SOC 2112 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Erving Goffman, Urban Sociology, Social Disorganization Theory

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 2112
• Professor: William Flynn

Document Summary

Introduction to the science of sociology with e. w. burgess (1921: the city suggestions for the study of human nature in the urban environment (1925) Erving goffman was also a part of this. Parks was a pioneer in urban sociology who was interested in immigration and migration studies and race. In chicago, burgess studied human ecology and came up with the concentric zone theory. He predicted that cities would take the form of five concentric rings with areas of social and physical deterioration concentrated near the city center and more prosperous areas located near the city"s edge. The high turnover of people in the zone of transition resulted in the idea of social disorganization . No social norms were given time to develop. A lack of clear, moral, guide-lines deriving from a settled, stable, community structure resulted in a lack of informal social controls and hence a high rate of crime.