Unit-7 Social Area Analysis And Recent Advances 6i5cc

Social Area Analysis and Recent 7.1

lnt rsduction

7.2

Historical Review

7.3

Concept and Technique of Social Area Analysis

7.4

Factorial Ecology

7.5

Recent use of Social Area Analysis in Different Fields

7.6

Critique of Social Area Analysis as a technique

7.7

Conclusion

7.9

Further Reading

Learning Objectives After studying this unit, you should be able to: explain the technique of social area analysis; analyse diverse populations by using this techniq~e;and explain more recent techniques like Factorial Ecology and GIs (Geographical Information System).

7.1

'

Introduction

In the contemporary world, societies have become diversified and heterogeneous. From the second half of the 20th Century, internal, regional and international migration increased manifold due t o expansion of capitalism, new power equations, and decolonisation. The outcome was ethnic diversity i n most parts of the world. Urban Sociologists attempted t o understand and assess diversity of various kinds i n the population especially of large cities. Social area analysis was one of the techniques evolved t o study diversity in income, status and ethnicity and mobility i n urban population. This technique was a part of the methodological developments under the rubric of ecological school. Social area analysis is used more by urban geographers than sociologists.

7.2

Historical Review

The Ecological Approach was the most dominant and popular approach i n urban sociology from the 1920s t o the 1950s. Also known as the Chicago School, scholars belonging t o this school studied urban populations by using biological principles like succession, competition, expansion and so on. You will learn more about the Chicago School, i n Block 4 of this course. Robert Ezra Park, the most well known scholar of the school believed that the principles i n the human world are similar t o those i n the biological one. (Spates and Macionis, 1982: 110,111 ). While the scholars belonging t o this school used assumptions from biology,

Urban Sociology

of city life. Park argued that migration, that is, movement of the population in search of better jobs was one of the important reasons for changing the composition of large American cities like Chicago. Their detailed studies of big cities set the standards of 'how to do urban sociology?' i n the early 20th century. They extensively used census data produced by governments on the one hand and processed it for various purposes and on the other, pioneered what i s today known as 'urban ethnography'. Observation of daily routines of migrants, ethnic communities, labouring classes, delinquents and thieves, and what sociologists today would call 'the marginalized communities' was one of the main ways to study urban reality for the Chicago School practitioners and their followers. For this participant observation, life history and survey were the preferred techniques. (Spates and Macionis, 1982:46,47). Park, Burgess, and others thus contributed t o the theoretical and methodological aspects of the new field of sociology called urban sociology. America witnessed the emergence and expansion of many large cities i n the beginning of the 20th century, and therefore,a manifold study of the urban subject-matter was the need of the hour. Also, it was believed that the American way of life was based on industrialization and the human spirit of achievement and this modern urban world was expected to create a new identity of 'modern human being'. In reality, however, ethnic enclaves emerged i n all big cities of the world and social networks played a very important role alongside wealth and power. Burgess, i n the analysis of his famous 'concentric zone theory', pointed this out. (Burgess, 1967: 50). The famous diagram illustrating the land use and distribution of population i n Chicago city states that manufacturing activities determined the nature of city life i n America in the early 20th century. Migrant labourers, who were attracted to these large centres of western capitalism, usually settled i n working class neighbourhoods. With low skillstand educational levels and no economic resources to bank upon, these immigrants were concentrated i n the inner city area and took up jobs i n factories i n the central areas of the city. (Spates and Macionis, 1982:110,111). Though very influential i n the early decades of the 20th century, the Chicago School theorized a typical American city - a centre and symbol of Western capitalism with a high degree of industrialization. The ecological theory proved to be ineffective i n assessing the changes i n other settings. In contemporary urban theory, therefore, other theories and models have assumed importance as scholars across the world attempted to analyse the urban scenario i n different settings. Within urban ecology, along with the Concentric Zone theory of Burgess, other urban land use theories were employed widely i n the second half of the 20th century. ~ h e s eare: the Sector theory by Hoyt, the Multiple Nuclei theory by Harris and ULlman, and the Social Area Analysis by Shevky and Williams and later by Shevky and Bell. Later Factorial ecology, a similar technique using computers, came into vogue. '

68

Studying high rent districts of 142 cities i n the US developed the sector theory. Hoyt used a comparative approach since he simultaneously analysed

.

.

