Changes in social structure and community life in Tuong Binh Hiep craft village under the impact of urbanization

The article focuses on analyzing changes in social structure and community life in Tuong Binh Hiep lacquer craft village (Binh Duong province) under the impact of urbanization. This is one of the long-standing traditional craft villages in the Southeast region, famous for lacquer products with high artistic and cultural values. However, in recent decades, the rapid urbanization process has created great pressure on traditional production activities as well as the lives of local people. The main method used in this research includes a questionnaire survey (N = 297) of employees participating in production in 36 households in the craft village to clarify the analysis from observation or collection of available data. In addition, the article also uses the group discussion method with the participation of representatives of 14/36 operating lacquer enterprises. The aim of the study is to clarify the changes in production organization, social relations, lifestyles and community cultural values under the impact of urbanization. The results of the study indicate that urban expansion and economic pressure have led to significant changes in the labor structure and production organization in craft villages. Many traditional households have encountered difficulties in maintaining production activities due to increased costs, a shortage of young workers and competition from industrial products. A part of the population has changed their occupations to non-agricultural sectors such as trade, services or joined neighboring industrial zones. This has caused the number of lacquer production households to gradually decrease, weakening the inherent community cohesion of the craft village. The article concludes that although urbanization brings economic and infrastructure opportunities, it also poses great challenges to the preservation of traditional craft villages. To maintain cultural identity and promote sustainable development, there needs to be synchronous policies to support craft villagers to adapt to changes, while preserving the unique cultural values of Tuong Binh Hiep lacquer craft village in the context of increasingly strong urbanization.

Change, social structure, community life, craft village, impact, urbanization, economy, society, conservation, modern Vietnam