Download Urbanisation - Introduction to Sociology - Lecture Notes and more Study notes Introduction to Sociology in PDF only on Docsity! Urbanisation: A Sociological View Essential Reading for this week: – Macionis & Plummer: 628-655 – Fulcher & Scott: 502-512 – “What is Urban?” by N. Larco Urbanisation: By definition: the concentration of humanity into cities But what is a city? Ancient Forms Earliest forms of human association: – Nomadic groups – Gatherers/Hunters Early Settlements Fortified Villages Early Settlements in Scotland The first city: Jericho • The earliest Neolithic level of Jericho, dating around the 8th - 7th centuries BCE Pre-Industrial Cities • Pre-industrial cities included Crete, Athens, Rome, Vienna, Paris, London, Constantinople, Canton, Hong Kong, and more Growth of Cities: New Experiences, New Vocabulary • Bourgeoisie: Fr. “of the town” – Used to described the new urban middle class • Ghetto: It. Borghetto, “outside the city walls” – Used to describe the segregation of Jews in medieval Venice • Pagan: It. Paganini, “country dweller” – Used by early Christians (mainly urbanites) to describe those who were not Christian Cities and states, cities v. states? • Cities: early centres of political, social, cultural, and economic power • States: Rising power of states, growth of nationalism, diminishes city power (antagonisms between cities & states) • Are you Aberdonian, Glaswegian or Scottish OR British? – Identity, taxes, culture, law… The Metropolis 1860-1950: The great metropolis. – Metropolis, Gk. “Mother city”, • Definition: A large city that socially and economically dominates an urban area – After WW I, people left rural areas hoping to find better jobs in cities docsity.com • In 1810, 20% of British population lived in in cities or towns • By 1910, 80% of British population lived in cities towns The Suburbs • In the 1970’s, populations of major cities began to decrease • The growth of suburbs – urban areas beyond the political boundaries of a city • Cities responded by expanding their boundaries to encompass suburbs New Terms for New Cities • Megalopolis: Gottmann 1961 : “vast urban region containing a number of cities & their surrounding suburbs” • World Cities: Friedman, 1986: “large urban regions, highly interconnected, through which finance, economic, decision-making & international labour flow” Cities: Their Growth • By 2000, more than 250 cities had populations in excess of 1,000,000 • UN prediction: Within the next ten years, one-half of the Earth’s population will reside in cities. Early Sociologists on City Life • Emile Durkheim: – mechanical solidarity of small pre-industrial societies – organic solidarity of industrial/ urban society – transition from one to the other fuels the growth of anomie The Spread of Capitalism & the Growth of Cities • Max Weber: – Medieval cities played a role in the rise of modern capitalism in Europe. • K.Marx (and F.Engels): – industrial city reflected the ‘capitalist mode of production’ – Cities were the cradles of the labour movements, class consciousness and revolution • Manuel Castells: Collective consumption Urbanism as a way of life? • Louis Wirth – Chicago school of sociology – Established urban studies as a field – 1939 essay `Urbanism as a way of Life’ – Defined cities • Large population size • High population density • Social diversity • BIG IDEA: Cities produce a distinctly urban way of life docsity.com
