Cities most complex social systems
• bringing vast numbers of people together,
• creating social structures and institutions that link vast
numbers of people to one another in some vaguely
orderly way,
• creating elaborate physical infrastructure, both largescale and small-scale
• extensive modifications of the physical environment,
• in doing each of these things, cities create clear cultural
consciousness of specific place and identity (and
historical past)
• AND, in bringing all this together, cities do so in an
enduring fashion, lasting centuries sometimes millenia
How to think about cities?
• As specific places
• As general social phenomena
• As general social phenomena
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origins
typologies
developmental trajectories
roles/linkages vis-à-vis society, other
places
• character of urbanism as way of life
The Urban Revolution
British archaeologist, V. Gordon Childe
Attempting to explain the emergence of
cities in the ancient Middle East
And the social/cultural trends that cities
therefore embodied
The Urban Revolution
Cities
• State organization
• Social hierarchy
• Extraction of surplus
• Full-time specialization of labor
• Writing and mathematics
• Monumental architecture
Tombs (kofun)
Types of tombs
from c. 3rd – 5th
Centuries
Tombs (kofun)
5th century tomb of Emperor
Nintoku, in Sakai (near Osaka)
Diffusion of urban idea
T’ang dynasty of China (618-907 A.D.)
provided model for Japanese imperial
capitals (and model for notions of how a
complex state should be organized)
diffusion or adaptation of Chinese social,
cultural, political, technological patterns
Diffusion of urban idea
Diffusion of pattern, rather than underlying
similarities of development or process
Not an “urban revolution” in Childe’s sense,
but elements of what makes a city
possible are still apropos
Diffusion of urban idea
Took a few attempts in Japan to get it right.
Series of Chinese style capitals
• Asuka
• Fujiwarakyo
• Nara
• Heiankyo (present-day Kyoto)
Chang-an, capital of the T’ang
dynasty
T’ang
dynasty
618-907
A.D.
Chang-an
Imperial capital
Cosmological significance of urban plan
Social/political structuring of capital around
institutions of state, as well as
cosmological significance of Imperial court
Early
Japanese
cities
Plan of Fujiwarakyo
(near present day
Kyoto)
Early
Japanese
cities
Plan of Heiankyo
(the present day
Kyoto)
Early
Japanese
cities
Tourist map
of present day
Kyoto)
Compare Heiankyo
. . . with Edo
1747
French map
of Edo,
by the
mapmaker
Bellin
Chinese Imperial cities vs.
Japanese castle towns
Gap of several hundred years – virtually no cities
to speak of
Diffused ideas of Chinese cities perhaps more
elaborate than the social/political institutions of
Japan at the time
Castletowns, like Edo, emerged from domestic
trends, not imported ideas of urbanism
Chinese Imperial cities vs.
Japanese castle towns
Major differences in layout, functions, social
structures of the kinds of cities
Yet, a few continuities as well . . .
The Pre-industrial City
Gideon Sjoberg (American historical
sociologist, comparative urban studies)
Theorizing common characteristics of preindustrial cities throughout the world
The Pre-industrial City
Most obvious factor is that they are not
industrial . . .
