Basic Concepts In Urban Sociology

  Urban :-

The Oxford Dictionary defines the word ‘urban’ as relating to the life of a city or town. The word urban is derived from the Latin word ‘arbus’ which means ‘city’.

The concept of urban is almost universally understood as a large and densely settled population engaged primarily in non-agricultural economic activities. real question

In Thai, the designation of areas by different countries as urban or rural varies widely and is often dependent on administrative, political, cultural and historical, as well as demographic or economic considerations.

The Indian census definition of urban areas basically depends on two different aspects-

(A) existence of a local self-government

(b) Fulfillment of the criteria of size, density and business diversification.

 

The Census of India has adopted the following five criteria to define any place as a town.

 

(1) Size of population – 5,000 or more

(2) Density – 1,000/sq.mile and above

(3) Occupation – More than 75% of the residents should be involved in non-agricultural activities.

(4) Political Administration – An urban area to be classified as such must be governed by a municipality.

(5) Visible urban features – such as markets, water supply, roads, electricity, transport and communication with standardized housing, banks, hospitals, courts and educational institutions.

(6) Louis Wirth has given the sociological definition of a city as “a relatively large, dense and permanent settlement of socially heterogeneous individuals.” th

 

This points to certain characteristics of the city, namely the relatively large and dense population, which again gives rise to another characteristic, such as heterogeneity among residents.

Bergel defined a town as “a settlement where the majority of the inhabitants are engaged in activities other than agricultural activities”. He points out that the market as a system of exchange is a fundamental feature of non-agricultural activity without which the townspeople would have nothing to eat.

 

Sombert defined the city as “a place that becomes so large that people do not know each other.”

Sorokin and Zimmerman and others believe that a proper definition of a city combines several qualities or characteristics. He further says that the characteristics of urban areas are different from the characteristics of rural areas. These differences are in the following areas –

 

 

• Density of population
• Heterogeneity or homogeneity of population.
• Social discrimination and stratification
• mobility
• Mode of interaction (ie number and type of contacts).
• profession
• Environment
• size of community

 

 

We will call a town any settlement where the people living are engaged in activities other than agricultural activity. We call a community urban if activities are centered around a market, for a market

 

 

 

Necessary for non-agricultural activities because without the exchange of goods, city dwellers would not be able to survive.

 

 

According to Professor RN Morris, two aspects of the city are important.

1) size

2) Density of population

 

1) Size: The size of the city is an important aspect of the city. The growth and development of a city depends on its size. If the city is small, its functions, structure, social relations are different from those of a big city. In a big city like Mumbai, relationships are impersonal, superficial. Individuals do not know each other as they play certain roles. There is a lack of family attachment in their behaviour.

The townspeople consider social relations as a means to fulfill their objectives. Louis Wirth calls it the ‘rational refined manner’. The city man becomes more calculative, less social and spontaneous, less participatory and more frustrated.

In most modern cities, the division of labor is sharp-edged. Businesses define urbanization. Urbanization becomes more selfish and artificial with various occupations where people become isolated and work not for others but for their own ends. People become goal oriented. So Wirth says that ‘the corporation has no soul’.

Urbanization is showing different types of social control as compared to rural and tribal community. Police, courts, government and many other institutions control the behavior and behavior of people. The worship of religion, morality of the people is regulated by the festivals and the amount of charity given by them.

Urbanization shows us that there is specialization of marketing and its products. Cities serve and meet various demands like consumer goods, clothing, medicines and educational facilities, national and international needs. The city is unbalanced and does not achieve stability and equilibrium due to excessive specialization and interdependence.

Modern cities do not regulate systematic urbanization as houses, markets, slums, roads and transport grow abnormally. Governments fail to regulate the urban lifestyle.

2) Density of population: A city is a place of specialization. There is a high concentration of population at a particular place. There are many reasons for the development of the city. It can be the density of industrial development, marketing, public administration etc.

