Sociology 2152A/B Chapter Notes -Urban Sociology, Urban Sprawl, Western Settlement
Document Summary
Demographic shift: movement from people to cities. Increasing density/size of cities: population increase, cities get bigger. Metropolitan regionalization (size of territory: l. wirth three demographic variables. Socio-cultural: pervasiveness of urban-oriented thinking, culture and organization throughout society, how you live, primary locus of activity, congregation of people to attend certain events, l. wirth - relationships lose intimacy, more complex and superficial. Cities have their own mechanisms of governance. People experience the city differently and assess the city differently. Process of urbanization almost always involves value judgments. Cities represented a dawn of a new era in the way people related to one another: gemeinschaft to gesellschaft. Psychosocial impacts of urban life: more competition, overstimulation from too many people, desire to stay aloof from others. Linked emergence of cities to rise of capitalism. Chicago: new kind of city that grew by attracting people from a wide diversity of backgrounds.