SOCY1050 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Gentrification, Georg Simmel, Proxemics
Lecture 7 - 04/03 - Cities and Urban Life
What is a city?
a title ranking above that of town
relatively large and permanent settlement (wikipedia)
a human settlement in which strangers are likely to meet
social and spatial contexts that have important impacts on how we interact with each
other
eg. economic, cultural, governance, gender
they have:
CBDs
support for cultural scene
big govt, religion, education, infrastructure, business
large population -> more diversity
gentrification
particular form of social organisation and relations
particular social problems and inequalities
e.g. homelessness
economic opportunities -> environmental phenomena (rural to urban migration)
crowds
Origin of the City:
the pre-modern city:
high walls
central religious temple
royal palace
segregated residential areas by occupation and ethnicity
centred around religion
Military, rather than economic control, over hinterland (area around city from which it
got its resources)
concerned with trade rather than production
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The modern city:
industrial revolution
labour saving tech. in ag
Abundant raw materials
development of mass production techniques
mass exodus of ppl from rural peasantry to industrial labour
economies of scale: labour, resources, services
sites of poverty, pollution, crime, disease, child labour etc.
Durkheim - anomie (suicide, not knowing where you fit in)
Marx - alienation
Weber - rationalisation/disenchantment (bureaucracies/technology/science
disenchanted life for people)
people now left home to work in shifts - emergence of cook time
radical changes to the family - smaller units due to nature of accomodation in city
social relationships became more formalised and specialised
work became specialised and compartmented
also led to great deal of personal freedom
e.g. anonymity, opportunity, lack of hyper surveillance as in small settlements
How do cities shape us?
the stranger (Georg Simmel)
new forms of social interaction - social contract with strangers
the stranger has a category rather than an identity
e.g. stereotypes
modern cities allowed people to remain spatially close but remain strangers
particularly due to specialisation of labour
stranger remains outside of kinship, occupation, religion (but not necessarily locality)
this allows judiciary - e.g. impartial judges etc.
Ferdinand Tönnies:
saw cities as eroding gemeinschaft, or traditional community, including:
strong social roles - gender, occupation etc.
Unreflexive bonds - village etc.
find more resources at oneclass.com
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Document Summary
Lecture 7 - 04/03 - cities and urban life. Origin of the city: the pre-modern city: high walls central religious temple royal palace segregated residential areas by occupation and ethnicity centred around religion. Military, rather than economic control, over hinterland (area around city from which it got its resources) concerned with trade rather than production. The modern city: industrial revolution labour saving tech. in ag. Abundant raw materials development of mass production techniques mass exodus of ppl from rural peasantry to industrial labour economies of scale: labour, resources, services sites of poverty, pollution, crime, disease, child labour etc. Durkheim - anomie (suicide, not knowing where you fit in) Ferdinand t nnies: saw cities as eroding gemeinschaft, or traditional (cid:1684)community(cid:1685), including: strong social roles - gender, occupation etc. Unreflexive bonds - village etc. strong norms of behaviours and sanctions a common purpose - the (cid:1684)commons(cid:1685) this changed in favour of gesellschaft, or (cid:1684)association(cid:1685)
