Chapter one
1.1 The subject matter of urban sociology
Urban sociology is a branch of sociology that deals with the impact of city
life on social action, social relations, social institutions, and the types of
civilization derived from and based on urban mode of life. Urban sociology
examines a great
deal of issues including:
1. Understanding and explaining the socio-cultural and behavioral
peculiarities of urban residents and the urban community. The value,
sentiments, desires etc. Of urban communities in contrast to that of the
rural characteristics.
2. Ecological organization and socio geographic differentiation of cities,
spatial distribution and structure of cities, interrelationships and
interactions among the different socio geographic regions (suburbs,
slums).
3. Social and cultural changes in the organizational structure and
functioning of the different sub areas of the city. Causes and
consequences of social change. Reactions to the process of social change
including maladjustment, conflict, harmony, etc among the different
urban groups.
4. History of urbanization to provide perspectives and comparative
materials on earlier urbanization.
5. Explanation of urban demographic characteristics including population
size distribution etc.
6. The nature of and solutions to urban social vices such as crime,
delinquency,
drug abuse, pollution, congestion, housing, unemployment etc.
Urban sociology draws upon information from different sources and
disciplines such as education, health, courts, police, etc. economics, public
administration, social psychology, history, etc.
Sociologists are interested in urbanization because the urban mode of life is
becoming more and more dominant.
Illustration
Percentage of world population living in places of 5000 and more population
Year % of urban population
1800 3%
1900 14%
1950 28%
1980 45%
2000 55%
2025 64%
The above table indicates that the settlement pattern of the human
population which was dominantly rural has been in a process of reversal and
the rural population is diminishing through time while the urban share is
growing. Before the industrial revolution, the proportion of the rural
population was very large while after the industrial revolution the urban
population has been in a radical increase. It is estimated that by the year
2025 about 64% of the world population would be urbanite. According to
kingsely Davis, the reasons why sociologists are interested in urban
phenomenon include:
1. Urban mode of life is recent phenomenon in the history of mankind.
2. Urbanization has brought revolutionary changes in the whole pattern of
social life. It tends to affect every aspect of human life, social
institutions, production systems, transportation etc.
3. Urban centers tend to be centers of power and influence throughout the
whole society. The most important economic activities (trade,
communication. administration etc) are concentrated in urban areas.
Cities are centers of political power and residence of emperors and
presidents(governors)
4. The process of urbanization is still occurring and its direction is
uncertain.
There are many problems associated with urbanization
1.2. Sociology as an Urban Enterprise
• Industrialization and Urbanization in 19th century were the great
massive transformations that crossed human beings’ mode of
production, technological innovations and social relationships. This
means sociology rooted itself to study the social problems of these
great trends and it is all about Urban and thus sociology is an urban
enterprise. The massive
transition has transformed:
– Social Organizations E.g. formal/ bureaucratic organizations
appeared with poor working conditions in factories
– Social structures E.g. Property ownership such as land were
shifted, family structure has changed and size diminished , child
labor exploitation increased
– Mobility of the society , particularly rural –urban migration
• Classical sociologists such as Comte (social statics & dynamics),
Durkheim (Organic & mechanical solidarities), Marx (exploitation,
alienation & surplus value) and Weber (rationalizations and
bureaucracy) were concerned with the cause and consequences of the
transformations and possible solutions for the created social
problems.
• The shining work of these pioneers of sociology in turn highlights the
concern of sociology as an urban enterprise.
1.3. Definition and measurement of concepts
a) Urban settlement: defining the concept urban settlement is not an
easy task. There is no single definition to which every body agrees. Thus,
different approaches have been developed to define the concept “urban
settlement”
- Economic
- Demographic
- Political/administrative/legal
- Cultural/social relations
- Multiple factors definition
Demographic definition: focuses on statistical considerations. According
to this approach, urban settlements are those settlements that have certain
number of population. This certain number varies from country to country.
For example in:
Botswana ≥5000
Ethiopia ≥2000
USA ≥2500
Peru ≥100
Canada ≥1000
Japan ≥50,000
Denmark ≥250
Administrative definition (legal):
A place is said to be an urban settlement through declaration (charter
granting) by authorities.
Economic definition: focuses on occupation. Accordingly, an urban
settlement is where the majority of the inhabitants area engaged in other
than agriculture like trade, industry. It does not mean that the total absence
of agricultural activities. It has to mean that agriculture is not dominant.
Social relation definition: defines urban, as a locality, which has become
large, and the inhabitants do not know another. There is greater face to face
contact but the chance of people to know each other is low.
Multiple factors definition: since no single definition gives us sufficient
meanings for urban settlement, several factors have to be considered. In
this regard, Alvin Boskoff defines an urban locality as” a community or
complex of communities characterized by dominance of
commercial ,industrial and service occupations, and
extensive e division of labor and corresponding social complexity; an
accompanying high density of population and the development of
coordination and social control on non-kinship basis.
This definition is probably the most comprehensive one.
In order to avoid confusion, the UN has tried to develop its own definition
particularly for the purpose of international comparison. This definition is
based on demographic factors.
