Rural society: Its integration and disintegration

The various sectors of rural society have seen sweeping changes during the second half of the twentieth century. These changes have included agrarian reforms (and counter-reforms); the modernization of technology and society; demographic pressure; an increase in temporary work at the expense of permanent employment; migrations; the replacement of authoritarian regimes by democracies (and vice versa); decentralization processes; greater access to mass media, and stronger influence by such media.