ABSTRACT
The transformation of the population from mostly rural to largely urban that occurred within countries that industrialized serves poorly as guide for the transformations that developing countries are experiencing and will experience. The spread of lifestyles has widened across a swathe of countries. Within countries, inequalities between the rural and the urban parts of the population have grown measurably wider. The gap between urban and rural areas was not created by greater global integration. A wide urban-rural gap existed long before the current era of globalization. Biases in policies favoring a country’s big cities played a large part in structuring colonial governments, many of which had only a thin presence beyond district towns and provincial capitals The prospects from people from rural areas will not automatically improve on account of growth, globalization, urbanization, technology, or education. The chapter illustrates these propositions with the help of data and examples drawn from a larger study of India.