 

 

 

related to population heterogeneity. The quality of life and behavior of people is diverse and ever-changing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Urbanism

 

 

Louis Wirth used the term to denote a different way of life usually associated with city dwelling. It is a peculiar mental attitude or way of living in urban areas.

  Sometimes used as a synonym for urbanization. Urbanization is the result of living in urban areas. It is a peculiar way of living, a situation or set of circumstances. After Louis Wirth, urbanization is now referred to as “a way of life”.

Wirth outlines a limited number of city-identifying characteristics. He points to high heterogeneity, size, and density as motivating factors that lead to changes in the types of behavior and relationships between city dwellers. . For that, as the population grows, people become strangers to each other and develop secondary relationships. They also compete with each other for space and money. Leadership and identity in the city For this the number becomes the most important.

‘Urbanism’ is primarily characterized by a distinctive view of people, crowds and social ideas of urban society as a way of life. People develop rationality and high sophistication in their day-to-day relations with others.

Louis Wirth also pointed to ‘Urbanism’ as a specific point of view of urban people. When adjusting to the urban crowd and environment, people are quick to react.

 

 

Renowned Indian sociologist Dr. Radhakamal Mukherjee describes various aspects of urbanism. They are like this.

 

• Sociologically, relations are impersonal, superficial and artificial. Most relationships are contractual, formal and intentional. People are more mobile and change their position very quickly.

 

• Psychologically, wealth and external status symbols dominate the attitudes and behavior of urban people. They are concerned with external status symbols and do not concern themselves with internal aspects or qualities of individuals. For example, a doctor, a lawyer, a judge, a professor, a manager, an officer etc. reflect their status and economic well-being through educational qualifications and earnings. They are internally troubled, facing problems like frustration, abandonment, loneliness.

 

• Ecologically speaking, urbanization has a demographic, occupational and mechano-technical basis. People concentrate broadly on a particular niche of expertise with various occupations which are nurtured by non-agricultural organizations like industries, factories, banks, markets where people get a chance to earn money daily or monthly.

 

 

 

• Biologically, the male-female ratio is chaotic and unbalanced. As men migrate from villages leaving behind their wives and children and ancestral home and land, there are fewer women in cities. Hence there are social and biological problems like prostitution, rape, sexual assault etc.

 

• Finally, modern cities like London, Tokyo, Kolkata, Mumbai represent different ways of life and they are the best places to study urbanization. Apart from these mega cities, smaller cities and towns are growing and affected by rapid changes in transport and communication, educational facilities, banking system and marketing association. However, they are growing and urbanization is constantly changing.

 

 

 

  Urbanization :-

 

Urbanization is directly related to economic development. Industry, technological development, mechanization take place in cities. Production or manufacturing is developed in urban areas which gives employment to many people. As cities grew, industrial development also took place. Thus urbanization and industrialization often go hand in hand. But if a country is to progress in an economic sense—to raise the standard of living of its people and to make surpluses available for capital investment, it must increase its agricultural and industrial output faster than it can increase its population. .

 

Urbanization refers to the level of population concentration in an urban area. Urbanization is the process of movement of population from non-urban to urban areas.

Urbanization is a dynamic process that transforms rural areas into urban areas.

WS Thompson defines urbanization as “the movement of people from communities primarily concerned with agriculture to other communities, usually larger ones whose activities are concentrated primarily in government, trade, manufacturing, or allied interests.”

 

 

 

Geruson and McGrath define the term “urbanization” as the concentration of population through movement and redistribution.

Urbanization also refers to a way of life that is typical of a heterogeneous population group. It also means a well-developed agglomeration with other businesses apart from industry and exhibits a well-planned pattern of housing.

Urbanization, in the demographic sense, is the growth of urban areas (U) relative to the total population (T) over a period of time, as noted by Ashish Bose. As long as U/T increases, urbanization occurs.

