Social ecology, despite the grave errors made by the Chicago School, still offers insights into the mechanics underlying the formation of urban residential geographies. A reconstituted social ecology, properly grafted to a conception of the division of labor and informed by structuration theory, reveals much about neighborhood formation and dissolution, urban sociospatial mobility, and the neglected issue of ethnicity. In this paper such a project is outlined, and then utilized empirically with a case study of the historical and current evolution of Brooklyn, New York, illustrating that the formation and dissolution of neighborhoods is a function of the changing types of jobs at successive historical moments, the structure of the housing market, the geography of preexisting residential formations, and the cultural and ideological characteristics of immigrant communities.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AgnewJ, 1981, “Homeownership and the capitalist social order”, in Urbanization and Urban Planning in Capitalist Society Eds DearMScottA, (Methuen, Andover, Hants) pp 457–480
2.
AgnewJ, 1987The United States in the World-Economy (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge)
3.
AldrichH, 1975, “Ecological succession in racially changing neighborhoods: A review of the literature”Urban Affairs Quarterly10327–348
4.
BaileyTWaldingerR, 1984, “A skills mismatch in New York's labor market?”New York Affairs8 (3) 3–18
5.
BeauregardR, 1984, “Structure, agency, and urban redevelopment”, in Cities in Transformation Ed. SmithM, (Sage, Beverly Hills, CA) pp 51–74
6.
BockG, 1983, “Booming Brooklyn starts to get some respect”US News and World Report 12 December, pages 70–71
7.
BogenE, 1987Immigration in New York (Praeger, New York)
8.
BulmerM, 1984The Chicago School of Sociology: Institutionalization, Diversity and the Rise of Sociological Research (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL)
CastellsM, 1983The City and the Grass Roots (University of California Press, Berkeley, CA)
11.
ConnollyH, 1977A Ghetto Grows in Brooklyn (New York University Press, New York)
12.
ConzenK, 1979, “Immigrants, immigrant neighborhoods and ethnic identity: Historical issues”Journal of American History66603–615
13.
CybriwskyR, 1978, “Social aspects of neighborhood change”Annals of the Association of American Geographers6817–33
14.
DanforthB, 1976, “Brooklyn Heights: New York City's first suburban community”Journal of Long Island History1322–31
15.
De BresK, 1988, “Racial resegregation in a gentrified neighborhood”Scottish Geographical Magazine10424–29
16.
DeGionvanniG, 1983, “Patterns of change in housing market activity in revitalizing neighborhoods”Journal of the American Planning Association4922–39
17.
Della FeminaJSopkinC, 1978An Italian Grows in Brooklyn (Little, Brown, Boston, MA)
18.
DownsA, 1981Neighborhoods and Urban Development (Brookings Institution, Washington, DC)
19.
DuncanJLeyD, 1982, “Structural Marxism and human geography: A critical assessment”Annals of the Association of American Geographers7230–59
20.
EntrikinN, 1980, “Robert Park's human ecology and human geography”Annals of the Association of American Geographers7043–58
21.
EttlingerN, 1988, “The urban context of immigrant labor and industrial change”, paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Phoenix, AZ
22.
FarisR, 1970Chicago Sociology: 1920–1932 (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL)
23.
FoderaroL, 1987, “A metamorphosis for Old Williamsburg”New York Times 19 July, page R920
24.
FreedmanS, 1986, “Signs of transformation in neighborly Greenpoint”New York Times 15 October, page B1
25.
GansH, 1968, “Urbanism and suburbanism as ways of life”, in Readings in Urban Sociology Ed. PahlR, (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ) pp 62–101
26.
GiddensA, 1984The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structuration (University of California Press, Berkeley, CA)
GoldsteinBDavisR, (Eds), 1977Neighborhoods in the Urban Economy (Lexington Books, Lexington, MA)
29.
GregoryD, 1981, “Human agency and human geography”Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers61–18
30.
GregsonN, 1987, “Structuration theory: Some thoughts on the possibilities for empirical research”Environment and Planning D: Society and Space573–91
31.
GutermanS, 1969, “In defense of Wirth's ‘Urbanism as a way of life’”American Journal of Sociology74492–499
32.
GutmanH, 1966Work, Culture, and Society in Industrializing America (Vintage Books, New York)
33.
HallmanH, 1984Neighborhoods: Their Place in Urban Life (Sage, Beverly Hills, CA)
34.
HamillP, 1986, “A new day dawns in Brooklyn”New York1932–73
35.
HandlinO, 1959The Newcomers (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA)
36.
HarrisR, 1984, “Residential segregation and class formation in the capitalist city: A review and directions for research”Progress in Human Geography1826–49
37.
HarveyD, 1975, “Class structure in a capitalist society and the theory of residential differentiation”, in Processes in Physical and Human Geography Eds PeelRChisholmMHaggcttP, (Heinemann Educational Books, London) pp 354–389
38.
HarveyD, 1976, “Labor, capital and class struggle around the built environment in advanced capitalist societies”Politics and Society7265–275
39.
HawleyA, 1950Human Ecology: A Theory of Community Structure (Ronald Press, New York)
40.