\

such a large number of cities. Also, the study examined cities i n three different time periods - 1900, 1915'and 1936. As you had learnt earlier i n Unit 6, i n the Concentric Zone theory, Hyot argued that Sectors looked like a pie. New rings were added to the existing areas as the city grew due to competition and population movement. Other important observations were that fashionable districts increased to two or three over time and industry moved out of the city.

Social Area Analysis and Relcent Advances

In 1945 Harris and Ullman developed Multiple Nuclei theory. This theory forwarded the principle of diversification as an important component of city growth. Attempting to engage with the concentric zone theory, these scholars argued that over time multiple nuclei of business, residence and middle class locations evolve as the city grows. I

Contrary to these urban land use theories about which you have learnt i n the previous unit, Unit 6, Social area analysis suggested that social factors like prestige, status, ethnicity are very important i n determining the location of various communities. Around the late 1940s Social Area Analysis was developed and employed as a technique to analyse diverse urban populations mainly i n the U.S.A.

- . In recent years related techniques like Factorial Ecology are used to analyse spatial differentiation of diverse groups and communities across the world.

7.3

Concept and Technique of Social Area Analysis

Since the Concentric Zone theory coul,d not be applied to many American and non-American cities, other theories of land use developed as stated earlier. Due to their limited applicability, urbanists tried to offer new explanations of patterns of city expansion and growth.

,

Eshref Shevky and Marilyn Williams (1949) pioneered 'Social Area Analysisythe identification and description of areas according t o their social characteristics. They argued that urban land use cou1.d be explained i n of social characteristics alone. They examined social rank, family status and ethnicity. This technique was based on using a statistical procedure t o identify selected important variables from a very large database of economic and social variables. Using census tract information prepared by the American government, they argued that the variance i n all the census information could be explained i n of two or three chosen variables which were arrived at after combining several other variables. First, Shevky and Williams applied it to Los Angeles and later to studying San Francisco city data. SocialArea Analysis thus signifies a statistical procedure of analysing available large-scale data of diverse populations. It became popular as statistical processing of large databases was commonly attempted during the 1950s. Some scholars have noted that this approach was very popular i n the 1970s. From then on it i s referred to and used from time to time, but there seems to be very little theoretical development i n this direction. Social area analysis and factorial ecology have also been quite important i n marketing research. I

69

Urban Sociology

r

Reflection and Action 7.1 As you already know, Indian society is largely agrarian even till date. More than 70% of the population lives in villages. However, cities have existed in the ancient past, i n the medieval period and in the contemporary period which are entirely different from the Western cities. Do you think the technique of Social Area Analysis will be useful to study the cities i n India? Write your opinion with valid arguments in about two pages. Compare your answer with those of other students at your Study Centre.

Average income $, population 15 years and over ONT - Toronto (808 areas) 0 - < 20963 20963 - < 23964 23964 - < 27165 27165 - < 30786 30786 - < 36174 36174 - < 105183

# of areas per interval

% 4

Social Area Analysis and Recent Advances

Population Born in the Philllpplnca as a percentage of imrnlgrant population

Figure 7.2 As seen in one of the recent research papers, some scholars are analysing

the applicability of Social Area Analysis i n urban planning research. The authors argue that they 'appraise the potential of social area analysis for planning and policy-related research'. on multivariate statistical techniques, notably principal components analysis and cluster analysis important uses for a wide variety of planning research exercises. (Brindley T.S., Raine J.W., 1979, pp. 273-289(17)). More recently, some scholars look at 'social space' from a sociological rather than geographical perspective using social area analysis. (see Heye C, Heiri Leuthold, 2005). The authors argue that the existing social area analysis was not based on sound theoretical principles, and hence argue that use of sociological concepts like 'social space' would help the understanding of cities by social characteristics.

7.4

Factorial Ecology

Factorial ecology i s used to find the social characteristics used by an urban population with computer technology. There is a difference between social area analysis and factorial ecology, because, instead of starting with the reselected social characteristics (such as social rank) all characteristics considered to be potentially important i n a city are analysed. The comparison takes place at the computer front. Computer compares a l l these characteristics with one another to see the linkages between these characteristics. The linked characteristics are called factors and are given descriptive names. Once the analysis i s completed, the city's land use pattern as a whole can be described. (See Spates J., Macionis J., 1982).

,

For example, R.J. Johnston (1976: 193-235) used factorial ecology to examine Whangarei, a city i n New Zealand. He took eight social characteristics, which he thought were important, and instructed the computer to use them i n an analysis of each of Whangarei's twenty-two census-tract areas. His results indicated that some areas of the city had high concentrations of male workers who were in professional or managerial occupations, who earned over $6,000 a year, and who also held a university degree. As these characteristics were strongly linked to one another, Johnston combined them into a single factor called 'socio-economic status'.

