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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

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Urban Problems

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  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

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