CRR-3: City as a sociological construct
Muhammad Ahmed Zeeshan 12290
Urban sociology, the sociological study of life and human interaction in metropolitan areas, gained prominence within the academy in North America through a group of sociologists and theorists at the University of Chicago from 1915 to 1940. It became later known as the Chicago School of Sociology and combined sociological and anthropological theory with ethnographic fieldwork to understand how individuals interact within urban social systems with different structural, cultural and social conditions. Their focus was on how the increase in urbanism during the time of the Industrial Revolution was magnifying contemporary social problems. They sought to address the physical
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He argues that the shift between nomadic civilization and contemporary civilization, and the shift from a predominately rural society to a predominantly urban society, is a result of the shift from agrarian to industrial economy. This shift has drastically affected the social life. Wirth writes “The growth of cities and the urbanization of the world is one of the most impressive facts of modern times” and suggests that this shift has reshaped the mode of living and sparked sociological interest in studying these changes and the process of urbanization. Wirth has a unique sociological perspective on what social characteristics represent urban life. He does not rely on quantitative characteristics such as density or location, urbanism, the life of the city dwellers, and rather defines urban life through social …show more content…
In her “Uses of Sidewalks”, she has a very different way of looking at cities and is more concerned about dangers and possible safety precautions. She is well known for her opposition to urban renewal of New York city which brought her into direct conflict with mega-planner and bureaucrat Robert Moses. She discusses questions such as what makes a community, what is a neighborhood, and what makes a city livable. She was deeply concerned about women, children and minorities. She proposes that neighborhoods with active sidewalks are safer neighborhoods, and the ones with nearly deserted sidewalks are being
The reason why so many African Americans felt that civil rights was not pushed enough in supporting their new freedom was seen here in, “The Ghetto Uprisings.” In this section Eric Foner states that, “With black unemployment twice that of whites and the average black family income little more than half the white norm.” The point here is that if civil rights had pushed freedom over and above then they might could have decent jobs and fix their poverty problems. Seen in the section, “Freedom and Equality” Eric Foner says, “Johnson’s Great Society may not achieved equality … but it represented the most expansive effort” When conditions such as this came up and fell through, African Americans began to feel that if freedom had been promoted more,
In Chapter 1 of Triumph Of The City Edward Glaeser gives vivd examples of why cities are of so much importance. He starts off by showing the importance of being in close proximity giving examples of Athens saying “Ideas move from person to person within dense urban spaces, and this exchange occasionally creates miracles of human creativity” (38) . He goes on to speak of the sustainability of cities giving an example of the success of the barbarians being able to capture Rome however not having the knowledge of up keeping ultimately leading to what he states as “knowledge itself moved backward” (30). Edward credits cities for aiding in the immunity of diseases through exposure and our incredible gains in military warfare. Diffusion of information
Ghettos are a section of a city in which Jews lived it has come to mean a section of a city where the poor must live. The first place ghettos were built in were Spain and Portugal by the end of the 14th cent. (“Ghetto”) The ghetto was typically walled with gates that were closed at a certain hour each night, and all the Jews had to be inside the gate at that hour or suffer the price. To live in the Ghettos were hard and some of the problems that the Jews had to deal with were children labor, diseases, resistance efforts, different types of ghettos.
Lance Freeman, an associate professor of urban planning in Columbia, wanted to investigate if there was any displacement going on in two predominantly black neighborhoods that was briskly gentrifying. Much to his dismay, he couldn’t find any correlation between gentrification and displacement. What was surprising to Freeman was his discovery, “poor residents and those without a college education were actually less likely to move if they resided in gentrifying neighborhoods”. (Sternbergh, 19) Freeman adds, “The discourse on gentrification, has tended to overlook the possibility that some of the neighborhood changes associated with gentrification might be appreciated by the prior residents.” (Sternbergh, 19)
There has to be a realistic solution that can be put into motion to benefit everyone involved. Referring again to his article “Is Gentrification All Bad?” Davidson argues that urban renewal, if done right, is not a monstrous custom that it is painted to be; nevertheless, he reasons that gentrification depends on who does it, how they do it, and why they do it. As a resident in New York, a city where gentrification is as widespread as the common cold in winter, Davidson speculates that those who go into a neighborhood with the intention to renovate houses, or abandoned buildings ought to have a good reason for it. The author points out that “Gentrification does not have to be something that one group inflicts on another…” (Davidson 349), rather, he suggests that everyone, the gentrifiers and the locals, be on the same page when it comes to developing their
It all started in warm June of 1940. The Soviet Union was occupying Lithuania, and it was not an admirable time, not for the Jews at least. In June of 1941, things took an even more grim turn when Germany decided it would invade the Soviet Union. From wearing special patches to being massacred in the streets, the Jews in Lithuania were treated the worst out of all the Jews in Nazi-occupied countries.
