Being Urban: A Sociology of City Life / Edition 3

by David A. Karp, Gregory P. Stone, William C. Yoels, Nicholas P. Dempsey

Overview

This third edition of a classic urban sociology text examines critical but often-neglected aspects of urban life from a social-psychological theoretical perspective.

Symbolic interaction is among the most central theoretical paradigms in sociology and the theory that most thoroughly attends to how individuals give meaning to their world—in this case, how city dwellers interpret and respond to their daily experiences as urbanites. This thoroughly updated edition of Being Urban: A Sociology of City Life remains true to this particular theoretical angle of vision—the symbolic interactionist approach—focusing on specific topics that are relatively neglected in other urban sociology texts, and that lend themselves to the kind of social-psychological analyses that define the distinctive conceptual core of the authors' efforts.

After the first two chapters supply readers with theoretical foundations of urban sociology, the next four chapters describe the various ways that individuals experience and make sense of key aspects of urban life. The final section—also composed of four chapters—addresses strategically chosen urban institutions and related processes of social change. Specific subject areas covered include sports, everyday public life, tolerance for diversity, women in cities, urban politics, and the arts. Readers will learn about how order is maintained in public urban places, understand why cities naturally breed a tolerance for diversity that may not be so easily achieved in less urban settings, and appreciate the delicate political and economic tensions between cities and their surrounding suburbs.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275956547
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	09/09/2015
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	360
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

David A. Karp, PhD, is professor emeritus at Boston College where he taught for 42 years.

Gregory P. Stone, PhD, who died in 1981, was professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota.

William C. Yoels, PhD, retired as professor emeritus at the University of Alabama-Birmingham.

Nicholas P. Dempsey, PhD, is assistant professor of sociology at Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, FL.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Second Edition

Issues and Perspectives in Urban Sociology

Classical Conceptions of Urban Life

Classical Observations of Urban Life

Experiencing City Life

The Rediscovery of Community

The Social Organization of Everyday City Life

Lifestyle Diversity and Urban Tolerance

Women in Cities: The Absence of a Presence

Urban Institutions and Social Change

Power, Politics, and Problems

Sports and Urban Life

Urbanism, Suburbanism, and Cultural Change

References

Index

Editorial Reviews

The date of the first edition is not stated, but, according to the authors' preface, the second is substantially expanded and revised. A major focus of inquiry is the strategies people use to create "community" in an environment where, many theorists believe, only alienation and progressive disintegration are possible. The authors draw on many disciplines, avoid the conventional anti-urban bias, and address some neglected topics, such as women in cities and sports and urban life. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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