1. SO4029 Sociology of the City
Urbanism 1
Classic Perspectives on City Life

2. Community Participants in regular social interaction
Shared social bond
Shared identity
Communal territory
Strong emotional attachment to the group and space

3. Rural to Urban
Key themes: Social Constraint v Freedom & Communal/Personal v Impersonal Relations.
Töennies: Gemeinschaft/ Gesselschaft
Durkheim: Mechanical/Organic Solidarity
Sorokin & Zimmerman: Rural & Urban Worlds
Redfield: Folk Society and Urban Society
See Cousins p

4. Simmel: ‘Metropolis & Mental Life’ (1903)
Urban culture as the culture of modernity:
Simmel draws general characteristics about urban life through studying micro-level behaviour
Reason over emotion
Dominance of the visual
Calculation (Philosophy of Money)
Reserve and the private self (individual freedom)
The blasé demeanour/nervous stimulation
The urban way of life spreads to the rural, collapsing the country/city distinction

5. Louis Wirth ‘Urbanism as a Way of Life’ (1938)
Member of Chicago School – greatly influenced by Simmel
3 Key Dimensions of Urban Way of Life:
Size – greater chances for diversity – greater specialisation & division of labour = functional diversity – competition and formal control replace kinship as a means of organisation - provides conditions for social fragmentation and foundations for impersonal relationships -
Density – intensifies effects of size –– blasé attitude (excessive nervous stimulation) - greater tolerance and greater social distance/stress – escape form density increases fringe development – density increases competition
Heterogeneity – more tolerance between groups – breaks down ethnic and class barriers – compartmentalisation, anonymity and depersonalisation.
Social Relations: Primary, Secondary & Tertiary

6. Louis Wirth ‘Urbanism as a Way of Life’
Negative Consequences of Urban Living: social disorganisation
Isolation and instability may lead to social disorder
Mental illness and suicide more likely
Potential for Crime
Loss of community/estrangement facilitates media and political manipulation

7. Herbert Gans ‘The Urban Villagers’(1962)
Critique of Wirth’s perspective
1) Isolation not necessarily a product of city life – ignores the fact that city life encompasses a broad range of social groups from the isolated to the relatively homogenous community, dependent on a range of factors
2) Overplays Urban/Rural distinction (‘urban villagers’)
3) Not single urban culture but collectivity of ‘sub-cultures

8. Gans’ Typology of City Dwellers
Cosmopolites
The Unmarried and the Childless
Ethnic Villagers
The Deprived
The Trapped

9. Suburbanism
Suburbanism as a counter to the ‘Isolationist’ standpoint’- ‘quasiprimary’ area not anticipated by Wirth (Gans)
Suburbia & Levittown
The Lifestyle Enclave

10. The Suburban Way of Life
Interpersonal and communal relationships - but of a limited nature
The Mall/Shopping Centre as the locus of ‘quasi-community’
The Lonely Crowd (Riesman) Tribal Conformity
Little sub-cultural differentiation
Suburban ‘angst’ as the parallel of isolation
See new estates

11. Robert Putnam ‘Bowling Alone’ (2000)
Social Capital:
Information flows depend on social capital
Norms of (generalised) reciprocity are dependent on social networks.
Bonding networks - connect those who are similar.
Bridging networks - that connect individuals who are diverse.
Collective action depends upon social networks
Collective action can also foster new networks.
Broader identities and solidarity are encouraged by social networks that help translate an "I" mentality into a "we" mentality.

12. Bowling Alone Correlates of Social Capital: Political Participation
(Contemporary decline in social capital -Mirrors similar process during ‘Gilded Age’ of industrial revolution (USA))
Correlates of Social Capital:
Political Participation
Civic Engagement
Religious Participation
The Workplace

13. Bowling Alone Causes of decline in social capital:
Suburbanisation + factor ’50s & ’60s BUT – factor ’80’s onwards
Mobility & Urban Sprawl
Corporate De-localisation
Privatisation & Segregation
‘Edge Cities’ (Garreau, 1991)
(Other Factors) -
Time & Money
Family Change - decline of traditional family
Technology & Mass Media
Generational Effects
Against the Tide, Small Groups, Social Movements, The Net

14. Bowling Alone Consequences of decline in social capital: Lack of Trust
Lack of Shared Fate, Empathy, Social Norms
Social Capital & Emotional Well-Being
Decline in Democracy
Not all bad?
‘The Dark Side’ of social capital – stifling conformity? – intolerance/discrimination?