Course Overview
I. How did the course originat
II. Study methods
1. Class format
2. Instructional methods
III. Introduction to Urban Sociology
1. What is urban sociology
2. What is a city
3. What are urban studies
IV. Sociological Perspective and Speech
Class
V. Self Introduction
I. Course Origination
General Course Objectives:
Develop students' knowledge and understanding
of the urban structure and function in sociological
perspectives (theoretical paradigms).
Promote thought about urban areas, urban
processes and urban life.
Enhance students' ability to study urban sociology
in bilingual, help to promote the globalization and
indigenization (or contextuality) of sociology.
II. Learning methods
1. Class format
Sociological English and Urban Sociology
a. Text preview (review)
b. Key Terms (warming-up exercises)
c. Main topic or Major topics
d. Outline and explanation
e. Summary in Chinese
f. Field trips, Observation reports and class
presentations
Textbook
Urban Sociology: A Systematic Introduction
By John W. Bards & John J. Hartman
Wichita State University
F.E. Peacock Publisher, Inc. 1982
Chinese Version
康少邦等编译：《城市社会学》， 浙江人民出版
社，1986
学习要点
以课本为中心、以理论和现实发展为补充
认真学习课本内容和词汇
围绕课本内容所提供的专题
补充现代城市社会学的理论发展，以及中国内容
(Chinese content)
Key Terms
Bureaucracy (0) 科层 官僚
Human ecology (1) 人类生态
Land-use (1) 土地利用
Variables (1) 变量
Urbanization (2) 城市化
C. Wright Mills (2) C．怀特·米尔斯（1916-1962)
Sociological imagination (2) 社会学的想象
Suburbanization (2) 郊区化
Social stratification (3) 社会分层
Redevelopment （旧城）改造
Key Terms
Urban planning 城市规划
Primacy: 特首（城市）
Hyperurbanization (P3) 过度城市化 overurbanization
Central city 中心城市 Suburb cities
Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area（SMSA）
标准都市统计区[美]
Social bond (P4-L) 社会契约
What is urban sociology?
Urban sociology is a sub-discipline
(sociological study and knowledge about) to
examine the nature of city life and urban social
issues, how they are interrelated, and how a
sociological approach helps us understand
both the roots of these urban “problems” and
the consequences for individuals,
communities and societies. You will learn the
historical experiences, theoretical
explanations and solutions devised
concerning today’s urban problems. The ability
to critically assess current and future urban
policies in comparative perspective is
essential in our increasingly interdependent,
global urban world.
Central Issues
Specific study field and perspectives (theory
and knowledge) of Sociology
a. Urban structure and functions (urban
ecology)
urban social division, social stratification,
social space
b. Urban life styles
community, family, class, ethnics, culture
c. Urban problems and policy (planning)
d. Urban development
urbanization, process and characteristics
See Textbook P0-1
Urban Sociology in the textbook
a. Human Ecology (social space and land-use)
b. Urban Community (social group, social
organization, life way and social psychology)
c. Urban Problem, Policy, and Planning
d. Urbanization (urban growth and development)
(P1)
All above:
Human behaviour associated with urban life.
(P2R)
2. What is a city?
Definition based on size of the population.
(Geographical approach)
Definition based on political-formal incorporation.
Incorporated cities have formal structure (city
government) and definite boundaries.
Definition based on social structure and the
functions (Sociological approach). (P3)
Sociological Definition in the Textbook
Cities are defined as geographically-bound forms
of social organization that have certain (specific)
characteristics. Such as:
1. Populations are relative large, densely settled,
and heterogeneous (Wirth 1938);
2. At least some of the people engage in
nonagricultural pursuits, and some are specialist
(Sjoberg 1965) ;
3. A city serves a market function and it has at
least partial regulatory power (Weber 1958);
4. Cities manifest forms of interaction in which the
individual is not known as a complete person.
(why)
5. Cities require a “social bond” based on
something larger than immediate family or tribe,
perhaps based on rational law or tradition, such as
religion or loyalty to a king. (P4)
2. What is a city?
City: Densely populated urban center, larger than a
village or a town, whose inhabitants are engaged
primarily in commerce and industry. In the United
States a city is legally an incorporated municipality.
(The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001.)
Municipality: A political unit, such as a city or town,
incorporated for local self-government.
3. What are urban studies?
The scientific study of human social structures and
behaviors in urban areas, such as City Politics,
Urban Geography, Urban Economics, Urban
Planning, Urban Sociology, Urban History, etc..
