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ABSTRACT
The criticismsthat sociologistshave voiced of Wirth's essay "Urbanism as a Way of
Life" are examined.It is argued that the evidence on which these criticismsrelycontains
several inadequacies. To support Wirth's theory,data are presentedshowing a negative
correlationbetweenthe size of the localitya personlives in and the intimacyof his friendship ties. The author concludes that a freshlook at Wirth'stheoryis needed utilizingresearch based on adequate measuresand adequate design.
2Ibid., p. 12.
492
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IN DEFENSEOF WIRTH
493
of the"modified
extendedfamily"in which thesisof thispaperthattheyhave notdone
there"are mutualaid and social activities fulljusticeto his conceptionof urbanlife.
amongkinrelatedfamilies."4
When one examinesthe studieson which
On theidea thatareaswithina citydiffer theirarguments
are based,he discoversthat
in the degreeto whichtheyare urbanized, -with twopartialexceptionsthatare disScott Greersays, "Althoughhighlyurban- cussedtowardtheend ofthispaper8-these
izedpopulationsare nottypicalofmostcity studiesare less than adequate for testing
dwellers(theyare an extremeof a continu- Wirth'sviews.To beginwith,themeasures
um), those who do exist deviate widely employedoften deal with the frequency
fromthe stereotype
of the atomisticman. withwhichan individualinteracts,or gets
Theyare greatlyinvolvedin thefamilyand togethersocially,withhis associates.9The
kinshipgroup,and theyparticipateinten- high rate of interactionthat is generally
sively in friendship
and cliques."5 If the foundamongcitydwellersis thoughtto re"stereotype"is not descriptive
even of the futeWirth'sviews.The fallacyhereis that
highlyurbanizedsegmentsof a city,how Wirthwas notconcernedwiththequantity
muchless so mustit be of the otherseg- of interaction.
In one passage,forexample,
ments?
"This is not to say
he explicitlyremarked,
Tomehhas writtenthata that the urbaninhabitantshave feweracMost recently,
forthe
of "Wirthand othersof the quaintancesthanruralinhabitants,
majorcriticism
the reversemay actuallybe true."'10
His conChicagoschoolis thattheyexaggerated
degreeofsecularization
and disorganization cern,rather,was withthe qualityof interthat supposedlytypifiesurban communi- action.Thus he spoke of the "impersonal,
ties." Researchhas disclosed"strongkin- superficial,
and segmental"chartransitory,
tiesin thoseareasof acterof social ties in the cityand of "the
shipand neighborhood
the city where such relationswere often reserve,theindifference,
and theblase outassumedto be quiteweak."6
in theirrelalookwhichurbanitesmanifest
The morerecentviewsofsociallifein the tionships.""Insofaras the measuresused
city,then,differ
sharplyin emphasisfrom in theempiricalresearchdo not tap thedithoseof Wirth-if,indeed,the twosets of mensionsimplicitin Wirth'sdiscussion,
this
witheach
conflict
viewsare notin outright
The partialexceptionsare JohnP. Sutcliffeand
ofthesenewerviews, B. D. Crabbe, "Incidence and Degrees of Friendother.The proponents
can marshalan impressive
moreover,
array ship in Urban and Rural Areas," Social Forces,
of empiricalstudiesto supportthe conten- XLII (October, 1963), 60-67; and William H.
the Family,"
tion thatisolationfromfriendsand kin is Key, "Rural-Urban Differencesand49-56.
Sociological Quarterly,II (1961),
in thecity.7
a rareoccurrence
8
9 For studies dealing with frequencyof interaction with associates, see Scott Greer, "Urbanism Reconsidered: A Comparative Study of Local
case thatWirth's Areas in the Metropolis," American Sociological
Despite the formidable
detractors
appearto havemadeout,it is the Review, XXI (1956), 19-24; Scott Greerand Ella
Kuba, "Urbanism and Social Structure: A Los
Angeles Study," in Marvin B. Sussman (ed.),
4Marvin B. Sussman and Lee Burchinal,"Kin
York:
Family Network: UnheraldedStructurein Current CommunityStructureand Analysis (New
pp. 93-112; Mor1959),
Co.,
Crowell
Y.
Thomas
Conceptualizationsof Family Functioning,"Marris Axelrod,"Urban Structureand Social Particiriage and Family Living,XXIV (1962), 234-35.
pation," American Sociological Review, XXI
' Scott Greer, The Emerging City: Myth and
(1956), 13-18; Aida K. Tomeh, "Informal Group
Reality (New York: Free Press, 1962), pp. 92-93. Participation and Residential Patterns," AmeriLXX (July, 1964), 28'Aida K. Tomeh, "Participationin a Metropoli- can Journal of Sociology,
35; and Tomeh, "Participationin a Metropolitan
tan Community," Sociological Quarterly, VIII
Community" (n. 6 above), pp. 85-102.
(1967), 85.
'?Wirth,op. cit. (n. 1 above), p. 12.
'A number of these studies are cited in nn. 9
` Ibid.
and 12 below.