HindsM, 1987, “Gentrification: The case of Clinton Hill”New York Times 8 February, section 8, page 1
41.
HooverEVernonR, 1959Anatomy of a Metropolis: The Changing Distribution of People and Jobs within the New York Metropolitan Region (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA)
42.
HoweM, 1987, “City's third Chinatown is emerging in Brooklyn”New York Times 13 September, page 4
43.
Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1988, “Immigrants admitted by county and country of birth” unpublished data
44.
KasinitzP, 1987a, “The minority within: The new black immigrants”New York Affairs1044–58
45.
KasinitzP, 1987b, “The city's ‘new immigrants’”Dissent Fall 496–506
KatznelsonI, 1981City Trenches: Urban Politics and the Patterning of Class in the United States (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL)
48.
KlausnerD, 1986, “Beyond separate spheres: Linking production with social reproduction and consumption”Environment and Planning D: Society and Space429–40
49.
KranzlerG, 1961Williamsburg: A Jewish Community in Transition (Philipp Feldheim, New York)
50.
KraseJ, 1979, “Stigmatized places, stigmatized people: Crown Heights and Prospect-Lefferts Gardens”, in Brooklyn USA Ed. MillerR, (Columbia University Press, New York) pp 111–131
51.
KurtzL, 1984Evaluating Chicago Sociology: A Guide to the Literature with an Annotated Bibliography (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL)
52.
LeyD, 1980, “Liberal ideology and the postindustrial city”Annals of the Association of American Geographers70238–258
53.
LoweS, 1986Urban Social Movements: The City after Castells (St Martin's Press, New York)
54.
ManoniM, 1973Bedford–Stuyvesant: Anatomy of a Central City Community (Quadrangle, Chicago, IL)
55.
MarcuseP, 1986, “Abandonment, gentrification and displacement: The linkages in New York City”, in Gentrification of the City Eds SmithNWilliamsP, (Allen and Unwin, Winchester, MA) pp 153–177
56.
MarkusenA, 1987Regions: The Economics and Politics of Territory (Macmillan, London)
57.
MarshallA, 1987, “New immigrants in New York's economy”, in New Immigrants in New York Ed. FonerN, (Columbia University Press, New York) pp 79–101
58.
MarstonS, 1988, “Neighborhood and politics: Irish ethnicity in nineteenth century Lowell, Massachusetts”Annals of the Association of American Geographers78414–432
59.
MasseyD, 1984Spatial Divisions of Labor (Rowman and Littlefield, Totowa, NJ)
60.
MatthewsF, 1977Quest for an American Sociology: Robert E Park and the Chicago School (McGill–Queen's University Press, Montreal)
61.
MayerE, 1979From Suburb to Shtetl: The Jews of Boro Park (Temple University Press, Philadelphia, PA)
62.
McCulloughD, 1983Brooklyn … And How It Got That Way (Brooklyn College Press, New York)
63.
MentD, 1979The Shaping of a City: A Brief History of Brooklyn (Brooklyn Educational and Cultural Alliance, Brooklyn)
64.
MillerRMillerSKarpS, 1979, “The fourth largest city in America: A sociological history of Brooklyn”, in Brooklyn USA Ed. MillerR, (Columbia University Press, New York) pp 1–37
65.
MiskaMPosenI, 1983Tradition and Community in the Urban Neighborhood: Making Brooklyn Home (Brooklyn Educational and Cultural Alliance, New York)
66.
NeuwirthR, 1986, “Building the new Brooklyn”City Limits11(4) 12–15
67.
NoyelleTStanbackT, 1983The Economic Transformation of American Cities (Rowman and Allanheld, Totowa, NJ)
68.
OserA, 1986, “Conversions still blossom in Brooklyn”New York Times 29 August, page B1
69.
PapademetriouD, 1983New Immigrants to Brooklyn and Queens (Center for Migration Studies, New York)
70.
ParkRBurgessE, 1921Introduction to the Science of Sociology (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL)
71.
ParkRBurgessEMcKenzieR, 1925The City (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL)
72.
PessenE, 1971, “A social and economic portrait of Jacksonian Brooklyn: Inequality, social immobility, and class distinction in the nation's seventh city”New York Historical Society Quarterly55318–353
73.
PioreM, 1979Birds of Passage: Migrant Labor and Industrial Societies (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge)
74.
PollS, 1969The Hasidic Community of Williamsburg (Schocken Books, New York)
75.
PrattGHansonS, 1988, “Gender, class, and space”Environment and Planning D: Society and Space615–35
76.
PredA, 1984, “Place as a historically contingent process: Structuration and the time-geography of becoming places”Annals of the Association of American Geographers74279–297
77.
QuimbyE, 1979, “Bedford–Stuyvesant: The making of a ghetto”, in Brooklyn USA Ed. MillerR, (Columbia University Press, New York) pp 131–162
78.
RangelJ, 1986, “Revival changes the face of Red Hook”New York Times 13 December, page B1
79.
RangelJ, 1987, “Small town in the big city: South Brooklyn changes”New York Times 29 July, pages B1–B3
80.