Three approaches of urban studies:
a. city as entity 城市作为存在（机体/机制）
自变量
b. city as process 城市作为过程 依变量
c. city as setting 城市做为背景
Urban Sociology? Or Sociology?
为什么一些社会学家将城市社会学定义为社会学本
身？（P0-R）
Because cities affect nearly every aspect of
modern life, some sociologists have defined urban
sociology as coterminous with the discipline itself.
（P0-R）
IV. Sociological Perspective and Speech Class
Sociological Perspective
Speech Class
How to Be in Sociological Perspective
Sociological Approaches
Sociological Issues (Domains and
Dimensions)
Sociological Methodology (Theories and
Methods)
Key Points (Socialization, Group, Organization,
System, Stratification, Living ways, Urbanization)
Key Terms (Some terms may be from different
disciplines)
Speech Class
Topic:
1. Urbanism: my sociological perspective on
modernity
My sociological perspective on urbanism
2. Classical Readings: Formalization and Method
Key Points and Key Terms: Sociological concepts
and sociologists
Content:
Giving an example (instance or story), and
describing and summarizing the facts
Explaining causes or factors of modernity in
urban life or urban people.
Study approach: city as entity, city as process, city
as setting
Sociological perspective on urbanism
Social Division (P4)
power, authority, formal structure, bureaucracy
Role Inconsistencies (P5L)
Rational law (P4)
White collar crime
Urban planning
plot ratio, land use
Self Introduction
Your name and hometown
Your career after your high school.
Your study fields or interested topics
your favorite sociological terms, and comments on
them.
Introduction 2 Urban Studies and Social
Research
I．Theoretical Precursors to Urban Sociology
1. The City as Social Organization
2. The City as Evil
3. The City as a Way of life
4. City Life Is Subject to Study Using Scientific
Procedures.
II. Methods of Urban Investigation
1. Qualitative Research
2. Quantitative Research
Key Terms or Words
Max Weber 马克斯·韦伯(1864～1920) One of the
trinity (triumvirate) of the major classical
sociologists.
émile Durkheim 埃米尔·涂尔干(1858～1917) The
first French academic sociologist and one of the
founding fathers of sociology in the world.
Organic solidarity 有机团结
Mechanical solidarity 机械团结
Henry James Sumner Maine 享利·梅因(1822～
1888)
English jurist and historian
Ascribed status (5) 先赋地位 achieved status
Key Terms or Words
Oswald Spengler (5) 斯本格勒(1880～1936) The
German historicist writer
The Decline of The
West, 1922
Georg Simmel 格奥尔格·齐美尔 (1858～1918)
Deviance 越轨
The division of labor 劳动分工
Louis Wirth (6) 路易斯·沃斯 (1897-1952) member
of the famed “Chicago School” of urban sociology.
one of the most influential members of the Chicago
School of Sociology
Urbanism (6) 城市性
Tomas Jefferson (6) 托马斯·杰弗逊（1743-1826）
Key Terms or Words
Participant observation (7) 参与性观察 a research
method in which investigators systematically
observe people while joining in their routine
activities.
Interview (7) 访谈 a series of questions a
researcher administers in person to respondents.
Informant (7) 被调查者（对象）One who furnishes
the related information to a researcher.
Questionnaires (7) 问卷 a series of written
questions a researcher presents to subjects.
Interviewee (7) 被访问者
Field work (7) 田野（实地）调查 The collecting of
sociological or anthropological data in the field.
Scientific generalization (7) 科学概括 a statement
of generalizing by scientific methods or principles.
Key Terms
Survey (8) 调查 a research method in which
subjects respond to a series of statements or
questions in a questionnaire or an interview.
Population (8) 总体 the people who are the focus
of research.
Sample（8）样本 a part of a population that
represents the whole.
Sampling refers to the process or method of
drawing a sample from a population.
Sampling Frame the actual physical
representation of a population, a voters list or a
student class lists, for example, from which a
sample is actual drawn. A population is a
somewhat abstract concept while the sampling
frame is the real listing of members of that
population such that you can imagine them being
placed into a hat (role) for purposes of random
sampling.
Key Terms
Replication (8) 复验 repetition of research by other
investigators
Validity (8) 效度 precision in measuring exactly
what one intends to measure
Reliability (8) 信度 consistency in measurement;
the quality of consistent（Reliable）measurement.
