Urban Sociology: Images and Structure / Edition 5

by William G. Flanagan

Overview

Urban Sociology provides a balanced framework for the study of the field by evaluating and integrating both ecological and political economic perspectives and examining the experiential aspect of political and economic life in cities. This book emphasizes how the urban environment shapes (rather than simply provides a backdrop for) ethnic and minority group processes, the formation of community, the political process, and criminal behavior. For anyone with an interest in sociology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	2900742561761
Publication date:	01/16/2010
Pages:	462
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.90(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

William G. Flanagan is professor of sociology at Coe College.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Fourth Edition.

Introduction.
The Division of Urban Sociology: Culturalist and Structuralist Approaches.
The Order of Topics.

1. An Invitation to Urban Studies.
Conceptual Challenges in Understanding Urban Space.
Experiencing Urban Space.
Our Love/Hate Relationship with the City.
The Urban Arena: Playground and Politics.

2. From Ancient Cities to an Urban World.
The Emergence of the Urban Form.
In Search of the First City: The Middle East.
Change in the Scale of Social Organization.
The Urban Form as Culture and the Transformation of Experience.
The Rise of the State and the Growth of Political-Economic Power.
The Development of Cities in China and Mesoamerica.
The Significance of Early Urbanization.
The Urbanization of Europe.
The Industrial Revolution.
The Dimensions of Urbanization in the Industrial Revolution.
Urban Change in the Present Era.
The Shifting Center of Growth in the Twentieth Century.
Globalization and the Place of the City.

3. The Urban Tradition in Sociology.
The Changing Scale and the Social Order.
The Urban Sociology of Max Weber, Georg Simmel, and Oswald Spengler.
The Urban Tradition Comes to the United States.
The Ecology of Urban Life.
Urbanism as a Way of Life.
The Image of the City in the Urban Tradition and in American Culture.
Evaluating the Urban Tradition in Sociology.
Gender and Public Space.
Updating the Urban Tradition.

4. Community and the City.
Urban Community Studies.
CaseStudies.
Distinguishing Between Social Spaces and Social Relationships.
Social Networks.
The Persistence of Family Ties.

5. Ethnicity and Minority/Majority Relations in Urban Studies.
Ethnicity and Minority.
The Urban Dimensions of Immigration, Ethnic Persistence, and Assimilation.
The Elastic Qualities of Ethnicity.
Interethnic Hostility.
Urban Ethnic Enclaves.
Institutions in the Rivalry for Peoplehood.
Everyone an Ethnic.
The Urban Arena and the Formation of Minority Groups.
Population Trends and Minorities.
African American Urbanization.
Contemporary Migration and the Making of Minorities.
La Ciudad Latina.
Asian Americans and the Problem of Scapegoating.
Native Americans and the City.
A Conclusion: The Recruitment of Labor and the Creation of Minorities.

6. Patterns and Consequences of Urbanization in Poor Countries.
Images of the “Third World” City.
Migration and Population Growth.
Modernization and Political Economy.
Modernization.
Political Economy.
The Challenges of Urban Growth.
Primacy.
Squatter Settlement.
Comparisons of Inner-City Slums and Peripheral Squatter Settlements.
The Informal Sector.
Globalization and the Urban Policy Dilemma.
Comparative Urban Studies.
Urbanization and Kinship.
Communities and Networks.
Urbanization and Ethnicity.

7. Urban Growth and Transitions in the United States.
Urban Growth Before the Twentieth Century.
Early Promoters.
The Race for Regional Domination.
Nineteenth-Century Arenas of Wealth and Poverty.
The Walking City.
Early Public Transportation and the First Suburbs.
The Expanding Metropolis — Through World War II.
Metropolitanization.
Remaking the Cities: Transportation, Government Policy, and the Wheels and Wings of Industry.
The Automobile Age.
The Continuation of Urban Trends Since World War II: Patterns of Growth and Decline.
The Federal Government's Role in Suburbanization.
The Selling of the Suburbs
The Blurring of the Suburbs.
Edge City.
The Rise of the Sunbelt and the Crisis of the Industrial City.
The Nature of the Sunbelt Advantage.
Sunbelt Liabilities.
Generalized Patterns of Growth and Decline.

8. Ecology and Capitalism: Globalization and Locality.
Urban Ecology and Urban Political Economy.
Urban Ecology.
Evaluating the Classical Ecological Schemes.
Postwar Modifications in the Methods and Scope of Urban Ecology.
Recent Concept Developments.
Political Economy and Urban Sociology.
The Rationalization of Space and the Emergence of Regional and Global
Perspectives.
Regional Studies.
Urban Sociology and Structural Determinism.
Human Agency and Urban Change.

9. Poverty, Power, and Crime.
The Features of Urban Poverty in the United States.
Explaining Poverty.
Patterns of Metropolitan Segregation.
African American Suburbs.
Race and Urban Poverty: Ecology, Culture, and the Mismatch Debate.
The Continuing Significance of Race.
Urban Households Headed by Women.
The Dual-City Hypothesis.
The Correlates of Urban Poverty: Powerlessness, Crime, and Victimization.
Crime and Victimization.
A Conclusion: Structure, Culture, and the Poor.

10. Urban Policy.
The Nature of Urban Policy.
Early Plans: The Grand Scale and the Humane Order.
The Record of Policy in the United States.
Housing Programs in the United States.
The Renewed Search for Market Solutions to the Housing Problem.
The Battle for Shelter in Contemporary America.
Losers in the Battle for Space: The Homeless.
The United States Failure to Develop a Comprehensive Urban Policy.
Urban Policy Outside the United States.
Urban Policy in Western Europe.
Centrally Planned Economies.
Three Dimensions of Successful Urban Policy.

11. A Unified Perspective for Urban Sociology.
Consequences of the Division in Urban Sociology.
Toward a Unity of Spatial Sociology.
The Future of Urban Sociology.
Conclusion.

Bibliography.

Author Index.

Subject Index.

Editorial Reviews

An introductory text, accessible to the average student, identifying the subfield and establishing a framework for its study. Broadly sets forth the culturalist and structuralist theories and modes of analysis. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

Flanagan’s approach provides a richly historical and social theoretical view for understanding urban development. This book provides students with understanding both the changing urban form and the power of cities in societies, from early settlements to world urbanization. This accessible, yet sophisticated account of major debates in urban sociology is a wonderful teaching tool and reference guide. Readers can learn of key trends in urban development, in the intellectual understanding of the city, and in the policy responses that have been attempted by individuals and social groups to organize urban life through community development, social networks, economic institutions, and political agencies, such as national governments. The grand scope that Flanagan provides on urban growth and transformations allows students to imagine the urban world of the past as well as the future. This is an excellent foundational source for students.

Louise Jezierski

Flanagan's approach provides a richly historical and social theoretical view for understanding urban development. This book provides students with understanding both the changing urban form and the power of cities in societies, from early settlements to world urbanization. This accessible, yet sophisticated account of major debates in urban sociology is a wonderful teaching tool and reference guide. Readers can learn of key trends in urban development, in the intellectual understanding of the city, and in the policy responses that have been attempted by individuals and social groups to organize urban life through community development, social networks, economic institutions, and political agencies, such as national governments. The grand scope that Flanagan provides on urban growth and transformations allows students to imagine the urban world of the past as well as the future. This is an excellent foundational source for students.--Louise Jezierski, PhD, James Madison College of Public and International Affairs, Michigan State University

From the Publisher