It's definitely worse now, but there's always been this tension between urban and rural, probably going back millenia.

There are plenty of exceptions on both sides, but rural people generally have to be self-sufficient, realistic, and skilled by necessity. The tend to deal with nature regularly and, TBH, she's a bitch. OTOH, because most are in the same boat as their neighbors, cooperation is common but without any sort of defined structure. People come together voluntarily as needed, and just as quickly revert back to individuals.

Urban people trade some of their freedom to live in an environment built and controlled by others. In return, they don't need to have the same skillset as country people - just the ability to collectively hire others to do the necessary work. Sometimes it's so they can focus on a narrow skill, or have a larger customer base, but they are dependent on the infrastructure and political structure that others build and can't realistically live without it where they are.

It's only natural that these groups polarize over time, especially when one group (almost always the urbans) decide they need to control the other. You can see this happen over and over and over again through history. Sometimes it's for pure control, sometimes it's for political power, and sometimes for economic reasons. Something about urban people tends to make them power hungry over time.