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Chapter 20: Communities and Urbanization
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Chapter twenty takes a sociological look at life in towns, suburbs,
and cities, and examines the effects of urbanization on communities.
Sociologists suggest three different answers to the question
of the effects of urbanization: one view holds that it has resulted
in a complete disintegration of community; another view is that
a sense of community persists in small enclaves in even the
biggest, most populated cities; a third perspective is that
urbanization has given rise to a new kind of community that
does not depend on people living near one another. Urban life
has evolved over time, from preindustrial to industrialized
to modern cities.
The growth and shape of a city is the product of social,
economic, political, and geographic forces. There are two
main sociological perspectives on how cities grow: the urban-ecology
approach, which examines how social uses of urban land result
from an interaction among diverse groups of people, and the
political-economy view, which emphasizes power and social
action over functional adaptation.
Current trends in American communities include the depopulation
and disappearance of small towns, the restructuring of cities,
and the growth of suburbs. Each of these trends carries distinct
implications and challenges for twenty-first-century American
communities.
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