The UN has identified 3 categories of urban settlements:
1. big city=has at least 0.5 million population
2. city=has at least 100,000 population
3. urban locality=has at least 20,000 population
UN uses this classification when publishing statistical data. But the
problem with this classification is that it is not adopted by many
countries since different countries make their own local definition, there
is a problem of standard meaning for an urban settlement.
We can think of an urban settlement as being composed of three
functionally interrelated and distinct parts.
1. cities
2. suburbs
3. exurbs
Suburbs are settlements which develop around the city. These are
adjacent to the city and are established for different purposes; commercial;,
industrial, residential, etc. such suburbs together with the city are referred
to as
metropolitan center.
Exurbs are recent phenomena which came after suburbanization. Exurbs
refer to those settlements beyond the suburbs. Such communities are found
with in 50 to 80 kms. Away from the city center. exurbs are part of the
urban pattern since their inhabitants have the same lifestyle to the
residents of the city. They work in the city or in adjacent suburbs. Exurbs
are particularly common experience of developed countries. The spread of
exurbs is very much connected with private vehicles and advanced road
facilities.
1.4. Urbanization
Urbanization is the process of population concentration in urban areas. It
involves the movement of people particularly from rural areas to urban
areas. There are two simple measures of urbanization:
1. Level of urbanization growth
2. Rate of urbanization
Level of urbanization = urban population =ratio
Rural population
or
Level of urbanization = urban population x 100 =%
rural population
Rate of urbanization = current year urban population – previous year
population
previous year population
RU = cyup- pyup x 100
Pyup
Sociologists see urbanization as resulting from three interrelated factors
1. Significant increase in the population of a given geographic area.
2. The corresponding increase in social density resulting from the
population
increase.
3. The increasing heterogeneity of people as more and more diverse
people are drawn to the grown urban settlement. From these three
factors arise a number of organizational consequences the most
important of which is the social division of labor in economic activities.
Urbanism
It refers to the cultural component associated with urbanization. It includes
a range of beliefs, values and rules of behavior which are assumed to be
associated with urbanization.
NB: While urbanization is the state of population concentration in urban
areas, Urbanism is the way of life of people living in urban areas.
Louis Wirth has given four characteristics of urbanism.
• Transiency: An urban inhabitant's relation with others last only for a
short time; he tends to forget his old acquaintances and develop
relations with new people. Since he is not much attached to his
neighbors’ members of the social groups, he does not mind leaving
them.
• Superficiality: An urban person has the limited number of persons
with whom he interacts and his relations with them are impersonal
and formal. People meet each other in highly segmental roles. They
are dependent on more people for the satisfaction of their life needs.
• Anonymity: Urbanities do not know each other intimately. Personal
mutual acquaintance between the inhabitants which ordinarily is
found in a neighborhood is lacking.
• Individualism: People give more importance to their own vested
interests.
Metropolitan city is a kind of city where a major city center becomes
surrounded by a complex of suburban communities densely populated and
economically integrated.
A Conurbation- a cluster of cities and towns forming a continuous
network- may include even larger numbers of people.
• It also implies the fusion of several pre-existing cities.
• The peak of urban life today is represented by what is called the
megalopolis, the ‘city of cities.’
• The term “megalopolis” as coined by the French geographer Jean
Gottmann, is generally applied to an urbanized region that contains
several metropolitan areas.
• The term was first applied in relation to the north-eastern seaboard of
the united states, a conurbation covering some 450 miles from north
of Boston to below Washington, DC.
• In this region, about 40 million people live at a density of more than
700 per square mile.
Rural-urban differences:
We can have at least eight characteristics in which the urban settlement
varies from rural settlement
1. Occupation
2. Environment
3. Community size
4. Density of population
5. Heterogeneity and homogeneity
6. Social differentiation and stratification
7. Social mobility
8. System of interaction
1. Occupation: there is substantial difference between rural and urban
areas with respect to occupation, agricultural occupations dominate in
rural areas and non agricultural activities dominate in urban areas.
One way of distinguishing urban areas from rural areas is by looking
at the occupational pattern. Occupation seems to be the most.
2. Environment: in rural areas the influence of man on nature is very
limited, and natural environmental features predominate. In urban
areas the environment is more of artificial or changed.
3. Community size: in rural areas people live in small villages,
communities, and the urban communities are large and complex.
4. Density of population: in rural areas there is sparse population
settlement while in urban areas the settlement pattern is dense.
5. Heterogeneity and homogeneity of population: the population of
urban areas is highly heterogeneous and that of rural areas
homogeneous. In urban areas different people come from different
sociocultural and
economic experiences (culture, language, ethnicity, religion, custom,
etc.) in rural areas villagers have similar life styles dominated by
kinship ties.
6. Social differentiation and stratification: there is extensive
division of labor in urban areas and as a result a variety of
specializations and professions exist. In rural areas the job
opportunuities are limitedf and so there is no wider gap between
income [Link] level of stratification is
low in rural areas.
7. Social mobility: social mobility is the movement of people from one
social class to another. In urban areas social mobility is open while in
rural communities it is not open to every body. In rural communities
there is no free movement of individuals in the social strata. But one
can upgrade his social status through achievement in
education,training or work if he is an
urbanite.
8. System of interaction in rural areas primary forms of interaction
dominate while in urban areas secondary/formal/interaction prevails
more. Occupation seems to be the most important characterstic
distinguishing urban from rural settlements.