system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why does it always feel like people in rural areas are more conservative while people in urban areas are more progressive?
gpt
This is a fairly big question. It's a stable pattern that shows up in various countries and across time periods, though with a lot of exceptions. Possible answers:

* Government intervention is more helpful in cities (which require active management to function, and collapse without rules) than in the country (where systems are set up to run independently, and regulations cause only headaches.)

* People self-select. Those who believe in collective action and change tend to move to the city, those that believe in self-reliance and tradition move to the country. Marginalized minority groups that would never form a large community in the country can form neighborhoods in a city. It's hard to say whether this is cause or effect sometimes, but it strengthens existing patterns.

* Churches often play a much stronger social role in small towns than in cities, with religion supporting social conservatism.