Perspectives for Analyzing and Interpreting Cities and their Inhabitants

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Perspectives for Analyzing and Interpreting
Cities and their Inhabitants

• Soc205Y Urban Sociology17th October 2007

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Today

• Test in Four Weeks (Nov 14)
• Will review a bit next week
• Reading for Today
• Chapter 3 (Urban Canada), Hannigan Analyzing
  and Interpreting the City Theory and Method

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Objectives of the chapter

• to determine what makes urban life particularly
  different from life elsewhere
• to present five different theoretical approaches
  for interpreting urban life
• to understand the importance of the Chicago
  School in the development of urban sociology
  theory and methods
• to explore a variety of methods- from census data
  to interviews to participant observation-sociologi
  sts use to study urban life.

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3 main divisions in urban sociology

• 1) Culturalist orientation versus Structuralist
  orientation
• 2) spatial versus associational emphasis
• 3) realist versus constructionist interpretation

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Urban Canada

• Driedger (2003) class, ethnicity, and race are
  important in indicating where residents of
  Ontario urban centres live

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The Chicago School (again)

• Beginning of sociological Interpretations of
  Cities
• 1915, Park published a landmark essay, The City
• Park was interested in 1) evolving physical form
  of the city (its different types of land uses ?
  human ecological perspective 2)how the city was
  composed of mix of different social worlds
  (natural worlds), each with its own distinct
  language, traditions, and way of life ?urban
  ethnography
• Yet, all studies instigated by Park lacked any
  explicit discussion of the methodologies employed
  (except, Cresseys (1932) The Taxi-Dance Hall)

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Five Theoretical Models

• 1. Human Ecology Model
• Role of underlying economic principles
• Method Social area analysis and factorial
  ecology
• Parks concept of human ecology
• Park and Burgess concentric zone model of urban
  growth
• McKenzies key ecological processes

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Five Theoretical Models

• 2. Community Studies Model
• uncover evidence of social ties and supportive
  relations in a city
• Weakness of this model focus on processes
  internal to the community

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Five Theoretical Models

• 3. Social Interactionist Model
• Fishers sub cultural theory
• Loflands dramaturgical approach
• secondary person-to person connection of
  familiar strangers can be both long-lasting and
  uniformly positive in emotional ambience
• Weakness of this model dont address issues of
  power, governance, inequality and conflict

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Five Theoretical Models

• 4. Political Economy Model
• cities are shaped by actions of powerful economic
  and political players who control key resources
• racial, ethnic and class antagonisms
• Role of state, connections to the system of
  capitalism and global dynamics
• capital accumulation and exploitation
• weakness

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Five Theoretical Models

• 5. Social Constructionist Model
• negotiation of cultural meaning involving
  different individuals, groups, and organizations
  for hegemony
• Who's meaning triumphs depends on the degree of
  power possessed by various social actors
• William Michelson (1973, UofT) proposed
  environmental- opportunity theory

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Conclusion from Gotham about future in urban
sociology

• currently, there is theoretical and
  methodological flux (there is a lot of variation
  on methods and directions
• one cannot approach studying urban phenomenon
  using single method or one particular data
• best kind of methodological strategy relies on
  using multiple kinds of data (quantitative and
  qualitative) to provide generalized overview and
  a nuanced observational account

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Methods and Data

• Observation standpoint (participant or not)
• Data creation primary and secondary. Examples?
• Senses what we see, what we hear, what we feel
  (e.g. sore feet from walking)
• Should we focus on means/medians or variation in
  urban research?
• How do we categorize/characterize our
  observations (data reduction, coding, etc)
• Instruments surveys, field notes of natural
  behavior, photos, experiments, other indicators?
• How do we combine 2 or more types for greater
  clarity?