The rural-urban dividesTo be able to understand how modern African societies are divided into” us” and “them”, we need to know what modernity entails and what’s mean by “us” and “them”. Modernity occurs when there’s a great deal of change (economic or social).

Durkheim and Tonnies emphasis that if rapid urbanization occurs, when the sense of community diminishes and individualism occurs , then modernization takes place (Seekings,2018). That society will be regarded as modern. Who is “us” and who is “them”? The concept of “‘us” and “them” can be seen as a form of discrimination.

People are often labelled as “them” because society (‘us’) can’t accept certain accepts or characteristics that’s not the same as theirs. People who are considered as “them” don’t “belong” with society (“us”), they don’t fit in. It separates humanity by placing them in certain groups.

The “us” being people who have specific characteristics or behave a specific way and the “them” being the rest of society lacking that criteria. The “us” will refer to urbanites while “them ” refers to the rural. This essay will argue that modern African societies are divided into “us” and “them”, through urbanisation, particularly the rural-urban divide, which then further divides society.