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To understand the most important characteristics of a society, one must study its major cities.

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.

The formation of cities has been an important cultural feature of the human evolvement. These cities, in the past, reflect the nature of a certain society that owns them. However, the world is changing with globalization is eroding the geographical and cultural borders among the communities in a global scale. Thus, an accurate conclusion about characteristics of these societies drawn from studying its major cities is in doubt. In contrast, prudent conducting social research in local minor villages might acquire a conclusion about a society’s characteristic, which poses a higher validity.

Studying merely the major cities might belie the actual characteristics of a society. Take Vietnam as an example, there are more and more expats are staying and working in its major cities, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city. These cities have been inevitably exposed to the amalgam of cultures since expats are coming and bringing with them the culture of their own origins. As a result, the original trait of culture in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city has been sweeping away and replaced by the international one. In fact, studying these cities has a high chance to fail to depict the Vietnamese society's characteristic as a whole. It would rather demonstrate a culture which is a mix between western characteristics and oriental ones.

Meanwhile, studying the cultural patterns of remote villages is an effective alternative approach to have an insight into a certain society. Since these areas are isolated from the impact of global immigration trend and technology advances, their societies and culture might stay intact. Many tribes and local villages located in the mountainous areas of Vietnam such as H’mong, Thai, Tay are immunized with the western influences and be able to preserve their cultural identities. The indigenous people living in this area carry the traits of the society as they have been passing down from generations to generation. By this mean, most tradition and custom of Vietnam are preserved perfectly in these communities. Observing these communities would be more exact to define Vietnamese characteristic rather than doing so in the major cities.

To conclude, studying major cities should be conducted but it does not necessary to be considered as a backbone knowledge to understand a certain society. Alternatively, observing and collecting data from native minor villages might be more prudent to study one society’s characteristic.