WEAKNESSES OF THE CRITICISMS
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494
friendship
activities.What is
researchcannotbe regardedas trulytesting leisure-time,
wronghere is that the relationshipsthat
his ideas.
onlya part
I mustimmediatelyconcede that there thesestudiesfocuson constitute
are studiesthatdo use indicatorsreferringof any person'snetworkof social relations.
hisanalysis
to the qualityof social relations.But even Wirthneverintendedto confine
theseinvestigations
leave somethingto be to thatpart. On the contrary,
his interest
The was in the total network.Considerhis redesired.For theyare not comparative.
samples are confinedto personslivingin markthat the "distinctivefeaturesof the
largecities,so thattheydo not permitone urban mode of life have oftenbeen deto make inferencesabout differences
be- scribedsociologicallyas consistingof the
of secondaryforprimarycontweenurban areas, on the one side, and substitution
smalltownsand ruralareas,on theother.12 tacts.";15or his mentionof "the numberof
As Wirthobservedin one passage, "We people . . . with whom they [urban inhabmust. . . inferthaturbanismwillassumeits itants] rub elbows in the course of daily
mostcharacteristic
and extremeformin the life";16or his referenceto the absence of
measurein whichtheconditions
withwhich "sentimental
and emotionalties"and to "a
it is congruent
are present.Thus thelarger, spiritof competition,
and
aggrandizement,
the moredenselypopulated,and the more mutualexploitation."'17
The languageWirth
heterogeneous
a community,
the moreac- uses in theseand otherpassages seemsto
centuatedthecharacteristics
associatedwith referin largepartto economicand business
Because the existingstudies
urbanismwill be."'13To the extentthat relationships.
Wirthintendedto depictthewaysin which are confinedto ties with friendsand kin,
highlyurbanizedsettlements
differ
fromless theyfailto deal withthesecondarytypesof
urbanizedsettlements,the absence of a interactionthat play a large role in most
comparativedesign vitiates the existing urbanites'day-to-dayexistence.Thus even
if researchwere to demonstratethat ties
studiesas a testofhistheory.14
and kinare no less "impersonal,
Finally,thesestudiesare limitedto rela- withfriends
and segmental"in
superficial,
transitory,
and the
tionswithkin, friends,neighbors,
in
towns
small
and ruralareas,
the
than
city
like. To be sure, the studies frequently
notjustifyrejectionofWirth's
it
would
still
butsuch
touchon relationswithco-workers,
ideas inasmuchas it would tell us nothing
relationsare invariablyviewedin termsof
about thecomparativequalityof social reFor investigationsthat contain measures of lations outside of the kin and friendship
the quality of social relations but are not com- networks.
parative in their design, see Wendell Bell and
Wirth'scritics,then,appear to have alMarion T. Boat, "Urban Neighborhoodsand Inlowedthedeficiencies
and limitations
of the
formalSocial Relations,"AmericanJournalof So12
ciology,LXII (1956-57), 391-98; Marvin B. Sussman, "The Isolated Nuclear Family: Fact or Fiction," Social Forces, VI (1959), 333-40; Nicholas
Babchuck and A. P. Bates, "The PrimaryRelations
of Middle-Class Couples," American Sociological
Review, XXVIII
(June, 1963), 377-84; and
Nicholas Babchuck, "PrimaryFriends and Kin: A
Study of the Associations of Middle Class
Couples," Social Forces, XLIII (May, 1965), 48393. Two reviewsof researchfocusingon the quality of ties among extended kin are Sussman and
Burchinal,op. cit. (n. 4 above), pp. 231-40; and
Joan Aldous, "Urbanization,The Extended Family and KinshipTies in West Africa,"Social Forces,
XLI (October, 1962), 6-11.
13 Wirth,op.cit. (n.
1 above), p. 9.
14
Admittedly there are studies that compare
residentsof census tractsthat vary in theirdegree
of "urbanism" or "familystatus." But in a given
study,these tractsare taken froma singlemetropolitan area. Whateverthe meritsof such studies,
they are no substitute for research comparing
residentsof different-sized
localities.For examples
of researchmakingintrametropolitan
comparisons,
see Greer, "Urbanism Reconsidered,"op. cit. (n.
9 above); Greerand Kuba, op. cit. (n. 9 above);
Tomeh, "Informal Group Participationand Residential Patterns,"op. cit. (n. 9 above) ; and Bell
and Boat, op. cit. (n. 12 above).
17
Ibid., p. 15.
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IN DEFENSEOF WIRTH
495
merous than those in the other three age categories (18-29, 30-39 and 40-49). Approximately
half of the sample came from three giant urban
hotels, each of which had no less than 700 personnel. At the other extreme,about 30 per cent
worked for units having less than 90 employees
each.
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496
PROCEDURES
whetherthe "two closest friendsof this person (not includingyourself)are good friends
of yours."22
22
20 See
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497
IN DEFENSEOF WIRTH
POPULATION
Between
Under 120
1.5 and 2.5
Thuad
Thousand
INTIMACY
Million
Low
Medium...
High. .
NOTE.-X2
14 Million
(%
42
24
34
47
26
27
58
19
23
100
(131)
100
(185)
100
(145)
emitations.First,thesamplingprocedures
selectionof
employeesin thehotelindustry,
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498
26
27
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IN DEFENSEOF WIRTH
499
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