The Chicago School was a major early influence in urban sociology based at the University of Chicago in the interwar years. Key figures included Albion Small, William Thomas, Robert Park, Ernest Burgess, and Louis Wirth. They studied urban communities and neighborhoods using methods like ethnography and spatial analysis. They developed important concepts like urban ecology and the concentric zone model to understand how cities develop spatially and socially. The Chicago School helped establish urban sociology as a distinct field and influenced many later theorists.

1. THE CHICAGO SCHOOL
The Sociology of the City

2. Some Basic Facts
• Sociologists based in the University of
Chicago
• Dominant in American Sociology esp.
during inter war years
• Famous for ground breaking studies of
urban life

3. The Main Men
• Founder Albion Small
• Pioneer William Thomas
• Innovator Robert Park
• Key Thinker Ernest Burgess
• Key Thinker Louis Wirth

4. Influences
• Both Small and Thomas studied in
Europe and were influenced by key
German thinkers: notably

5. Key Assumptions
• Cities manifest a way of life that
differs radically from that found in
rural (country) areas

6. Topics & Areas of Study1
• Park and Burgess, focused on the way in
which the spatial structure of the city
emerged from the struggle for space and
resources, with capitalism being merely
one feature or medium of that struggle.
• Main methods ethnography and spatial
analysis

7. Topics & Areas of Study 2
• Communities; Wirth: The Ghetto1928
• Study of Jewish Community in Chicago
• Places: Cressey: The Taxi Dance Hall a
Sociological Study in Commercialized City
Life 1932
• Groups: White :Street Corner Society
1942

8. Key Aims
• Sought To Identify and clarify the nature of
and key factors that influence social
interactions within modern urban
environments

9. Therefore….
• A distinct, branch of study is
required in order to understand
the dynamics of Urban Life
• For many this marks the true
birth of Urban Sociology as a
discrete area of study with
specific goals and distinct
methodologies
• For specialist area of study
specialist theoretical tools are
required

10. Definition
• The City is defined as
“a relatively large,
dense, and
permanent settlement
of heterogeneous
individuals
• Louis Wirth Urbanism as a way of
life 1938

11. KEY CONCEPT 1
• The City is the divided
into concentric zones

12. KEY CONCEPT 2
• The Zone of
Transition area 2
formerly a prosperous
business area
becomes run down
and hosts a transitory
population- area for
socially problematic
behaviours-vice,
drugs, etc

13. Legacy
• Introduced specialist Urban Sociology
• Pioneered the use of Participant
Observation within groups and
Communities
• Introduced and Developed Urban Ecology
as a principle in understanding city life
• Influenced a whole new generation of
theorists both sides of the Atlantic

14. Including
• Goffman Asyums, Presentation of Self In Everyday
Society
• Becker Outsiders and other key studies in
Deviance
• Blumer Self And Society

15. • Park and Burgess, focused on the way in
which the spatial structure of the city
emerged from the struggle for space and
resources, with capitalism being merely
one feature or medium of that struggle.
• Main methods ethnography and spatial
analysis