71

Urban Sociology

Another finding was about the people over 16 who were unmarried and lived i n rented households i n other residential areas of the city. Once again, the association among these variables was so high that Johnston designed 'family status' as a second important factor. Although the correlation was weaker, there was also some evidence that ethnic factors were of some importance i n determining residence i n Whangarei. Interestingly, when taken together, these three factors- socio-economic status, family status and ethnicity could for over 86 % of the residential patterning of Whangarei. Johnston's findings are important especially because they have been simulated by other scholars using factorial ecology in other cities. (See Spates J., Macionis J., 1982). Application of factor analysis to identify correlated indicatorslattributes, combining the correlated aspects such as the indicators mentioned above into an index and then identifying, homogenous areas based on such composite indices i s a method to study the urban societies. Critique of Factorial Ecology The main critique of the factorial ecology states that cities i n different areas, with different cultures, have been concerned with different values. In some of them technology i s hardly concerned whereas in some cities religious values play an important and influential role. The cultural and social settings, socio-economic status, family status or even the ethnicity may have different or no role to play i n certain cities. Different cities may have different land-use patterns, or cultural influences. Sometimes the social status related with caste plays an important role and makes a difference. The cities i n Europe, Asia, America would definitely mark a difference since the whole social and cultural set up i s different. Reflection and Action 7.2 Do you think the study of city i n of its social characteristics is important? In what ways will it help us? Write an essay on "Role and Significance of Sociological Study of cities?" In about two pages. Discuss your essay with other students at your Study Centre.

7.5

Recent use of Social Area Analysis in Different Fields

In recent days factorial ecology with its emphasis on computer techniques has been revived through other sophisticated techniques. Advancements i n satellite based communications and computer based technologies have helped the field of urban policy and planning. GIS (Geographical Information System) is called as 'smart mapsS(Hanna and Culpepper, 1998:7). These are prepared by using computerized databases. Though other maps are representations of flattened earth 72

a two-dimensional image of the earth - GIS gives better results ascomputers can show curvatures of the earth i n a very accurate, graphic and clear way. Recently GIS i s also used for identifying social characteristics of cities. For example, a GIS based analysis of a locality can reveal'how many houses are permanent structures, how many water sources are available, and so on. Accordingly, using the indices like permanency of housing structure, poverty levels of the population can be discerned.

7.6

Social Area Analysis and Recent Advances

Critique of Social Area Analysis as a Technique

Scholar:, have pointed out that Social Area Analysis was i n a way a part of the rubric of urban ecology. It was also associated with industrial manufacturing under Fordism. In the 1940s, urban populations were arranged along zonal and sectoral lines on the basis of social differences. (Burgess, i n Park et al., 1925/1967; Bunting, 1991; Harris and Ullman, 1945; Hoyt, 1933, 19.39, 1966; Murdie, 1969; Shevky and Bell, 1955). As times changed, sectoral or zona! segregation did not always happen i n big cities. Earlier also, i n cities like Chicago, ethnic enclaves like Little Sicily were observed by Chicago School theorists. With the age of time and changing housing policies of governments, etc., the technique of Social Area Analysis proved less useful. Social Area Analysis cannot fully explain urban land use. So the need to explore more sophisticated techniques based on the Social Area Analysis The approach of social area analysis was also criticized for the lack of theory. Though i t was successful i n examining t h e major social characteristics of different residential groups i n a city, it was unable t o explain why those people lived there. Some scholars have criticized that factorial ecological analysis fails to provide a satisfactory explanation of the process o f residential differentiation, the way i n which different areas of the city come to be associated with different types of people (Timms, 1978). Alternatively, they argue that to do so, it i s necessary to adopt a micro social approach focused on the relationship between residential location and patterns of individual decisions and behaviour, generally at the household level. Households may be seen as decision-making units whose aggregate response to housing opportunities is central to ecological change (Knox and Pinch, 2000).

7.7 Conclusion The technique of Social Area Analysis has proved to be very useful i n the decades of the 1940s to the 1970s. This technique made a case for the use of social characteristics using census data to analyse large populations. In contemporary times, some scholars have attempted to use this technique again i n other parts of the world also. Increasingly, however, scholars argue that a satisfactory explanation of residential differentiation can be offered by combining various methods like Social Area Analysis, factorial ecology and so on.

73

I

Urban Sociology