Urbanization is a culture bound phenomenon. It leads to changes in all aspects of life. Politically, it means a change from a rural panchayat system to a democratic or bureaucratic set up. Sometimes a city is a capital, a center of planning and development, an industrial center or a place where most of the facilities are available. Urbanization affects the status of people. This leads to a change in occupation from landed work to technical industrial jobs. Urbanization also leads to movement from rural traditional ways of living to modern ways of living. Economically, urbanization provides new economic opportunities to do all modern work. It also leads to development of infrastructure and people enjoy electricity, transport, higher education, communication, better health and food facilities.

Urbanization can also be described as a process of change from the predominance of primary relationships in close dense habitations to the predominance of secondary relationships in dispersed distant neighborhoods. Social norms and values also change along with it. People come in contact with modern ideas and ideals, they become more rational and feel freer. Living in cities makes them traffic conscious and punctual.

Urbanization as a process refers to the changing nature of people’s lives. It is a movement of people and resources for the satisfaction of various needs of the townspeople. Noting is grown in the city, so all the food, vegetables and fruits come from different rural communities. Urban space is a manufacturing space. That’s why a large number of people come from outside. A city develops into a city, a city into a metro and a mega city,

 

 

 

Psychologically, urbanization refers to a change in behaviour. People change their habits and customs to adjust with the urban environment. They also lose faith in rituals and ceremonies.

Urbanization also indicates economic development. As more people move to cities, more people are involved in industrial processes. Thus, if a country is more urbanised, it signifies better opportunities for the people in the cities in all respects.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Traditional Theory:

 

  Wirth, Burgess, Park Contemporary Theory: Castells, David Harvey

 

 

Sociology students are interested in learning about the various theories in urban sociology. All urban theories are important because a large number of people in the world live in cities and face urban realities.

City life has become fast-paced, urgent and citizens are forced to adjust to the given geographical, social and economic conditions. All the civilizations of the world started with the development of city-states. For example, Greek city-states, Italian city-states, Rome, Babylonia, etc. Some ancient and medieval cities were born on the banks of rivers, such as Pataliputra, Banaras and Ujjain. The ruined cities like Mohenjodaro and Harappa cities were systematically planned.

Most modern cities such as London, New York, Colombo, and Asian cities such as Tokyo, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, Visakhapatnam, Mangalore, Cochin, Thiruvananthapuram were established along the sea. Some industrial cities like Surat, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Bangalore, Mysore and Salem sprang up in the interior of the country. All the cities have been followed with one or the other principle.

Urban environment is different from rural environment in every way. Cities are implemented with a theory, a model, a map, a geographical location and political approval. Ancient cities are different from medieval and modern cities.

Urban theories were developed by American sociologists known as the ‘Chicago School’. Systematic urbanization began with the Americans. He has developed principles to develop planned cities.

 

 

 

The following questions arise in relation to the origin and development of cities.

 

1) How are cities born?

2) How do they grow and spread?

3) What are the functions of cities?

4) Why change jobs?

 

To answer all these questions and to know more about urban sociology, we must study various theories of urban development. Louis Wirth, Roderick D. Mackenzie, Parke and Burgess gave illustrative theories of urban development and suggested invasion, displacement, isolation, aggregation, concentration and decentralization of various factors such as industry, bureaucracy, public administration, economic development, marketing, migration and Have given. Housing societies and over population are responsible.

 

 

 

 

  Louis Wirth

 

 

Urbanism as a way of life was first introduced in 1938 by American sociologist Louis Wirth. According to him, urbanization is generally considered as a way of life. The concept of urbanism refers to the patterns of behavior, attitudes and ideas characteristic of urban life.

Louis Wirth defined the city as “a relatively large, compact and permanent settlement of heterogeneous individuals”. They found that the distinctive forms of social action and organization that often emerged in cities were mostly due to their unusual size, density, and heterogeneity.

