The following typology of urban cultures depends on a conception of cities as centres for the performance of cultural roles found only in state-level societies. Such societies, in contrast to the nonurban cultures previously discussed, have inequalities in economic wealth and political power, the former usually evidenced by class divisions, the latter by specialized institutions of social control (ruling elites, government bureaucracies). Because cities do not occur in societies without state organization, the terms “urban cultures” and “state-level societies” are closely linked—the former emphasizing belief patterns, the latter stressing social organization in such societies. State-level societies differ in the nature ...(100 of 6360 words)
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