Difficulties in the Scientific Study of Rural Society

Rural sociology is a branch of sociology, and, therefore, the study of rural community makes and unrestricted use of all the methods of social research.

All these methods are scientific and all the common characteristics of any scientific method are to be found in them. Hence, it would be quite in keeping with the context to describe the major steps and common characteristics of scientific method before we proceed with an individual study of each of these methods. In this context, an exposition of the difficulties of the scientific studies or rural community will also be advantageous because all these difficulties are applicable to each and every one of these methods. 

Difficulties in the Scientific Study of Rural Society

Now the question which arises here is as to whether rural sociology is a subject which has all the above mentioned qualities and admits of the use of the scientific methods. Some of the major difficulties in this context are:

1. Possibility of subjective ideas and prejudices: Rural society is a network of social relations. These relations make their impressions upon the person who is studying them. Consequently, the possibility of prejudice and the thoughts and experience of the observer becoming manifest upon the study cannot be ignored. Thus, the objectivity necessary for scientific study cannot be overemphasized.
2. Difficulties in maintaining scientific objectivity: In this way the following difficulties arise in the achievement of scientific objectivity in the study of rural society. (a) From his very childhood an observer is obsessed with certain prejudices and bias which it is very difficult to eliminate. (b) If forceful diminution, of these prejudices is attempted, there is a great likelihood of contrary prejudices being acquired. (c) In the study of rural society, values too are an important consideration but these value can neither be controlled nor studied objectively. (d) There are many different communities in rural societies whose culture, customs, conventions and geographical conditions do not, in the least, concur. Hence, it is difficult to be objective in their study and there is no small possibility of prejudice. A man’s impression of this own society act as an obstacle in studying some other society.
3. Complexity of Rural society: A third difficulty in the study of the rural society is its complexity. Rural society is a network innumerable social relations and these social relations have a multitude of factors. It is due to this complexity that it becomes difficult to expose all the factors involved in any aspect of the study of rural society.
4. Changeability to rural society. Rural society is very much susceptible to change and this is another drawback in studying it scientifically. Society is a network of relations among human beings. Man is a conscious and dynamic being who makes use of his reason. He can, with consummate ease, mark his behavior, thoughts and opinions. At the same time, these do not remain static but change constantly. This continuous change aggravates the difficulty in studying social relations. And secondly, even if they have been successfully studied this success may be obstructed by this changeability of the relations.
5. Dearth of Universality: there are many rural societies which differ from each other in respect of their cultures, customs, conventions, physical environments and other relevant aspects. And even within one rural society the customs, standards of living ideas and values of the different classes of people are different. And even the individuals within a single class differ from each other in many respects. In this way, rural society is a subject in which each unit does not resemble any other. Thus, its study is not conducive to the formulation of any universal laws. Consequently, the scientific method cannot be of much use here.
6. Difficulty in the control of the units of rural society: The scientific method is applied only to those subjects who allow control over their units. In the study of rural society, its units-individuals and groups—cannot be controlled and it is not possible to locate a particular person in a circumstance and control him because it is in no way essential that all people be identically affected by the situation or that the individual be at al influenced. Therefore, rural society cannot be scientifically studied.
7. Hindrance by vested interests: The scientific study of rural society is rendered even more Utopian by the vested interests which make any progress impossible. No society, group or community can hear without objection the criticism of its shortcomings, because, in it, are latent the individual, social or class related interests.
8. Study of values: The scientific method cannot study values due to which it cannot be applied to the study of rural society which possesses so many values. While, on the one hand, it necessarily neglects the axiological aspects of society, it, on the other hand, hinders the study of facts because social facts are not utterly removed from the impact of these values.
9. Other difficulties: Besides the special difficulties which arise in the application of the scientific method to the study of rural society which we have mentioned above, it is further beset with all those difficulties which are inherent in any subject which does not have the necessary characteristic qualifications for scientific study. Values and facts are found mixed in rural society.

Therefore, it is no means easy to discover any cause-effect relation among them by using the scientific method. The fact that rural society is sub-divided into almost innumerable communities makes it difficult to formulate any universal law based upon the study of rural society. These laws are further related to the conscious and changeable man, a fact, which debars these laws from being examined for their validity and neither can they, for the same reason, be considered useful for prediction. Some people assert that the scientific method cannot be used in the study of rural society because it is not possible to establish laboratories and use the apparatus. 

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RURAL SOCIOLOGY BY RAJENDRA KUMAR SHARMA