In Worth’s theory, three concepts, namely, size, density and asymmetry are considered to be the key features or characteristics of an urban society. These concepts or features are intertwined and make urban life complex.

He discussed the consequences of large size, high density and heterogeneity as a typical urban behavior or lifestyle.

Following are the main features of urbanism as observed by Wirth:

 

As a city grows, it becomes impossible to gather all its residents in one place. Therefore increasing reliance must be placed on indirect communication as a method of disseminating information and opinion and making decisions. The mass media and representatives of special interests become important links in communication between decision makers and the general public.

It shows that the whole city cannot be treated as such, all the residents cannot meet at the same time, they have to connect with each other through telephone or print or visual media.

 

 

As the density of population in an area increases, more differentiation and specialization can result.

Ta is This reinforces the effect of size in inducing greater specialization. Greater differentiation and specialization is indeed necessary if the sector is to support the increased numbers.

 

 

 

Physical contacts in the city are close while most social contacts are relatively superficial.

So people are classified and responded to each other in terms of visible symbols such as material possessions or luxuries. It means that the classification is done on the basis of physical accumulation or growth only.

 

 

  The city’s land use pattern is the result of competition for a scarce resource. Land becomes very expensive and only those who can get maximum profit from it can buy it. This means that those who could afford became the owners or users of the land.

 

The desirability of an area for residential purposes is influenced by a number of social factors, its prestige, its accessibility to work, the ethnic and racial composition of its population, the absence of nuisances such as smoke, dirt and noise. People get choosy while choosing a place.

Therefore, people with similar backgrounds and needs, consciously choose, drift reluctantly or are forced by circumstances into the same choice of city. “Uniformity” becomes the better factor.

 

The absence of close emotional and emotional ties between co-workers and co-residents fosters competition and mutual exploitation rather than co-operation.

 

  Traffic signals and clocks regulate the life of the city as the density of people increases.

 

  The crime rate also increases.

 

  The absence of close and intimate relationships leads to an increase in suicide rates among individuals, especially those who are lonely.

 

The interaction of individuals with different roles and personalities breaks down simple class distinctions. A person belongs to a variety of groups and can be judged by a variety of visible symbols such as a car, a flat in a posh area, these can be associated with vastly different prestige levels in society. As a result, the class structure is less clear and one person’s position in it may be somewhat inconsistent with another.

 

  City-dwellers belong to different groups and their loyalties to these groups often conflict, as the groups usually interact with vastly different aspects of personality and their claims are not necessarily harmonious. Members of various unions find themselves in confusing situations.

 

 

 

As a result, city dwellers are more likely to be geographically and socially mobile and less constrained by compulsive loyalty to a particular group, home, or city. People keep changing places.

the townspeople get picky

Seeking membership of any group.

 

 

Mass production creates a large impersonal market. It uses a leveling effect. The symbol by which the role-player is socially placed becomes standardized as he or she becomes more economically efficient. Tailor-made articles and special or personalized services become very expensive for the average person compared to items that can be mass-produced. Television programs are made for general public, to suit general needs and for personal satisfaction.

 

No. It also leads to greater innovation, inventiveness and efficiency.

This equalization effect results in a peculiar nexus, a tendency to measure all goods and services against a common standard—money—and to believe that almost any good can be obtained if one works hard enough to make it profitable. Can raise enough money for.

 

 

 

  Town growth and diversity have been associated with relatively weak bonds between co-residents, as townspeople are less likely than countrymen to have lived together for a few generations under a common tradition. Therefore formal methods of social control must be substituted for common practice. The problem of social control in a diverse population has to be solved by physically separating sub-groups, linguistic communities, racial or ethnic associations forming homogeneous areas in the city. There are stronger bonds between the co-inhabitants of these pockets.

