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economy. 8 For materials on thekinship system and age and " The statusof the truemerchant see, e.g., Le Tourneau, op. cit.; in the pre- sex differentiation has beenlow; in medieval Edward W. Lane, The Mannersand Customsof the city,ideally, industrial considered ModernEgyptians(3d ed.; New York: E. P. Dutton were andChina merchants many Europe cities Co., 1923); C. Snouck Hurgronje,Mekka in the in somepreindustrial However, "outcastes." considerableLatterPart of theNineteenth trans. J. H. haveacquired merchants wealthy a few Century, rolehas not beenhighly Monahan (London: Luzac, 1931); Horace 'Miner, their eventhough power has come The Primitive prestige Cityof Timbuctoo (Princeton:Princemostoftheir valued.Even then ton University governmental, Press, 1953); Alice M. Bacon, Japain religious, participation through whichhave beenhighly nese Girls and Women(rev. ed.; Boston: Houghton activities, gr educational Ho, "The Salt Merchants MifflinCo., 1902); J. S. Burgess, "Community valued(see,e.g.,Ping-ti Capitalism Organizationin China," Far Eastern Survey,XIV A StudyofCommercial ofYang-Chou: of (1945), 371-73; MortonH. Fried,Fabric of Chinese Journal China,"Harvard in Eighteenth-Century Society (New York: FrederickA. Praeger, 1953); XVII [19541, 130-68). Asiatic Studies,

whereit can be considurbancommunities, ered the "dominant" class-is notknown in ofthepreindustrial system The economic the The preindustrial city. system of producanimate it has been upon based as city, society provides goods,inwitha char- tionin thelarger sourcesof power,articulates in cluding food, and services sufficient reliand family, class structure acteristic amounts to support only a small groupof sysand governmental gious,educational, leisured individuals; under these conditions tems. class,a semileisured group, the moststriking an urbanmiddle Of the class structure, cannot arise. Nor a are middle class and and elitecontrolling is a literate component extensive social mobility essential to the uponthemassof foritsexistence depending maintenance of the economic system. cities the traditional in even the populace, is the role of themarginal or Significant The eliteis castesystem. ofIndia withtheir "outcaste" groups the Eta of Japan), (e.g., in positions holding ofindividuals composed are not an integral partof thedomiand/oreduca- which religious, the governmental, nant social system. Typically they rank althe larger of tionalinstitutions society, lower than the urban lower class, performthoughat timesgroupssuch as large abing tasks considered especially degrading, to it. At the havebelonged senteelandlords the dead. Slaves,beggars, oppositepole are the masses, comprising such as burying in mostpreinduswhose and thelikeare outcastes workers such groupsas handicraft trial cities. Even such groups as professional goods and servicesare producedprimarily and entertainers itinerant merchants are theeliteand Between fortheelite'sbenefit.7 often as their viewed outcastes, for rovings but sharpschism, thelowerclassis a rather ideas from which in rank. exposethemto "foreign" are gradations there in bothgroups the social dominant seeks to isolate group to the"coroftheelitebelong The members itself.Actuallymany outcastegroups,inand enjoy power,property, rect" families cluding someofthosementioned above,are and certainhighlyvalued personal attria factwhich ethnicgroups, further intensiis legitimoreover, butes. Their position, fiestheir isolation.(A few,like the Jewsin mizedby sacredwritings. Muslimcitiesof North the the predominantly in thiscityis minimal; Socialmobility own small literatereliAfrica, have their the to theelitecomesfrom onlyreal threat gious elite however, enjoysno sigwhich, outside-not fromthe city'slowerclasses. in nificant political power the city as a ofindustrialclass-so typical Anda middle whole.) An assumption of many urban socioloto (e.g.,China)thestatehas sought societies tional gists is that a small, unstable kinship group, setting city by the actionin economic standardize weights notably of currency and/or systems up standard is a necessary theconjugal unit, corgenerally relateofcitylife.But thispremise however, and measures;these efforts, does not policiesin taxaInconsistent provedineffective. At timessocities.8 of a "rational" hold forpreindustrial the development tion,too,hinder

