The Importance of Place

1
The Importance of Place

• Sociology 367.02

2
Some Basic Definitions

• Community
• A Localized population whose members engage in a
  variety of functionally integrated activities
• Characteristics (Robert Park)
• Population, territorially organized
• Rooted in the soil it occupies
• Units (individuals) living in a relationship of
  mutual symbiotic interdependence

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More Basic Definitions

• Community (continued)
• That combination of social units and systems that
  perform the major social functions having
  locality relevance (Roland Warren)
• A group of people living in the same area, within
  which many of their social, psychological, and
  physical needs may be satisfied (LaGory and
  Pipkin)

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Commonalities Between Definitions

• Communities Have
• People
• Common Place
• Sociocultural System

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Cities Defined

• A large, localized population whose members
  engage in a variety of common, organized, and
  functionally integrated activities. These
  activities focus on the provision of basic
  sustenance of the population
• Or, A relatively large, dense, and permanent
  settlement of socially heterogeneous individuals
  (Wirth)
• The task of the sociologist is to discover the
  forms of social action and organization that
  typically emerge in cities (Wirth)

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Does Space Matter?

• Space Defined (Tickamyer 2000)
• Place refers to location and context
• Relational Units refers to features of space that
  are meaningfully comparable
• Scale refers to the division of space and the
  subsequent power relations governing space

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To What Extent Does Space Matter?

• Constant argument among urban sociologists
• Spatial divisions cause inequality
• Inequality causes spatial divisions?!

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Space Doesnt Matter Mass Society Model

• Society gets bigger, smaller spatial divisions
  (such as towns) matter much less
• Things happen at the societal level that affect
  individuals across the society
• National law, Internet, mass media
• A small town in mass society is affected so that
  there is
• A Loss of Local autonomy
• An exposure to conflicting norms
• A fragmentation of the local normative order

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Place Matters Locality Relevant Functions

• Food, shelter, and clothing
• Health and well-being
• Incorporation of newcomers
• Resources and Rewards
• Regulation of behavior
• Response to threatening problems

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Place Matters Character and Tradition A Citys
Uniqueness

• Character
• Tradition
• Radical Shifts?

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Place Matters Life Chances

• Health
• Education
• Income
• Opportunity
• Quality of Life