 

  As a town or city grows, it becomes less likely that any resident will know everyone else personally, so the character of social relationships changes. Also, there is an increase in the number of persons whom one meets and on whom one is dependent to some extent. But there is less dependence on specific individuals. Therefore, most social interactions in the city are likely to be impersonal, superficial, transient and fragmentary. Relationships are of temporary nature and the aspects of personality that come in contact are only partial. It never gets done. No relationship is likely to be lasting, deep or deep

 

City dwellers are more likely to treat social relationships as tools to serve their own purposes, thus behaving in what Wirth calls a rationally sophisticated way. Individuals become more objective and the relationship becomes contractual in nature i.e. only by appointments and as per certain terms and conditions.

 

 

A highly developed division of labor is associated with an emphasis on social relations as a means to an end. According to Wirth, it is the most widely spread of professions.

It is tight.

As the division of labor develops, larger firms tend to dominate smaller family businesses. Large firms with limited liability can pool large resources and draw their leaders from a wide range.

 

According to Wirth, “a corporation has no soul.” People just become goal-oriented. Written and well defined ethics and rules govern the relationship especially the contractual relationship.

 

 

As the market grows, the wider division of labor increases. Not only do hinterland cities serve various economic purposes for their regional residents, specialty cities will specialize in particular products where these are profitable. Mumbai specialized in textile products or the cities of Assam and West Bengal became famous as tea producers. They are also marketed internationally. This way, their markets will be national and international and not just local.

The extreme specialization and inter-dependence is linked to an unstable equilibrium in the city, as people keep changing their position for further development. This means that sustainability is rare in cities.

 

 

Standardization provides the elements for a common culture in society. People follow more or less the same lifestyle.

The impersonality of many daily interactions in modern cities is undeniable and to some extent this is true of life in general in modern societies. But these types of urban living are characteristic of social life as a whole, not just the activities of those who live in large cities. Yet there are limits to Wirth’s idea.

Criticism of Wirth’s theory of urbanism: –

 

(1) However, the desired generalization which would be valid for all cities, has certain reductions applicable only to industrial cities.

(2) The second objection is related to Wirth’s view that in rural society relations are primary while in urban society they tend to be secondary in character.

(3) It is not necessary that there should always be impersonal relations in the city. It is this diversity of relationships that characterizes the city.

(4) Wirth has rightly laid emphasis on secularism and disorder in the cities. But several studies have shown that urbanization is not necessarily accompanied by the destruction of social and moral order.

 

 

 

 

Ernest Burgess :-

 

 

In 1925, an American urban sociologist E.W. Concentric Zone Theory was given by Burgess. According to Burgess the city is divided into various mandals and they are known as zones. They work in different ways. As the city grew more and more, upper-class residents moved out of the central business districts to avoid noise pollution and traffic. Similarly, middle class people also move to suitable places to find a comfortable place to live. Lower class people live near their work places.

According to this theory, a city consists of five rings or concentric circles, radiating from a core containing the central business district (CBD). Each circle is characterized by a variety of land use and activities. They are like this.

1) Central Business District.

 

2) transition zone.

 

3) Area of houses of independent workers.

 

4) Middle class residential area.

 

5) Passengers area.

 

(1) Central Business District: This is first and foremost the innermost zone. This is the most important place of the city. Activities of commercial, social, transport, civic life start and end here throughout the day. It houses important shops, departmental stores, offices, clubs, banks, hotels, lodging and boarding, theatres, museums and administrative buildings. Various daily activities take place in this area and it is a very important place of work and business. Many people visit this place for various works.

 

 

 

 

 

(2) Transitional Zone: This zone is always changing due to encroachment. The places of trade and industry expand in this area. So this area is known as residential decline. The zone is undergoing a transition, as business organizations and small industries vacate small tenants by paying higher prices and set up their shops and offices.

 

(3) Area of Homes of Independent Working Men: Residents of this area want easy access to the entire city. Most of the blue collars have been living in this field for generations. The area consists of apartments, several family homes and smaller private homes that are slightly less old and dilapidated. The workers are satisfied with the socio-economic parameters as compared to other zone workers.

