Urban Sociology

Books on Urban Sociology, Abstracts, Bibliography, Syllabus, Journals, Urbanism

The city and the metropolitan region emerge as one of the strategic sites where macro social trends materialize and hence can be constituted as an object of study. Among these trends are globalization and the rise of the new information technologies, the intensifying of transnational and translocal dynamics, and the strengthening presence and voice of specific types of socio-cultural diversity.

Each one of these trends has its own specific conditionalities, contents and consequences for cities, and for theory and research. Cities are also sites where each of these trends interacts with the others in distinct, often complex manners, in a way they do not in just about any other setting. The city emerges once again as a strategic lens for the study of major macrosocial transformations as it was in the origins of sociology. Can urban sociology address these challenges and in so doing once again produce some of the analytic tools for understanding the broader transformation? - lse.ac.uk/serials/Bjs/NEW100.HTM

Cyburbia - The Urban Planning Portal.- cyburbia.org/

Community & Urban Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association - commurb.org/

Stefan Metaal's Urban Sociology Site - Urban sociology articles, discussions and resources on cities, suburbs, villages and other types of places. - members.chello.nl/smetaal/

Introduction to Urban Sociology and Urban Studies - info1.nwmissouri.edu/nwcourses/martin/urban/introduction/

Michigan State University is the nation’s premier land-grant university, and in that tradition, the MSU Center for Urban Affairs Community and Economic Development Program (CEDP) is committed to developing and applying knowledge to address the needs of society – primarily urban communities. Our mission is “to facilitate the use of university and community resources to address urban issues that enhance the quality of life. - msu.edu/~cua/links/index.htm#Urban%20Development

The New Urban Sociology Meets the Old - Rereading Some Classical Human Ecology 
David A. Smith, University of California, Irvine 
A basic paradigm shift in urban sociology has occurred: The new urban sociology has challenged and largely supplanted human ecology. The common perception that the two approaches are totally antithetical and incompatible has created a crisis in urban sociology. The author reevaluates some earlier ecological writings in light of the basic assumptions of the new urban sociology. Roderick McKenzie's often ignored writings show a striking affinity to tenets of the new urban sociology. Urban ecologists' claims are challenged by their own intellectual ancestors, and areas of conceptual continuity and overlap should lead to more dialogue and less theoretical polarization.

Urban Sociology Beyond the Theoretical Debate of the Seventies - Enzo Mingione 
This article reconstructs the theoretical history of urban sociological studies with particular attention to the critical debate of the seventies.

Debates and Developments - The future of urban sociology: report of joint sessions of the British and American Sociological Associations, Beth Perry & Alan Harding 
This article reports on two joint sessions of the British and American Sociological Associations held during the course of 2001 as a first step toward more structured dialogue and debate between the two national associations. Drawing on the comments of a number of leading academics on both sides of the Atlantic, this paper presents a series of discussions about the role and future of urban sociology. It explores the challenges and opportunities offered to urban sociology by increasing interdisciplinarity and multidisciplinarity in the field of urban studies as a whole. It then explores the role of sociology in understanding the relationship between contemporary processes of globalization and urban change and the degree to which this constitutes a new dynamic core of sociological theory and research. The paper reveals that there are a variety of alternative futures for urban sociology and there would appear to be little agreement on one specific route, nor on how to get there. Urban sociology continues to face a variety of challenges and more debate on its future trajectory is clearly needed.

Urban Sociology: A Trend Report - Rosemary Mellor 
The paper reviews the disintegration of urban sociology as a recognisable domain of study in the early 1980s and its development as urban studies - an interdisciplinary research field with global reference and infinite scope. At the same time there was a re-entry of the `local' and more specifically the `urban' into the sociological mainstream as there was greater awareness of uneven development, the particularity of local experience and the possibilities of mobilisation around local issues. In particular there was awareness that `race' politics was also an `urban' politics.

New frontiers facing urban sociology at the Millennium - Author: Sassen S.
Abstract: The article examines some of the major challenges facing urban sociology at century"s end given its traditions and lineages. These challenges arise out of the intersection of major macrosocial trends and their particular spatial patterns. The city and the metropolitan region emerge as one of the strategic sites where these macrosocial trends materialize and hence can be constituted as an object of study. Among these trends are globalization and the rise of the new information technologies, the intensifying of transnational and translocal dynamics, and the strengthening presence and voice of specific types of socio-cultural diversity.

Internal Colonialism in Thailand - Primate City Parasitism Reconsidered 
Bruce London, Department of Sociology Mary Washington College Fredericksburg, Virginia 
This paper contributes to the development of a more "political" comparative urban sociology by focusing on the role of intergroup power relationships in the creation and maintenance of regional/spatial inequalities in Thailand.

“Placing” Health in an Urban Sociology: Cities as Mosaics of Risk and Protection 
Authors: Fitzpatrick K.M.; LaGory M.
Abstract: Central to urban sociology is the assumption that place matters. Yet, urban sociology has virtually ignored the role of place in understanding a critical aspect of personal and collective well–being. This article attempts to synthesize major sociological theories of health, within an urban ecological framework, in an effort to provide insight into how the distinct spatial qualities of neighborhoods impact the health risks, beliefs, and behaviors of their residents.

New Urban Sociology in Japan: the changing debates - Kazutaka Hashimoto
Abstract: New Urban Sociology began in Europe at the beginning of the 1970s and then spread to the United States. This article examines the changing debates that have occurred in New Urban Sociology since its introduction to Japan in the late 1970s. The twenty years since its introduction from the West can be divided into three stages. The first covers the period from 1977 to 1985, when French urban sociology, particularly Manuael Castells' theory of the state, was highly influential. The second stage, from 1986 to 1992, focused on theories of urban social movements and the concept of global city in a context of urban renewal in Japan's major cities. The third stage, from 1992 to the present, is characterized by a transformation of New Urban Sociology into a sociological theory of space under globalization that has been heavily influenced by the work of David Harvey. Copyright Joint Editors and Blackwell Publishers Ltd 2002.

Radical Intellectuals: What Happened to the New Urban Sociology?
Aleksandra Sasha Milicevic
Abstract: This article is about the rise and fall of radicalism among 'new urban sociologists' during the 1960s and 1970s. First, I analyze the social and theoretical developments of that time and demonstrate the novelty of the questions that the new urban sociologists posed. Second, I examine the features of the practical engagements and motivations of the members of this group and show how they changed over time. Finally, I discuss the processes of institutionalization of this group. The story of the new urban sociologists is the story of members of the same generation who, dissatisfied with the development of theory in their field, developed a distinct approach to urban problems.

Urban Sociology. Curriculum Bulletin. Grade 12.
Abstract: The focus of the urban sociology teaching guide for grade 12 is on the effect of urbanization upon four of the major social institutions: familial, governmental, economic, and educational. An overall educational objective is to prepare students for developing rational solutions to problems confronting urban society. Objectives are stated in behavioral terms for each of the five units. Through enumeration of content, suggested activities, and resource material, the guide recommends a proven roadway to reach the objectives.

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