Secondary sources of data (8) 二手来源资料。比
较 secondary analysis (二手分析), a research
method in which a researcher uses data collected
by others
Census (8) 人口普查 An official, usually periodic
enumeration of a population, often including the
collection of related demographic information.
Theoretical Precursors to Urban Sociology
1. The City as Social Organization
2. The City as Evil
3. The City as a Way of life
4. City Life Is Subject to Study Using Scientific
Procedures
Classical Scholars to Urban Sociology
Origination of urban studies in classical European
sociologists.
Birth and establishment of urban sociology in the
United States
The City as Social Organization
Max Weber (1864-1920)
The city performs economic, legal, and
protective functions.
Formal organization, power and authority
(Urban governments and formal structures)
Durkheim (1858 –1917)
Division of Labor
Organic solidarity - Mechanical solidarity
Collective conscience
Maine (1822-1888) (Textbook P5)
Social agreement or contract
Ascribed status & achieved status ( Ralph
Linton1893-1953)
The City as Evil
Oswald Spengler (1880 -1936)
Lose of the natural based “soul”
Georg Simmel (1858～1918)
The Metropolis and Mental Life (1903)
City as an agent of social and psychological
change
Urban life is full of inconsistencies
What did we learn from the terms or ideas which
were related to urban society and urban
sociology
The City as a Way of Life: Urbanism
Wirth, Louis (1897-1952)
Urbanism
a. Urbanism was a function of population density,
size and heterogeneity.
b. A term used by Louis Wirth to denote
distinctive characteristics of urban social life, such
as its impersonality.
城市性：变量系统
城市生态
Vn
人口特征
社会组织形式
Vn
（大规模/高密度/多样性）
人格与行为特征
Vn
From three demographical factors to three
sociological “interrelated perspectives”
Urbanism as a characteristic mode of life may be
approached empirically from three interrelated
perspectives: (1) as a physical structure
comprising a population base, a technology, and
an ecological order; (2) as a system of social
organization involving a characteristic social
structure, a series of social institutions, and a
typical pattern of social relationships; and (3) as a
set of attitudes and ideas, and a constellation of
personalities engaging in typical forms of collective
behavior and subject to characteristic mechanisms
of social control.
Sociological imagination
Sociologists differ in their understanding of the
concept, but the range suggests several important
commonalities.
Mills defined sociological imagination as “...the
vivid awareness of the relationship between
experience and the wider society.”
The application of imaginative thought to the
asking and answering of sociological questions.
Someone using the sociological imagination
"thinks himself away" from the familiar routines of
daily life. (Glidden A12)
The sociological imagination is the ability to see
things socially and how they interact and influence
each other.
Qualitative Research (soft research)
a. Participant observation
b. Interview
(a) informal interview (7R)
(b) formal interview (7R)
Quantitative Research (hard research)
a. Survey (questionnaires or instrument)
b. Census and other secondary sources of data
Urban Studies and Social Research
2. limitations of the secondary sources of data (P8)
3. Some other definitions or classification of the
sociological research methods(data collection)
 Fieldwork
 Survey
 Experimentation
 Secondary Research
Types of Surveys
1. questionnaire
a. mail survey. Sending or receiving a
questionnaire in the mail.
b. group administered questionnaire. A sample of
respondents is brought together and asked to
respond to a structured sequence of questions.
c. household drop-off survey. A researcher goes to
the respondent's home or business and hands the
respondent the instrument.
2. interview
a. personal interview
b. telephone interview
INVESTIGATION
1. What is your topic? (Define the topic of
investigation)
2. What have others already learned? (Find out
what
has already been learned about)
3. What, exactly, are your questions? (Specify the
questions you are going to ask)
4. What will you need to carry out research?
(Assess the requirements for carrying out research
on the topic)
5. Are there ethical concerns? (Consider the
ethical issues involved in the research)
TEN STEPS IN SOCIOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION
6. What method will you use? (Devise a research
strategy)
7. How will you record the data? (Use the
methods to gather data)
8. What do the data tell you? (Interpret the
findings)
9. What are your conclusions? (Based on the
findings, state your conclusions)
10. How can you share what you've learned?
(Publishing your research)
Summary
1. What is relationship between sociology and
urban sociology?
only sociology, single urban sociology, fractal
structure
2. What are fields and perspectives of urban
sociology?
Governance, community and civic participation,
transparency
3. What are the research methods of urban
sociology?
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