 

(4) Middle class residential zone: This zone has a large number of privately owned houses. The cost of houses is very high where common people cannot afford one. But usually there are professional people, small businessmen who are rich, lawyers, doctors, managers and all kinds of white-collar people. In other words, there is a movement of families.

 

(5) Commuters Zone: People in this zone live in suburban areas. They commute daily from home to offices and workplaces. It can be a distance of 50 kilometers; Use fast-moving modes of transport such as trains, railways and shuttles. Daily shuttle is a significant achievement

Of these people An efficient and fast moving mode of transport is responsible for the survival and sustainability of this sector. Otherwise, it would be an unimaginable aspect of city life and impossible.

There was work. Burgess further clarifies that there are shops and hotels along the tracks and roads to meet the needs of commuters from one long distance point to another. Can cross public transport as well as private transport

 

 

 

For crossing hills, rivers, bridges, tunnels, flyover bridges to reach work sites. Thus, this area cannot be in a circle. It can grow parallel to some suitable directions. For example in Mumbai and Bangalore, offices and business organizations are spread beyond the city limits. If the development is not controlled, then the city has to face various problems like lack of infrastructure. Taking care becomes the responsibility of the appropriate governments.

Burgess did not insist that his theory was empirically accurate as a physical description of a given city, and he recognized that physical obstacles such as mountains, rivers, lakes or transport lines could cause deviations from his model. . Instead, the concentrated area theory is a normative concept designed to dynamically identify general processes of city growth and differentiation over time, with little change in most modern industrial cities.

But it is being criticized by others on the grounds that people generally move along main transport routes or lines of communication. In that case, the next zones may not be round in shape but may be triangular shaped like hedges. Furthermore, the different grades of residence are irregularly distributed and often concentrated at one end of the borough.

 

 

 

 

Robert Park :-

 

 

American sociology emerged in the twentieth century. Although courses in the “social sciences” were offered as early as 1865, the subject first gained intellectual respectability when the University of Chicago invited Albion W. Small (then president of Colby College) to establish a sociology department in 1892. Thirty years on, the department attracted many prominent scholars. One of the most outstanding was Robert Ezra Parks.

Leaving his newspaper job in 1915 to join the department, Park established the first Urban Studies Center in the United States. His interest in urban affairs has both European and American roots. In his own country, he was strongly influenced by Lincoln Stephens’ “Shame of the Cities”, a book which suggested that the malaise of the modern city was everyone’s responsibility.

 

 

 

Despite being aware of good and evil, there is no doubt that Park had an almost limitless fascination with the city. Not only did he guide generations of students in discovering all aspects of Chicago, but he served as the first president of the Chicago Urban League. He devoted himself to an endless personal exploration of the city.

The program that Park used to guide urban sociology in Chicago was presented in 1916 in his classic article “The City: Suggestions for the Investigation of Human Behavior in the Urban Environment”. He argued that urban research should be conducted by disciplined observation in much the same way that anthropologists study other cultures.

 

  Second, he regarded the city as a social organism, with individual components bound together by internal processes. The city was not anarchy and disorder (a stereotype of Chicago despite the “Roaring Twenties”) but rather, its population and institutions tended toward an “orderly and distinct set of institutions”.

His belief that the “parts and processes” of the city were intimately linked was central to his new social science, which he called “different from human, plant, and animal ecology”. Finally, Park was far from insensitive to the issue of human values in his approach to the city. He saw the city as a “moral as well as a material organization” and took the evaluative judgments of urban life deep into his sociology.

Park saw a commercial structure in the modern town, which “existed from the market place around which it spread”. Like European urbanists, he believed that modern city life was characterized by a complex division of labor driven by industrial competition. Park believed that this dominance of the market would result in the steady erosion of more traditional ways of life. The past emphasis on “family ties, local associations … caste, and status” would inevitably lead to a Gesellschaft-like system “based on occupation and business interests”.