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when gen- hoursofthenight whenmenweresupposed ciologistsand anthropologists, societies, to stay at home.'0Those womenin preeralizing about varioustraditional cities who evade some of the urban industrial have imputedto peasants typically in thesesocieties stricter Actually, kinship patterns. requirements aremembers ofcertain and family lifeare marginal groups (e.g.,entertainers) orofthe ofkinship theidealforms of lowerclass.The roleoftheurban lower-class by members most closelyapproximated resembles thatofthepeastheurbanliterate elite,whoare bestable to womantypically ofthesacred ant rather thantheurbanupper-class womrequirements fulfil theexacting demands by creating Kinshipand the abilityto per- an. Industrialization, writings. fortheir outpetuateone's lineageare accordedmarked and opportunities employment cities.Children, in preindustrial es- side thehome,is causing prestige significant changes valued,and polyg- in the status of womenas well as in the peciallysons,are highly or adoption help to wholeof thekinship amy or concubinage in urbanareas. system oflargefamilies. The A formalized assuretheattainment systemof age grading is evenin an effective ofkinship is apparent pre-eminence of social control in mechanism cities wheredivorceis preindustrial those preindustrial cities.Amongsiblings theeldThus,amongtheurbanMuslims est son is privileged.And childrenand permitted. or urbanChinesedivorceis not an indexof youthare subordinate to parents and other withearlymarriage, here, conjugaltiesareloose adults.This,combined disorganization; to the bondsof inhibits the development and distinctly of a "youthculsubordinate and each memberof a dissolved ture."On theother kinship, hold hand,olderpersons is absorbedby his considerable a factconconjugalunit typically powerand prestige, to adult tributing a prerequisite kingroup. Marriage, to theslowpace ofchange. status in the preindustrial city,is entered As noted above, kinship is functionally be- integrated with socialclass.It also reinforces upon at an earlyage and is arranged thanromantically, tweenfamilies rather by and is reinforced by theeconomic organizaindividuals. tion: the occupations, the guilds, through The kinship organization dis- selecttheir andfamilial members on thebasis primarily ofsex and age dif- ofkinship, patterns playssomerigid and muchof theworkis carried in preindus- on in thehomeor immediate ferentiation whoseuniversality vicinity. Such A conditions beenoverlooked. trialcitieshas generally are notfunctional to therequireoftheupperclass,ideally mentsofa highly woman, especially industrialized society. functions few significant outside performs The kinship systemin the preindustrial to cityalso articulates the home. She is clearly subordinate witha special kindof or husband. Re- religious herfather system, whoseformal males,especially organization among memthatthisis true indicates even reaches fullestdevelopment centevidence The cityis the wom- bers of the literateelite.11 forsucha cityas Lhasa, Tibet,where seat of the key religious functionaries whose en supposedly The have had highstatus.9 fortherestofsociety. publiclifehas in actionsset standards isolationof womenfrom The urbanlowerclass,like the peasantry, In nineteenth-censomecasesbeenextreme. 10 Osgood,op. cit.,p. 146. tury Seoul, Korea, "respectable"women 11 For information on variousaspects of religious certain onlyduring appearedon thestreets
Francis L. K. Hsu, Under the Ancestors'Shadow (New York: Columbia University Press, 1948); CorneliusOsgood; The Koreans and Their Culture (New York: Ronald Press, 1951), chap. viii; Jukichi Inouye,Home Life in Tokyo(2d ed.; Tokyo: Tokyo PrintingCo., 1911). 9Tsung-LienShen and Shen-ChiLiu, Tibetand the Tibetans (Stanford:StanfordUniversity Press, 1953),pp. 143-44. behaviorsee, e.g., Le Tourneau,op. cit.; Miner,op. cit.;Lane, Mannersand Customs; Hurgronje, op. cit.; Andre Chouraqui, Les Juifs d'Afrique du Nord (Paris: Presses Universitairesde France, 1952); JustusDoolittle,Social Life oftheChinese(London: Sampson Low, 1868); John K. Shryock, The TemplesofAnkingand TheirCults (Paris: Privately printed,1931); Derk Bodde (ed.), Annual Customs and Festivals in Peking (Peiping: Henri Vetch, 1936); Edwin Benson,Life in a MedievalCity(New York: Macmillan Co., 1920); Hsu, op. cit.

