Simmel Metropolis

For those only weakly committed to city living, particularly middle-class people who have serious difficulty with social diversity and who have clear housing alternatives, the "problem-free" suburbs become tempting. After an incident such as a car break-in or a bicycle theft, a "last straw" can make them leave. (249)

New York City’s population is a little over 8.3 million people. 8.3 million people are spread out among five boroughs and each have their own set routine. Each one of those 8.3 million see New York in a different way becuase “You start building your private New York the first time you lay eyes on it” (“City Limits” 4). Some people are like Colson Whitehead who “was born here and thus ruined for anywhere else” (“City Limits” 3). Others may have “moved here a couple years ago for a job. Maybe [they] came here for school” (“City Limits” 3). Different reasons have brought these people together. They are grouped as New Yorkers, but many times, living in New York is their only bond. With on going changes and never ending commotion, it is hard to

People rush over crosswalks, moving like ants among the skyscrapers. Children skip ropes and play with sidewalk chalk. Completely different are the main streets of country towns, where children explore the woods and a close community is certain. Growing up in these two cultures produces vastly different personalities in adults and contrasts how those people perceive themselves. It also affects the opportunities they are offered; more opportunities are available in populous cities. This cultural phenomenon is seen in Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers, when he compares the formal culture of South Korea and the direct one of America (Gladwell 214-215, 219). Opportunities and culture affect development of one’s personal identity by impacting self perception, which influences decisions.

In the essay “Walking and the Suburbanized Psyche,” Solnit argues that human beings are losing the ordinary connections between the body and the world is caused by the advanced innovations that are being implemented. Walking has been part of human culture since the time of the Homosapien. According to Solnit, if walking continues to be devalued by our society, a lot of practical benefits and lifestyle will be gone. Back in the days, many people treated walking as a pleasure when one person takes another person out for a walk. It represents one of the cultural activities. Furthermore, walking not only can be a delightful activity, it also serves as a transportation tool. The efficiency of getting around the neighborhood

Sanneh states, “A gentrification story often unspools as a morality play, with bohemians playing a central if ambiguous part: their arrival can signal that a neighborhood is undergoing gentrification, but so can their departure, as rising rents increasingly bring economic stratification” (Sanneh). This demonstrate gentrification is a social justice issue because it leads to economic stratification which refers to the grouping of people according to differences in income, occupation, power, privilege, manner of living, region where they live, age, gender or race. Martin Luther King defines injustice as, “any law that degrades human personality is unjust” (MLK 15). Many sociologists have researched how people, as they move from villages to cities, lose communal bonds and moral codes, which are essential to one’s psychological well-being. Many inner-city neighborhoods now constitute similarly vibrant communities, and leaving them can have profoundly negative consequences. To prevent such social dislocation, we need to lessen the incentives that are driving gentrification. We should increase the stock of housing, offer microcredit in poor neighborhoods, and provide legal protection against unscrupulous banks and real-estate agents. Otherwise, gentrification will continue to drive people from the places where they have

An urban environment can majorly effect on an individual itself or others around them. The effect on them can either be positive or negative depending on the environment. In the short story ‘The Pedestrian’ by Ray Bradbury, the urban environment has made a negative impact towards the individual, however in the poem ‘Homo Suburbanizes’ by Bruce Dawe the individual has found a happy place in a busy environment.

Indeed, the main theme of the paper is stated by Kusserow: “This paper is a description of the three New York communities ' different styles of individualism, as well as a discussion of how both sociocentrism and individualistic strains coexisted in two of them.” (214)

Is there social capital present from an urban life? In some instances, it is present and absent in others, so what is the so-called "big picture" regarding whether or not it is present or absent overall? For evidence of the increasing presence of social capital, I will use as evidence my own personal experiences and observations. From my experience, city life can only alienate you if you let it. Putnam may be quick to blame electronic media for giving us excuses to decline social capital, or he

Source D examines gentrification from a satirical perspective. Most gentrification supporters believe property owners of a neighborhood to be, as Source D describes, “clueless.” While it may seem that gentrification revitalizes a neighborhood, it actually damages the unique culture of a neighborhood. It is important to respect the traditions of an area rather than cite “renovation” and “business endeavors” as a just motive for destroying the culture of a neighborhood. The political cartoon in Source F depicts the culture change Brooklyn experienced after gentrification. Spike Lee, the man speaking in the comic, grew up in Brooklyn and has supported the culture there for many years. Meanwhile, Brooklyn, like many other neighborhoods including Harlem and other urban areas, has lost its original culture as a result of gentrification. When renovating a city, retaining the culture and traditions must be a

For many years, sociologists have been studying the importance of human interaction and how it contributes to society. Sociologist like Erving Goffman and Harold Garfinkel, and Max Weber have made great contributions to helping us understand how society is created through social interaction, routines, organization and order. In my report, I will be demonstrating how society and social order are maintained through social interaction, and relationships in a retail store named “Urban planet”.

The intensification of rapidly changing stimulations in the city requires the individual to “create a protective organ” manifesting itself in a “matter-of-fact attitude”. This attitude rather than concerning itself with emotions takes on a rational mentality and gives rise to intellectualism. In other words, instead of letting constant encounters with unexpected smells, objects, actions, noises, events, people agitate the nerves and react emotionally, the individual approaches everything in a logical manner. This rational mentality of a purely intellectual individual inevitably leads to a blasé mind set, an apathetic outlook to that which is happening around them. This blasé attitude is a necessary response against the threat of individuality.

This report will focus on the text ‘The Metropolis & Mental life’ by Georg Simmel and the key arguments of this primary text. It will start off with a key biography of himself and the influences which he had then will go onto explaining the contribution this key author makes to social theory.

The social theories that I find particularly insightful in the study of cities are the Durkheim and Weber classical theories. Durkheim’s theory argues that societies are held together by social cement known as collective consciousness, which forms a moral basis of team spirit. In contrast, the emergent society is characterized by change, complexity and demands division of labor among individuals in the society. According to Durkheim, complex societies gave rise to social interactions or moral density among individuals. Durkheim believed that division of labor arises from increasing moral density in the society. Consequently, cities arise from the need of people to remain in close contact with each other and to uphold collective consciousness (Bounds 7).

Urban studies aims to develop an understanding the modern city metropolis. As Savage et al. have pointed out, the urban encompasses far more than just the physical city itself; understanding the city help us to understand many aspects of modern life (2003, pp.4). Many of its features, such as mass media and public transport systems have spread throughout society over the past century. Sociological studies of urban life began with the landmark publication of 'The City' in 1925 by sociologists Robert Park, Ernest Burgess and Louis Wirth from the University of Chicago, students of Georg Simmel who shared his belief that the urban environment changed man's

Cities are generators of economic life and source of changes in the world. Thereby, Jane Jacobs in her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities puts into relief the role of cities on the social and economic levels, while denouncing the disastrous consequences of urban renewal programs. To that extent, in chapters 2 and 3, she discusses "The Uses of Sidewalks”, arguing that over all people need safety and trust in their city. Therefore, first she claims the necessity of keeping streets and sidewalks safe because they are the “vital organs” of cities (29). Secondly, she argues that the functioning of cities should be organized in order to foster human interaction in which “casual public