Lack of energy or mechanical infrastructure
other than natural power (human, animal,
wind, and water)
The Pre-industrial City
Social/political/cultural factors:
Rigid social stratification
Geographic segregation by class and occupation
Ritual (religious/political) significance of city
Economic activity subordinated to political
structure
Importance of kinship and other traditional
ascribed statuses for governing social
participation
The Pre-industrial City
In many respects, Sjoberg’s criteria for
defining a preindustrial city parallel the
kinds of criteria that Childe outlines for
understanding the Urban Revolution
Childe concerned with origins of cities
Sjoberg concerned with modernization and
its relationship to urban life
Central Place Theory or
Regional Analysis
G. William Skinner – studies of cities (and
central places) in Chinese civilization
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economic logic to the placement of
settlements and the creation of nested
hierarchies of “central places”
density of demand for particular products
and the “friction of distance” create spatial
hierarchies
on top of which a variety of demographic,
political, social, religious, and other
institutions are created
Central Place Theory or
Regional Analysis
Abstract
rendering
Central Place Theory
or Regional Analysis
Skinner’s
mapping of
central places
in Szechuan
Central Place Theory or
Regional Analysis
Abstract
rendering
Gemeinschaft vs. Gesellschaft
Ferdinand Tönnies – German sociologist –
among the first to theorize the difference in
the character of social life of urban places
vs. non-urban places, in context of massive
social change in 19th century Europe
• Gemeinschaft -- “Community of Fate”
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• Gesellschaft -- “Association”
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Gemeinschaft vs. Gesellschaft
Gemeinschaft -- “Community of Fate”
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Ascribed status
Traditional authority structures
Religious/ideological basis for authority and status quo
Multiple stranded social relations
Diffuse, affective social ties
High personalistic social relationships
Social solidarity based on affiliation with primary groups
Individuals subordinated to social organizations
Gemeinschaft vs. Gesellschaft
Gesellschaft -- “Association”
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Social relationships are single-stranded
Achieved statuses supersede ascribed statuses
Relationships are specific, utilitarian, instrumental
Contractual social order
Market relations determine social order to greater extent
Diminished importance of religious/moral order as
determinant of social order
• Multiple secondary associations/groups more important
than primary groups
Organic vs. Mechanical Solidarity
Emile Durkheim (French sociologist)
In similar vein, theorizing distinctions between the
ways in which society is held together
Mechanical solidarity – solidarity through shared
roles
Organic solidarity – through complementary roles
and the social structures that coordinate them
Urban Mentalities
Georg Simmel – German philosopher
Theorized the urban condition as nervous
stimulation, created by the accelerating
effects of capital on time and relationship
Urban life is marked by transactions not
relationships – quick, fleeting, possibly
cynical
Urbanism as a Way of Life
Louis Wirth (American sociologist) – classic
1938 article (on JSTOR as reading
assignment)
Synthesized views of Tonnies, Durkheim,
Simmel, and his own research in Chicago
To create the classic sociological statement
of urban anonymity (perhaps alienation) as
inherent aspects of urbanism
Urbanism as a Way of Life
Sociologists approached this problem from
the perspective of 19th century transition
from agrarian to industrial societies
Industrial revolution
Migration
How did new urban environments affect
social ties
Urbanism as a Way of Life
Anthropologists approached this question
from the starting point of small-scale
isolated societies
How did cities reflect (or not reflect) similar
cultural and social patterns
How could one understand cities, villages,
etc. as being part of a single culture, if
they are so different?
Folk Urban Continuum
Wirth and Robert Redfield (American
anthropologist) collaborated on creating a
theoretical model, basically paralleling
Tonnies on the differences between cities
and non-cities as cultural spaces in a
given society
Great Tradition vs. Little Tradition
Redfield proposed that civilizations operate
simultaneously on multiple levels, that
both interact and maintain separate trends
Great Tradition – elite culture – urban,
urbane, sophisticated, systematic, selfconscious of itself as enduring body of
knowledge, perspective, etc.
Great Tradition vs. Little Tradition
Little Tradition – informal, folk, word-ofmouth, does not attempt to create
overarching synthesis of integrated
knowledge, relatively unself-conscious of
itself as enduring phenomenon
The Cultural Role of Cities
Redfield and Singer article (in sourcebook)
Theorizing the culture of cities vis-à-vis their
positions in world systems as well as their
positions vis-à-vis their own civilizations
Heterogenetic cities
Orthogenetic cities
The Cultural Role of Cities
Heterogenetic cities – cities that link to the wider
world, bring in new ideas, generate new kinds of
activities, perspectives, technologies,
heterogeneous populations
Orthogenetic cities – cities that crystallize a
civilization, serve as a defender and formulator
of traditional knowledge, conservative, focused
more on itself than on outer world.