The Rise Of Urban Sociology
The Rise Of Urban Sociology
The first sociology department started University of Chicago and this university had most known sociologists in their crew. The head of the university of Chicago was Albion Small and also Robert E. Park had an important role. At the beginning George Simmel was the most influential person at U.S urban sociology. The city got an idea of cultural forms by him. Unvercity of Chicago followed urban sociology that was less concerned with comparative and historical studies and they were pay attention to social behaviours. American urban sociology had two topics which were Urbanisation and Urbanism.
Urbanization concerned with more historical and comparative analysis which refers to city formation or building process. However urbanism is a way of life. It reflects an organisation of society in terms of a complex division of labour, high levels of techonology, interdepence of its members in fulfilling echonomic functions and impersonlity in social relations.
Max Weber and Frederic Engels who were also sociologists both deal with the relations of historical nature of cities and the life styles.Beside this, Simmel concern with a different point called latter like modernity primary and secondary relations.Simmel gave us a sight of modernity and the social psychology of modernity.
Simmel On City
Simmel create a character called ‘Hans’ whose life was changed with improvement of the city and the causes which effected him. Some of the sociologist were consider this character,too and they made experimential works on and observe how this life change him.
All life in the city continue habitually by capitalist industrilization or modernity. Simmel thought that modernity is a huge individual freedom and the freedom of the city and the city was too important for him. In the city, the character Hans’s perspective attaining a cultural freedom which is the main point of modernity we also know by the name urbanisation.
The Chicago School: Park, Burgess and McKenzie
The Chicago School was ver interested to solve sociological urban problemsand were inspired to study this grade to human drama.Robert Park and the chicago school’s studies were more specific studies and they were not concern about the modernicity their studies contain urban analysis and by this analysis they sparate urban life in two level which were cultural and biotic levels.
After a process W. Burgess developed a theory called ‘concentric zone theory’based on darvinist or biologically derived principles. They thought that the cities grow like concentric zones with a intensify on the center.And they called this recentralization.
The first critique to Burgess came from Homer Hoyt and his theory was named by ‘Sector Theory’ He thougth that the cities growth by oddly shaped sectors.But it was still had an only central.
After all Harrs and Ullman focused on an individual city and developed the’ multiple nucleu theory’ which this theory give the change to made independence relatives with multiple centers.
The Chicago School: Louis Wirth
After some works, Par , Burgess and McKenze worked together with a new name Louis Wirth. With his studies he made diffent ideas an came against with Simmel. On the contrary of Simmel he emphasised urban way of life by made some studies about the characteristic of people. He gave four characteristing to urbanism. They were translency, superficiallity,anonymity and individualism, but finally arised that the theory couldn’t work.
The Chicago School: Other Considerations
With Wirts theory the chicago school reached to another side and reinforcing a negative view of the city life. But again chicago school were deal with improving the life in the city and instead of made some reformist efforts.