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Syria Towns
Compared to many other developing nations, Syria is heavily
urban, as approximately 50 percent of the population lives in
cities. In addition, it is estimated that 70 percent of the
townsmen live in the two largest urban centers.
Social structure in Syrian cities seems to be in a state of
transition. The traditional city--built around a small, wealthy
landowning and industrial elite, craft and artisan guilds, and
small merchants--has been decisively undermined by political,
economic, and technological changes. However, a cohesive
structure based on modern secular education, technology, and
class alignments has not yet developed. Many of the values
associated with the traditional system endure and strongly
influence the population, although admiration for modern values
and techniques is increasing.
Cities are commonly composed of several architecturally
distinct sections, which represent different periods of history
and, to some extent, different ways of life. The very ancient
core of a city, often of the pre-Greek or pre-Roman period,
houses many of the groups longest settled there. Sections were
added during Greek, Roman, and medieval times; these traditional
sections also house both majority and minority groups oriented to
traditional life. The suq (the traditional market), with
its small specialized artisan shops, is a prominent feature of
the old city. In addition, cities have a relatively new section,
often built on modern European lines by French architectural
firms, that houses families and enterprises most closely
identified with modern technology and values.
In keeping with the significance of the religious community
in Syrian life, cities were traditionally organized into ethnic
and religious residential quarters. Members of all faiths still
tend to reside with their coreligionists, and a quarter functions
as a small community within the larger urban environment.
A residential quarter traditionally had its own mosque or
other religious structure, shops, and coffeehouses where the men
met, as well as a mukhtar (mayor) who represented it to
the outside society and was ordinarily a man of some importance
in city politics. Families of all economic positions lived in the
quarter appropriate to their religious or ethnic group. In
relations within the quarter, family connections, personal
reputation, and honor carried more weight than financial
standing, although it was of course a factor. Individuals of
varying financial positions dealt with one another on a personal
basis, with wealthier and more prominent residents assuming
leadership.
As new sections and suburbs with more spacious and modern
residences were constructed, many of the wealthier families of
the various quarters moved there, causing a breakdown in the
structure of the old quarters. In the new areas, residential
segregation follows economic class rather than religion or
ethnicity. As a consequence, the old quarters were robbed of much
of their traditional leadership, and the estrangement developing
between the tradition-minded masses and the modern-oriented new
middle class was exacerbated. An additional factor in the
breakdown of the old quarters was the large influx of rural
migrants to cities and the resulting tremendous demand for
housing.
In the late 1980s, information on the urban upper and middle
classes was inconclusive. The old elite appeared to have declined
markedly in prestige, power, and influence. In addition, the
emigration of professional, commercial, and technical persons
undoubtedly had an effect on urban life. It is unlikely, however,
that small trading or artisan establishments were greatly
affected by the social changes of the 1960s, although future
opportunities in these fields seemed to have contracted.
It appears that a middle class, based on education,
profession, income, and style of life, is in the process of
forming, but its formation is far from complete. The many
disparate elements composing it, including government officials,
technicians, clerks, professionals, merchants, and traders, come
from a variety of social backgrounds and do not share a class
consciousness or set of values. The traditional commercial
classes had aspired to the life of the old elite; however, the
new middle class of education and expertise seeks an entirely
different way of life. This group values scientific rather than
traditional knowledge, instrumental control of nature rather than
passive reliance on the deity, modernity rather than tradition,
individual initiative rather than family solidarity, and upward
mobility rather than stability.
The urban lower class is also a mixed group, ranging from a
comparatively small segment of skilled industrial workers to
messengers, domestic workers, and others similarly employed.
Industrial workers (skilled, semiskilled, and unskilled) have
been located primarily in Damascus and Aleppo, although they are
increasing in other towns, among them Latakia. Because of the
comparative recency of industrialization in Syria, most
industrial workers come from rural areas and any expansion of
industry under the revolutionary regime is likely, for a time, to
bring other rural people into the cities. The development of
Syria's oil resources in the extreme northeast should help,
however, to diffuse the industrial working class over a wider
area.
Data as of April 1987
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