In this speech, I will begin by explaining what gentrification is along with a short background on the Lincoln Park gentrification, then I will proceed to explain how the families in these areas fought for their homes, and finally I will be discussing the gentrification that is affecting citizens of Chicago today. Body I. Gentrification is the process of renovating an area to meet the standards of a different social class, typically the upper middle class. Throughout this process the price of renting and owning a home increases while family owned businesses become bankrupt. Low-income families are left homeless and without the support of a
In the chapter „ The uses of the sidewalk” author presents an important, underestimate role of existing sidewalks. „ (...) city sidewalks serve many purposes besides carrying pedestrians.” In her opinion, these parts of infrastructure decide, if city is safe or unsafe, because by saying: „I feel safe in my city” we mean, we feel safe on its streets, sidewalks. In the chapter, we have pointed
Introduction Great thinkers, including Plato and Aristotle opened the doors to studying society; they based their thoughts on creating an “ideal society”. The science of Sociology was later developed in the early 19th century by Auguste Comte, who coined the word “Sociology”. He began to study society, using “critical thinking”. Comte believed that only by really understanding society could we begin to change it.
I recently read a book titled The Death and Life of Great American Cities written by Jane Jacobs (1962), which basically criticizes the focus and planning processes generally employed in planning the renovation and rebuilding of cities historically and today. In addition, she states that she has identified four criteria necessary to produce exuberant diversity in a city’s streets and districts. This tells me that in order for a city to realize its potential as a resilient, economic and socially viable city and be a place where people want to live and work, these elements should be present. If these elements are present could be an indicator of success for an urbanized environment. I propose to look at the downtown Phoenix area surrounding City Hall, which has and continues to undergo significant rebuilding and revitalization projects in the past several years, in an effort to try and identify the presence or absence of the four elements, all of which are designed to encourage people
Ghettos in the United States have derived from a myriad of social issues, which have contributed to the exacerbated poverty and crime rates in neighborhoods all across the “Land of the Free”. One of the most prevalent and destructive factors that have contributed to ghettos in the United States is segregation. In the U.S. today, segregation is a residential pattern with one racial group far outstripping its percentage in the region while other racial groups in the region are significantly underrepresented in the neighborhood (Shelby 39). The segregation one might witness today is not the same segregation regimes used in the past, categorized as institutional racism. For example, the Jim Crowe Laws and Apartheid forcibly separated and isolated
Davis describes the urbanization process as occurring along an S curve, beginning slow, becoming fast, and then slowing down again. Based on this idea of S curve, he predicts an end to urbanization. The next essay “The Urban Revolution” was by arguably the single most influential archaeologist of twentieth century, V. Gordon Childe. In this writing, he redefines the major eras of human development.
A world where to be a man you have to be able to walk the land. A world where ‘bitch’ is a household word. A world where good men have to sleep with one eye open all the time. A world where you’re born with a man-made disease called ‘color’. A world where good men die first.
In each of these case studies she investigates several urban projects. For example, in the New York chapter, she analyzes three development projects of Battery Park and Yankee Stadium mostly by considering the contribution of these projects to affordable housing and provision of inclusive public space. She then concludes that New York is diverse, but its policy and planning has led to inequity and a lack of democracy. This problem city is contrasted in her book by framing Amsterdam,as a Utopia where where her criteria of a just city are all met. When reading these chapters it can be inferred that Fainstein believes if a city has a egalitarian political culture, adequate welfare for all, and inhabitants can live in harmony and tolerance that the city will be just and successful.
Sociology is the scientific study of human social relationships and interactions. Sociology 's subject matter is diverse. Subject matter for sociology ranges from the micro level of an individual and interaction to the macro level of systems and the social structure. At the society level, sociology examines and explains matters like crime and law, poverty and wealth, prejudice and discrimination, schools and education, business firms, urban community, and social movements. We can see these subject matters crystal clear as sociology ranges from crime to religion, from the family to the state, from the divisions of race and social class to the shared beliefs of a common culture and from social stability to radical change in whole societies.