1 / 16

Urban Problems

Urban Problems. Michael Itagaki Sociology 102, Social Problems. The Sociological Perspective. The Global Urban movement 200 years ago, 3% lived in towns of 5,000 or more Today, half live in cities In 1800, 6% of Americans lived in towns 2,500 or more

efuru
Download Presentation

Urban Problems

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Urban Problems Michael Itagaki Sociology 102, Social Problems

  2. The Sociological Perspective • The Global Urban movement • 200 years ago, 3% lived in towns of 5,000 or more • Today, half live in cities • In 1800, 6% of Americans lived in towns 2,500 or more • Today, 4 of 5 Americans live in cities

  3. Figure 12.1 (p. 390)U.S. Population, Rural and UrbanSource: By the author, based on U.S. Bureau of the Census; Statistical Abstract of the United States 2003: Table 30. The projections from 200 to 2110 are by the author.

  4. The Sociological Perspective • Evolution of Cities • Agriculture • City: Large number of people who live in one place and don’t produce their own food • Development of plow, led to agricultural surplus • Industrial revolution of 1700s and 1800s sparked an urban revolution

  5. The Sociological Perspective • Cities as Solutions • Transcend limitations of farm/village • Better access to work, education • Cities as Problems • Difficult for people to find community • Some find community in the city, others find alienation, isolation, fear

  6. Scope of the Problem • Antiurban Bias • What is Urban about Urban Problems? • City life increases social problems • Urban crisis • Urban sprawl

  7. Symbolic Interaction • Whyte’s Study: Street Corner Society (1943) • College Boys, Corner Boys, Subcultures • Suttles’ study • Race/ethnicity differences • Anderson’s study • Regulars, wineheads, hoodlums • Code of the Street

  8. Symbolic Interaction • Gentrification • Process where affluent displace poor • “Improvements” to properties • Increase in property value • Poor can no longer afford to live there

  9. Functionalism • Burgess (1925) theory of concentric zones • Five zones

  10. Figure 12.4 (p. 397)Burgess' Concentric Zone Theory of the Growth of the CitySource: From Ernest W. Burgess. "The Growth of the City: An Introduction to a Research Project" in The City. Robert E. Park, Ernest W. Burgess, and Roderick D. McKenzie, eds. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1925. (Pages 47-62 in the 1967 edition). Reprinted with the permission of the University of Chicago Press.

  11. Functionalism • Burgess (1925) theory of concentric zones • Five zones • Mobility • Commute to work, school, recreation • Move to live in better zones • Invasion-Succession cycle • Displacement vs. feeling unwelcome

  12. Functionalism • Burgess (1925) theory of concentric zones • Five zones • Mobility • Zone Transition and social problems • Zone II, city’s poverty is concentrated • Regeneration (urban renewal)

  13. Conflict Theory • Class conflict: Objectives of the wealthy vs. the poor • City used to be only center of industry • Advent of the highways • Manufacture products in outlying areas • Moving jobs away from city • Paradoxical paradigm downtown

  14. Bowling Alone • Discussion: Read edited press release for Putnam’s book • Are we becoming less social and more individualistic? • Why do you think so? • Cite some examples you observe to support your argument

  15. Table 12.2 (p. 413)The Fastest-Growing and Shrinking U.S. Cities

  16. Table 12.3 (p. 414)Population Change of U.S. Regions

More Related