Urban Geography

Student X

Prof . X

Essay

19 April 2006

Factorial Ecology As An Approach To Social Differentiation

The study of social differentiation is an important part in the work of a sociologist or a geographer . It is not only a tool that can be used to enforce timely government or state sponsored intervention but it will also inform on how the urban areas were structured with regards to the groupings of the general population . In this way one can design a much efficient zoning policy or know where exactly to put

the basic government services like hospitals or police precincts

It is not only the government and its various agencies that is interested to know how cities are structured socially , but businessmen church leaders and others as well

In the past decades starting at the turn of the 19th century the field of sociology and geography has been blessed with brilliant men who had laid the foundation for future forays into social grouping and urban studies . And seen below is the product of their relentless pursuit to finding out how man fashions out cities and urban centers from wilderness , jungles and savannas

There are are at least three ways to study social differentiation in cities and other urban centers in the country . The first one developed by geographers was called human ecology . This tool of geography and sociology was formalized in the 1920 's and gained much acceptance in the 1950 's

Human ecology is an academic discipline that focuses more on the relationship between man and his environment . It also believes that this relationship is similar to how Darwinism view the world and the organisms thriving in it . Hence , the environment is the single most potent factor in the development of the human species and the urban homo sapiens has to adapt in to excel or simply to survive

The field of sociology and geography is much indebted to Ernest W Burgess whose pioneering work allowed modern man to see urban development in a whole different light and therefore new insights and learning was now possible . His groundbreaking work was to divide the city into zones and was able to determine that the city seems to have a life of its own . This simply means that cities are changing and evolving . In his work he classified certain parts of the cities either as business districts , those in transition (industrial , working class residential (tenements , and commuter or sub-urban zones

In how he sub-divided the city into the following zones we can see that people reacted to how the city was structured and therefore a huge number of the populace are living near the business district Consequently those who are of low income also live near the centers of commerce while those well-off are moving farther away from the business districts and they represent a smaller proportion of the the whole population

The human ecology ' approached has been criticized in recent years due to a more broader outlook and understanding of...