Chapter Summary

CHAPTER 16: URBAN PROBLEMS

Urban life means many different things to many different people. To study urban life means to examine its history, to analyze its structure, to recognize its role in the development of societies, to embrace its social problems, and to personally experience its many features.

Urban problems in the United States are closely associated with the profound socioeconomic, political, and spatial changes that have taken place since the industrial revolution. At the turn of the 19th century about 94 percent of Americans lived in sparsely populated areas. Today eighty percent of the population lives in urban areas.

By definition, a city is a relatively dense and permanent settlement. And although cities existed long before the Industrial Revolution, the birth of the factory system brought about rapid urbanization. Industrialization and urbanization brought about profound changes. New social problems such as housing shortages, overcrowding, unsanitary living conditions, environmental pollution, and crime became common.

But as urban living replaced rural living in the 19th century, a move to suburbia has drastically changed the quality of life in the cities in the late 20th century. Following World War II there was a dramatic shift in the U.S. population to areas adjacent to cities. The exodus was created by several factors. Among them was the “baby boom,” the development of low-cost housing communities, and lenient lending practices supported by the Veterans’ Administration and Federal Housing Administration. Within the suburbs a new area has developed called the edge city that tries to combine the most desirable qualities of both suburban living and access to services once only provided in the city.

Social problems are common to all cities, but not all cities are in a state of crisis. Older cities have problems brought on by years of neglect and deterioration. Other social problems such as poverty, crime, homelessness, inadequate school systems, alcoholism, and drug abuse are not necessarily linked to the age of a city. But some of the nation’s biggest cities have had the biggest problems. New York City was at the verge of bankruptcy in 1975. Cleveland went into financial default in 1978. Chicago suffered over a billion dollars in damages and lost revenues when an aged water main burst flooding businesses, department stores, and office buildings.

Although many city problems are directly linked to financial deficiencies, the human suffering associated with these problems is the real tragedy. A lack of health care facilities for the poor, housing problems for the homeless, and racial and ethnic segregation are just a few of the problems common to cities. There may be as many as three million homeless people in the United States. African Americans are disproportionately among them, accounting for nearly half of the homeless population. African Americans and other people of color are also disproportionately represented among central city residents, accounting for 41 percent of that population.

As the global population has increased dramatically, so have mega cities and global cities. Four cities alone in Latin America have a combined population of over 44 million people.

The causes and solutions to urban problems are dependent upon the sociological perspective one aligns with them. Functionalists concentrate on the mass migration from rural to urban areas, large scale immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries, and mass suburbanization in the later part of the 20th century. Functionalists suggest the establishment of regional governments and the creation of urban enterprise zones to alleviate urban problems.

Conflict analysts tie urban problems directly to the decisions of the capitalist class and political elites. This permits class- and race-based segregation. Conflict theorists use the political economy model and the concept of uneven development to explain urban social problems.

Symbolic interactionists examine urban problems from the standpoint of people’s experience of urban life and how they subjectively define the reality of city living. Sociologist Louis Wirth suggests urbanism is a way of life that increases the incidence of both social and personality disorders in individuals. Herbert Gans, on the other hand, believes that not everyone in the city experiences city life the same way. Many city residents develop strong loyalties and a sense of community in central city areas. He stresses how certain types of city dwellers develop their own subcultures that set them apart from other city residents and especially people living in rural and suburban areas.

In the twenty-first century the problems with cities are both global and local. In nations around the globe the wealthiest people establish enclaves in which they enjoy safety and prosperity while the poorest people live in areas where neither safety nor prosperity are available. Urban change that will benefit the greatest number of people will require a revised way of looking at the social world.