Society can be defined as a large social group sharing the same geographical or social territory and

"major characteristics of society" can be broadly classified as economic, social and cultural. Every
civilization has had a centre for better governance of the entire region. Even today every country has
its own capital city where the major developments can be seen to take place, for example India has
New Delhi, China has Beijing, UK has London, etc. It is these cities where the major changes in the
economy, politics can happen and a wide range of cultures can be present but the rural population
also contributes largely in the formation of the society. Hence, it is also important to consider the
economic, political, cultural factors in the rural parts and then see how much impact they have in
measuring the overall characteristics of the society. Hence, I think the above claim is highly
generalized as it is not always the cities which help in studying the major features of the society.

Let us consider United States. In order to know the important features of the country we will look
into the consequences of studying the major cities. New York being the global capital attracts wide
spectrum of population. Studying various cultural features in the city can be advantageous than
studying the cultures of several rural areas as the cities obviously attract people from rural areas.
Moving to the economic features, the economy of US highly depends on industrial sector which are
in turn nearby cities. Also the functioning of the global financial markets can be well understood
through the cities. Similarly the political features can be well assessed. Hence, the important cities
provide the insight about the essential elements of a society.

However, on the other hand for a country like India which is highly diversified in terms of the culture
one cannot rely on major cities to know the characteristics of the entire nation. With the
modernization the traditions and customs practised in the rural areas of the country can rarely be
seen in the cities. Also, for agricultural based countries like India, the economy depends on the
agricultural which is mainly practised in rural areas. Due to the large diversity political features also
vary from cities to rural areas and hence, cities do not play major role in understanding the
characteristics of the country. Therefore, it is important to consider some cities as well as some rural
areas to get a better picture of the society.

Finally, it can be concluded major characteristics depend on several factors as per the region under
consideration. Hence, one should carefully analyze whether only the major cities are sufficient to
understand the overall society or it is essential to consider the rural areas as well.