This study will examine Small Town in Mass Society: Class, Power and Religion in a Rural Community, by Arthur J. Vidich and Joseph Bensman. The analysis will focus on various ways in which the small town is affected by the surrounding urban world, ways which are sometimes subtle and sometimes more obvious. Mass society is viewed as a kind of encroaching enemy which must be kept at bay. It is the view of Vidich and Bensman that the small town does not exist in total contrast to urban or mass society, but is in fact heavily influenced, in one way or another, by that mass urban reality. The major problem of the book is that it is dealing with a reality of thirty years ago. Mass society in the intervening years has drastically changed small town America in ways that this book only begin to hint at.
One of the subtle influences of mass society on the small town has to do with the small town's self-image. The authors' examination of Springdale indicates that the small town uses its real or imagined differences with the life and people of mass urban society as a way to bolster its own values, even if there is a level of pretense involved. Springdale residents refer to themselves as "folks" or "country folk" or "good folks," in order to differentiate themselves from those in mass urban society:
First and foremost, the term serves to distinguish Springdalers from urban dwellers, who are called "city people," an expression which by the tone in which it is used implies the less fortunate, those who are denied the wholesome virtues of rural life (29).
People of mass urban society are seen essentially as back-stabbers who have no connection with other people in the city; they are all out to achieve and acquire and beat the other person in various competitive pursuits. Town folk, on the other hand, see themselves as equals, as brothers and sisters of the community. As a result of this perceived difference, town folk see any problems they...