Hawaii

THE NEW URBAN SOCIOLOGY

The Rise of Sociology

• Ferdinand Tonnies (1855-1936): sketched out an evolutionary view of the development of human society

- Ideas used to highlight differences between village life of the preindustrial period and urban life of the industrial period ( difference between small town life and the large city.

- Saw the transition from community to society=a weakening of social ties and loss of sense of belonging.

• Emile Durkheim (1858-1917): wrote about changes brought about by industrialization

- Division of Labor in Society: discussed same issues as Tonnies

(Mechanical solidarity – individuals held together by mechanical bonds of kinship & social interdependence; they were predetermined and couldn’t be changed

(Organic solidarity – in the city, individuals weren’t bound by kinship; worked at new types of jobs and more opportunities to interact with other people.

- Convinced that the industrial economy was an improvement and would replace the earlier ways of life

• Friedrich Engels (1820-1895): believed the evils of industrialism and capitalism were intensified by the space of the city.

• George Simmel (1858-1918): wrote about how urban life transformed individual consciousness

- Everyday existence in the city altered the way people thought and acted

• Urbanization: refers to a city formation of building process

- Studies the way social activities locate themselves in space

- Interested in charting the rise and fall of great cities

• Urbanism: seeks to understand the ways of life that transpire in the city

- Deals with culture, social patterns, conflict

• Simmel was concerned with patterns of activity and ways of thinking in the city

- Modernity: the transition from a traditional society to an industrialized city

Simmel on the City

• In the traditional society, it was possible that money never changes hands because commodities were...