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even in does notpossesstheeducation or themeans ratherthan evaluate and initiate, ofhigher learning. to maintainall the exactingnormspre- institutions haveno agencies scribed Yet thereliSincepreindustrial cities by thesacredwritings. gioussystem influences the city'sentire so- ofmass communication, theyare relatively cial structure. (Typically,withinthe pre- isolated fromone another.Moreover,the industrial city one religionis dominant; masses within a cityare isolatedfromthe however, certain minority groups adhereto elite. The former must rely upon verbal in spewhich is formalized theirown beliefs.)Unlikethe situation in communication, industrial cities, religiousactivityis not cialgroups ortheir counsuchas storytellers separatefromothersocial action but per- terparts.Throughverse and song these to nonliterate meates family, economic, governmental, and transmit upper-class tradition otheractivities. Daily lifeis pervadedwith individuals. of thepreindusgovernment religious significance. Especiallyimportant The formal are periodic publicfestivals and ceremonies trialcityis theprovince of the eliteand is and withtheeducational like Ramadan in Muslimcities.Even dis- closelyintegrated twoprincipal tinctly ethnic outcastegroupscan through religious It performs systems. theirown religious festivals maintainsoli- functions: fromthe city's exacting tribute of theelite massesto support theactivities darity. a law and orderthrough with Magic,too,is interwoven economic, and maintaining familial, and othersocial activities. Divina- "police force" (at times a branchof the The policeforce tionis commonly fordeterminingarmy)and a courtsystem. employed for the controlof "outthe "correct"action on critical occasions; exists primarily and thecourts customand support for example,in traditional Japanese and siders," a code of Chinese cities, the selectionof marriage the rule of the sacredliterature, being absent. typically partners. And nonscientific procedures are enactedlegislation In actualpractice little relianceis placed widely employed to treatillnessamongall for social of thepreindus- uponformalmachinery regulating elements of thepopulation are the inforlife.'3 Much moresignificant trialcity. is restricted mal controls exerted guild, Formal educationtypically by thekinship, systems, and here,of course, to themale elite,its purposebeingto train and religious individuals forpositions in the governmen-personal standingis decisive.Status diswith perThe tinctions are visiblycorrelated hierarchies. tal,educational, orreligious chiefly speech,dress,and ofpreindustrial citiesdoes notre- sonal attributes, economy which ethnic mannerisms proclaim quire mass literacy, nor, in fact,does the personal ofproduction occupation, age,sex,and socialclass. system providetheleisureso group, offormal edu- In nineteenth-century Seoul, not only did fortheacquisition necessary modeofdress considertimeis neededmerely theupper-class differ cation.Considerable is ably fromthat of the masses,but speech to learnthewritten which often language, from that spoken. The varied accordingto social class, the verb quite different teacheroccupiesa positionof honor,pri- forms and pronouns depending upon thespeakerranked orlower higher ofall learning whether marily becauseoftheprestige and especially of knowledge of the sacred or was the equal of the personbeingadone's escapefrom Obviously, then, and learningis traditional and dressed.14 literature, in the street is even role crowds. difficult, based upon sacred writcharacteristically ings.'2Studentsare expectedto memorize 13 Carleton Coon, Caravan: The Story of the
chap. ii; Charles Bell, The People of and Customs,

PartVI; Lane,Manners p. 259; GeorgeW. Gilmore, '2Le Tourneau, op.cit., Korea fromIts Capital

Middle East (New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1951),

1911), chap. ix; (London: WilliamHeinemann, Doolittle, op. cit.

0. Olufsen,The Emir of Bokhara and His Country

Clarendon Press,1928),chap. xix; 1892),pp. 51-52. Tibet(Oxford:

(Philadelphia: PresbyterianBoard of Publication,

140sgood, op. cit., chap. viii; Gilmore,op. cit., chap. iv.