Park saw the city as characterized by formal structures, best exemplified by large-scale bureaucracy.

 

Over time, these would replace the more “informal” means by which people historically organized their daily lives. bureaucracy like police and courts and charity and welfare

Agencies will play an increasing role in urban settings. Politics will likewise develop a more formal tone. Unable to handle all the issues at stake in the running of a complex city, the city-dweller would have to rely on “the political owner and political machine or organizations represented by other civic organizations such as voter leagues”.

Face-to-face oral network through which information is spread in the village

flows (gossip is a more accurate, if less scholarly word) will

 

 

 

Replaced by dependence on mass media. Information will be delivered more and more impersonally and regularly to a mass of information consumers. The city’s newspaper was of such importance to the park. Of course, the newspaper was soon to be augmented by radio and later by the ubiquitous TV set.

 

Park focused his attention on the psychosocial dimension of urban life. Park suggested that life within the city would become less emotional and more rational than life elsewhere. Deep-seated emotions and prejudices will give way to calculations based on self-interest. At the same time, however, Park was aware that the erosion of traditional emotional ties in the city could give rise to new social bonds based on interest groups.

 

As a social reformer, Park recognized that the modern city presented problem upon problem but also He was captivated by what he saw as the possibilities of freedom and tolerance in the city.

Robert Park wanted to do much more than understand cities. Park wanted nothing less than to understand all the forces that shape human social life. To achieve that goal, he used cities as his laboratory and created what he called the science of human ecology.

 

Although Park was very careful to separate his science from the study of plant or animal ecology – he saw many of the same forces at work in the human sphere as being present in the organic world. For example, he believed that human life had always been driven by the evolutionary principle of the “struggle for existence”. It always came across as competition. In an effort to meet their needs, people competed with each other for scarce resources – food, clothing, shelter, and valuable land. Essentially, some people supported ‘won’ resources and others ‘lost’. As a result of this competition, the city took on a distinctive form, dividing itself into ‘natural’ areas (so-called because they were not consciously planned): business districts, ethnic neighborhoods, skid rows, and rooming-house areas.

 

In this part of his theory, Park was making the same assumptions about competition that characterized the economic theory of urban land use. On another level, however, Park saw a distinctly social element in the competition. People not only competed for economic gain, but they also competed for power, control of parks, streets and ethnic districts, and prestige – the right to live in a more respectable “neighborhood” or the right to have a fashionable business address. .

Furthermore, having lived in and seen Chicago in the early 20th century, Park was convinced that large-scale population movements strongly influenced urban development. most of the immigrants who came

 

 

 

The growing American cities of the late 19th and early 20th centuries had little education, few skills to sell, and were extremely poor. As a result, they moved to the center-city area, took low-paying jobs in factories, and were forced to live in overcrowded housing. Over time most immigrants became skilled money earners, and moved to better housing. As they did in cities across the country, they left their original dwellings for the next poor group to enter the city. Chicago sociologists called such population movements “invasion and succession”.

 

Both Park and Wirth provided breakthroughs. Park demanded that on-site urban research be an integral part of urban sociology, providing mechanisms behind surface impressions of the urban environment.

In short, we see in the ideas of Robert Park a new emphasis on urban research and on-site investigation of the city, in contrast to the more abstract theory of Tönnies, Durkheim and Simmel, and the historical work of Weber. Park’s main contribution was his demand that we get out there and see how the city actually works. 

 

Contemporary theory: –

 

Manuel Castells :-

 

Manuel Castells Oliván was born in 1942 in Helin, Spain. He is associated with sociological research. He made a major contribution to the field of urban sociology in the study of information and communication. He is considered a great scholar in providing more information about human life in relation to the provision of knowledge, information and technology and communication. He is a prominent member of the International Collegium.

It offers new perspectives in overcoming the institution

Serious obstacles in the field of social, economic, political and cultural aspects. Castell is imparting knowledge about peaceful and harmonious existence in the world through economic development, political stability and social better organization. 

