What is Urban Sociology? What are the Nature & Scope of Urban Sociology.

•  In 21st century half of the world’s population lived in the urban areas. 
•  By 2030, some 60 percent of the total world population lived in urban areas.
• Most of this increase, however, is taking place in developing countries, such as Bangladesh, much of it in mega cities, e.g. Dhaka, where many live in shantytowns, and with incomes below the poverty level.

  This rapid expansion of urbanism requires a comprehensive understanding of urban relevant phenomena, and urban sociology attempts to focus on the urbanized social way of life and its impact on the surroundings, the suburbs in particular.

Definition 

According to Jary and Jary (2000)- ‘The study of social relationships and structures in the city’.

According to Haggerty (2000)- ‘Urban sociology studies human groups in a territorial frame of reference….with an emphasis on the interplay between social and spatial organization and the ways in which changes in spatial organization affect social and psychological well-being,…[and] are tied together by a common curiosity about the changing dynamics, determinants, and consequences of urban society’s most characteristic form of settlement, the city’

According to Flanagan (2010) ‘A cohesive sub-discipline within sociology, related in some systematic manner to a particular kind of social space, the urban arena.’

According to Barker [?] Urban Sociology deals with the impact of the city life on social action, social relationship, social instruction and the types of civilization derived from and based on urban modes of living.’

Nature of Urban Sociology

Urban sociology has its own characteristics and these are stated below

• Urban sociology is the sociological analysis of city and its life style.
• It concerns the dynamism of society stimulated by urbanization.
• It tends to identify the urban problems and implement possible remedies to solve them.
• It is a factual study of urban social living.
• It plays attention to the social relation among the city dwellers.
• It concerned with the geo-spatial cultural issues and comparative analysis of urban ecology.
• It studies the social relation which may harmonious or conflicting.
• It is the subtract area of general sociology.
• It is a social science.
• It is a theoretical as well as an applied science.
• It is a categorical science not a normative science.
• It is an abstract not a concrete science.
• It is a special not a general science.
• It is value free science.
• It is based on universal, authentic and valid scientific data.

Scope of Urban Sociology

Gottdiener and Hutchision (2011) stated that ‘In general, Urban Sociology is concerned about the everyday life in the suburban (suburban settlement space as well as in the city or urban settlement space). Yet, it has three addition dimensions-

1. The shift to a global perspective.
2. Attention to the political economy of pull factors (government policies including mortgage guarantees for lenders, tax deductions for homeowners, and the like) in urban and suburban development, and 
3. A appreciate for the role of culture in metropolitan life and in the construction of the built environment.

According to Marshall [1998], urban sociology is concerned with

1. Urbanization.
2. Rapidly growing industrial cities.
3. Complex social relationships, and 
4. Social structures.

According to Simmel [1903], urban sociology is the impressionistic discussion of 

1. Urban life-style and personality.
2. Urban social organization and culture.
3. Physical characteristics of cities.
4. Social characteristics of the inhabitants.

According to Jary and Jary [2000], urban sociology is concerned with—

1. Urban dimension of society.
2. Forms of association and social life in urban environments.
3. Social order and organization in urban settings.
4. Role of urban development in social change.
5. The relationships between incidence of social problems, i.e. crime, alcoholism, and social cohesion,
6. Community studies and neighborhood.
7. Study of housing.
8. Race and ethnic relationships.
9. Dynamics of zone transition.
10. Urban housing class, housing market and forms of tenure system.
11. Economic class interests.
12. Labor class and power.

Azam and Ali [2005] have classified the scope of urban sociology into five dimensions

A.The social change perspectives, includes---

• Morphology of cities.
• Population dynamics.
• Transformation of urban communities.
• Change in behavioral pattern of city-dwellers.
• Transformation of urban ways of living.
• Complex structural change.
• Center for domestic and foreign activities.
• Center for commercial and non-commercial activities, and 
• Center for housing, employment and education.

B.The social organization perspectives, includes—

• Individuals,
• Groups.
• Voluntary association.
• Bureaucracy, and 
• Social institution

C.The ecological perspective, includes

1. Population.
2. Environment.
3. Technology 

D. The social problem perspectives, includes—

1. Environmental pollution.
2. Illness.
3. Family fragmentation.
4. Poverty.
5. Unemployment.
6. Drug addiction.
7. Class and juvenile delinquency.
8. Prostitution and trafficking and so on.

E. The social policy perspectives, includes

1. Recognition and identification of the problems, and 
2. Ability to solve the identified problems.