RexJMooreR, 1967Race, Community and Conflict (Oxford University Press, Oxford)
81.
RichLCahnE, 1981Neighborhood: A State of Mind (Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD)
82.
RiederJ, 1985Canarsie: The Jews and Italians of Brooklyn Against Liberalism (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA)
83.
RoseD, 1984, “Rethinking gentrification: Beyond the uneven development of marxist urban theory”Environment and Planning D: Society and Space247–74
84.
RosenwaikeI, 1972Population History of New York City (Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, NY)
85.
RyggA, 1942Norwegians in New York 1825–1925 (Norwegian News Company, Brooklyn, New York)
86.
SassenS, 1989, “New trends in the sociospatial organization of the New York City economy”, in Economic Restructuring and Political Response Ed BeauregardR, (Sage, Beverly Hills, CA) pp 69–113
87.
Sassen-KoobS, 1980, “Immigrant and minority workers in the organization of the labor process”Journal of Ethnic Studies11–34
88.
Sassen-KoobS, 1984, “The new labor demand in global cities”, in Cities in Transition: Class, Capital, and the State Ed. SmithM, (Sage, Beverly Hills, CA) pp 139–172
89.
Sassen-KoobS, 1987, “Growth and informalization at the core: A preliminary report on New York City”, in The Capitalist City: Global Restructuring and Community Politics Eds SmithMFeaginJ, (Basil Blackwell, Oxford) pp 167–189
90.
SaundersP, 1981Social Theory and the Urban Question (Hutchinson Education, London)
91.
SchoenebaumE, 1977Emerging Neighborhoods: The Development of Brooklyn's Fringe Areas, 1850–1930 unpublished PhD dissertation, Brooklyn College, Bedford Avenue and Avenue H, Brooklyn 11210
92.
SchrankRSteinS, 1969, “Industry in the black community: IBM in Bedford–Stuyvesant”Journal of the American Institute of Planners25134–151
93.
SchreuderY, 1989, “Labor segmentation, ethnic division of labor, and residential segregation in American cities in the early twentieth century”Professional Geographer41131–143
94.
ScottA, 1980The Urban Land Nexus and the State (Pion, London)
95.
ScottA, 1986, “Industrialization and urbanization: A geographical agenda”Annals of the Association of American Geographers7625–37
96.
ScottA, 1988Metropolis: From Division of Labor to Urban Form (University of California Press, Berkeley, CA)
97.
ShevskyEBellW, 1955Social Area Analysis (Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA)
98.
SmithD, 1989The Chicago School: A Liberal Critique of Capitalism (St Martin's Press; New York)
99.
SmithM, 1979The City and Social Theory (St Martin's Press, New York)
100.
SmithMTardanicoR, 1987, “Urban theory reconsidered: Production, reproduction and collective action”, in The Capitalist City: Global Restructuring and Community Politics Eds SmithMFeaginJ, (Basil Blackwell, Oxford) pp 65–91
101.
SmithN, 1987, “Of yuppies and housing: Gentrification, social restructuring, and the urban dream”Environment and Planning D: Society and Space5151–172
102.
SowellT, 1981Ethnic America (Basic Books, New York)
103.
StegmanM, 1982The Dynamics of Rental Housing in New York City (Center for Urban Policy Research, New Brunswick, NJ)
104.
SteinB, 1975Rebuilding Bedford–Stuyvesant: Community Economic Development in the Ghetto (Center for Community Economic Development, Cambridge, MA)
105.
StilesH, 1867History of the City of Brooklyn (Subscription, Brooklyn)
106.
SuttlesG, 1968The Social Order of the Slum (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL)
107.
SuttonCCheneyE, (Eds), 1987Caribbean Life in New York City: Social and Cultural Dimensions (Center for Migration Studies, New York)
108.
ThernstromS, 1972Poverty and Progress: Social Mobility in a Nineteenth Century City (Atheneum, New York)
109.
ThriftN, 1983, “On the determination of social action in space and time”Environment and Planning D: Society and Space123–57
110.
UrryJ, 1981, “Localities, regions and social class”International Journal of Urban and Regional Research5455–474
111.
WaldingerR, 1986Through the Eye of the Needle: Immigrants and Enterprise in New York's Garment Trades (New York University Press, New York)
112.
WalkerR, 1978, “The transformation of urban structure in the nineteenth century and the beginnings of suburbanization”, in Urbanization and Conflict in Market Societies Ed. CoxK, (Maaroufa Press, Chicago, IL) pp 165–212
113.
WalkerRStorperM, 1981, “Capital and industrial location”Progress in Human Geography5473–509
114.
WardD, 1968, “The emergence of central city immigrant ghettos in American cities: 1840–1920”Annals of the Association of American Geographers58343–359
115.
WardD, 1971Cities and Immigrants: A Geography of Change in Nineteenth Century America (Oxford University Press, New York)
116.
WardD, 1982, “The ethnic ghetto in the United States: Past and present”Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers7257–275
117.
WardeA, 1985, “Spatial change, politics and the division of labor”, in Social Relations and Spatial Structures Eds GregoryDUrryJ, (St Martin's Press, New York) pp 190–212