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of his spe- unlike The individual is everconscious thatin thepreindustrial At the city.17 con- very least, extensiveindustrialization cific rights and duties.All thesethings reserve the social orderin the preindustrial quiresa rational, centralized, extra-community economlc citydespiteits heterogeneity. organization inwhich recruitmentis based moreuponuniversalism than CONCLUSIONS on particularism, a class system which achievement rather thanascription, Throughout this paper thereis the as- stresses kinship a syssystem, that certainstructural elements a small and flexible sumption are universalfor all urban centers.This tem of mass educationwhichemphasizes rather than particularistic is thattheir form in the universalistic study'shypothesis mass and criteria, communication. Modifidistinct preindustrial cityis fundamentally affects commu- cationin any one of theseelements fromthat in the industrial-urban and induces inother changes sysnity.A considerable bodyof data not only theothers and socialconfrom medievalEurope,whichis somewhat temssuchas thoseofreligion as well.Industrialization, not moreover, atypical,'5 but froma varietyof cultures trol a specialkindof social strucsupports thispointof view. Emphasishas onlyrequires the urbancommunity but proof preindus- turewithin been upon the staticfeatures forits establishtrialcitylife.But even thosepreindustrial vides themeansnecessary considerable ment. cities whichhave undergone Anthropologists and sociologists will in changeapproach the ideal type. For one devoteincreased to the attention social change is ofsucha nature that thefuture thing, the world.They it is not usuallyperceivedby the general studyof citiesthroughout musttherefore recognize thattheparticular populace. incitiesin the found Most citiesofthepreindustrial typehave kindofsocialstructure of all societies. beenlocatedinEuropeorAsia.Even though UnitedStatesis not typical which study ofTimbuctoo,'8 and Rome and thelargecommercial Miner'srecent Athens muchexcellent data, pointsto the centersof Europe prior to the industrial contains of the preindustrial revolutiondisplayed certain unique fea- need for recognition His emphasis uponthefolk-urban contypequite city. tures,theyfitthe preindustrial him froman equally sigdiverted Latin-Ameri- tinuum well.'6And many traditional How does Timbuctoo difproblem: can citiesare quite like it, although devia- nificant modern industrial citiesin its ecotions exist, for, excluding pre-Columbian ferfrom and social structure? Soby logical,economic, cities, thesewereaffected to somedegree there ciety seems even moresacredand orsoon after their revolution the industrial ganizedthanMineradmits.l9 For example, establishment. thatindustrialization is a he used divorceas an indexof disorganizaIt is postulated forthedistinctions tion,but in Muslimsocietydivorcewithin keyvariableaccounting and industrial betweenpreindustrial cities. 17 For a discussion of the institutionalpreto de- requisites of industrializationsee, e.g., Bert F. The typeofsocialstructure required and Economic Growth," velop and maintaina formof production Hoselitz,"Social Structure inanimate ofpoweris quite Economia internazionale,VI (1953), 52-77, and sources utilizing
Press, 1925), and othershave PrincetonUniversity noted that European citiesgrewup in oppositionto and were separate from the greater society. But formedievalEurope. thisthesishas been overstated Most preindustrialcities are integral parts of broadersocial structures.
"6Henri Pirenne,in Medieval Cities (Princeton:

Marion J. Levy, "Some Sourcesof the Vulnerability of the Structuresof Relatively Non-industrialized Societies to Those of Highly IndustrializedSocieties," in Bert F. Hoselitz (ed.), The Progress of Underdeveloped Areas (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1952), pp. 114 ff.
18 Op. Cit.

16Some of these cities made extensive use of by Asael T. Hansen in his reviewof Horace Miner's water power, which possibly fostered deviations The Primitive City of Timbuctoo, AmericanJournal fromthe type. ofSociology, LIX (1954), 501-2.

19This point seems to have been perceivedalso

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is also certain rulesis justified by thesacredlitera- persistence elements ofpreindustrial and many ture.The studiesof Hsu and Fried would evidentin citiesof NorthAfrica had the parts of Asia; for example,in India and have considerably moresignificance greatsocial changeis of their Japan,21 even though authorsperceivedthe generality of currently findings. And,once the generalstructure taking place.AndtheLatin-Amerstudied, Redfield the preindustrial the ican cityofMerida,which city is understood, A conscious traits.22 specificculturaldeviationsbecome more had manypreindustrial and of the ecological, economic, meaningful. awareness of the cityas social structure of the preindustrial city Beals notestheimportance a centerof acculturation.20 But an under- shoulddo muchto further thedevelopment with- of comparative studies. standing of thisprocessis impossible urban community of the preindustrialUNIVERSITY OF TEXAS out some knowledge industrialicity'ssocial structure. Although 21See, e.g., D. R. Gadgil, Poona: A Socio-ecomost zationis clearly advancing throughout of the world,the social structure of pre- nomicSurvey(Poona: Gokhale Instituteof Politics and Economics, 1952), Part II; N. V. Sovani, often Social industrial civilizations is conservative, Survey of Kolhapur City (Poona: Golkhale in- Instituteof Politics and Economics,1951), Vol. II; resisting the introduction of numerous dustrial forms. Certainly manycitiesofEu- Noel P. Gist, "Caste Differentials in South India," rope (e.g., in France or Spain) are not so American Sociological Review,XIX (1954), 126in a num- 37; John Campbell Pelzel, "Social Stratification as somepresume; fully industrialized Japanese Urban Economic Life" (unpublished ber of preindustrial patternsremain.The Ph.D. dissertation,Harvard University,Depart20 Ralph L. Beals, "Urbanism,Urbanizationand LIII Acculturation," American Anthropologist,

mentofSocial Relations,1950).

(1951),1-10.

22 Robert Redfield,The Folk Cultureof Yucatan of Chicago Press, 1941). (Chicago: University

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