 

As a teenager, Castells became an active student of the anti-Franco movement. His political activities forced him to flee the country. He came to Paris and completed his graduation there. He then completed his doctoral studies and became professor of sociology at the University of Paris at the age of 24, teaching sociology of communication for a decade. Since 1979, he has been a member of the Society for Town and Regional Planning at the University of California.

Joined as Professor of Science. In 2003, he joined the Annenberg School for Communication as a professor of communication. There he became the chairman of the Department of Communications and Technology. He was also an honorary member of the Annenberg Research Network for International Communication. He received several honorary doctorates from various universities for his numerous works in the field of communication and technology.

 

Castells is basically a Marxist urban sociologist. He has always emphasized the role of social movements in the transformation of urban society. Urban spaces are always coming out with problems which are social and psychological in nature. Conflict, competition, accommodation, and assimilation are daily features of city life. Man is struggling to live and daily life is one big drama of existence. Everyone is trying to reach certain goals.

 

Most of the goals are economic, political and status related. After finding out with the basic needs men always try to achieve various ambitions which are materialistic in nature through thick and thin. Men cannot live peacefully in urban places. They strive and strive for a better existence. Therefore, they modify, improve, the economic, social and political institutions.

According to Castles, there are three dimensions which play a major role in the urban community. They are – production, power and experience. In other words, the organization of the economy, the state and its various institutions, and the ways in which people take collective action in an urban community.

 

  Casts 21st-century responses to the development of the information age, the Internet as an application, he emphasizes that the role of government, social movements and commercial activities give a myopic shape to the urban agenda as movements are short-lived and short-lived. There are those who crush. far. But of course there can be many changes as urbanization is dynamic. Castells is one of the great modern urban sociologists, heavily influenced by cyberspace. He states that “modern societies are increasingly structured around the dichotomous opposition of net and self.”

He introduced the concept of “mass consumption” such as public transport, public housing etc., which covers a wide range of social conflicts – from the economic level to the political level displaced through state intervention. transcending Marxist rigor in the early 1980s,

 

He focused on the role of new technologies in restructuring an economy. In 1989, he introduced the concept of “space flows”, the physical and immaterial components of global information networks used for real-time, long-distance coordination of the economy.

 

In the 1990s, he published two of his research strands in the Information Age: economy, society, and culture as a trilogy, The Rise of the Network Society (1996), The Power of Identity (1997), and The End of the Millennium (nineteen ninety eight) ); Two years later, it had favorable critical acceptance in university seminars, worldwide.

 

The Information Age: Economy, Society, and Culture considers three sociological dimensions – production, power, and experience – with an emphasis on the organization of the economy, the state and its institutions, and the ways in which people participate in their lives through collective action. create meaning, are reducible sources of social dynamics – which must be understood as both discrete and inter-related entities. In addition, he became an established cybernetic culture theorist with his Internet development analysis, emphasizing the state’s military and academia, social movements such as computer hackers and social activists, and business, shaping economic infrastructure according to their interests. . In the information age he claims that, “our societies are increasingly structured around the bipolar opposition of net and self”; “Net” refers to network organizations replacing vertically-integrated hierarchies as the dominant form of social organization, “Self” refers to the practices that an individual uses to affirm social identity and meaning in a constantly changing cultural landscape .

 

Finally, Castells links his research work of sociological literature with urban sociology, new knowledge and information, internet studies, culture, social and environmental.

Economic change and the role of governments.

  The age of science, technology and information redirected the urban society in a different direction. It is bitter but sweet to know that the world has been reduced to a small place like a globe map, which can get all the information of the world within seconds.

 

  David Harvey :- 

Urbanism, Harvey insists, is an aspect of the built environment caused by the spread of industrial capitalism. In traditional societies, a clear distinction was made between town and countryside.

New Sociology