Review of Urban Sociology Methodology with a Focus on the United States:

A Viewpoint from the Development of Quantitative Methods

Abstract

    This paper reviews the methodological evolution of urban sociology, with an emphasis on US urban sociology. Furthermore, it focuses on the development of quantitative methods for urban sociology.
    First, this paper reviews the tradition of the Chicago school of sociology. The Chicago school is distinguished by social disorganization theory and ecological determinism. The theory of L. Wirth is primarily analytical. He viewed the city as an independent variable and the way of life as a dependent variable. Second, social composition theorists appear in this paper, with H. Gans serving as a representative sociologist of this approach. He believed that urbanism as a way of life is explained not only by the ecological aspect of the city, but also by the characteristics of individuals, such as social class or lifecycle. Gans' view, which distinguishes between the effects of individual and city, is overlapped with the concept of multilevel methods. Third, B. Wellman and C. S. Fischer modified Wirth's theory. They recognized Gans' perspective and refocused on the city's ecological aspects. Fourth, the trend of current urban sociology is the neighborhood effect. R. J. Sampson, a well-known sociologist in this discipline, revolutionized the methodology of urban sociology. He recognizes the city's ecological aspects, and interprets neighborhood effects as the accumulation of specific individuals, such as black or impoverished people. In short, the ecological aspect of the city and individual selection of migrating to the city are interpreted as the city's effects. The emergence of quantitative methods such as panel data analysis and social experiments methods has aided the manner of thinking of neighborhood effects research.
    Finally, this paper discussed the future of Japanese quantitative urban sociology. We should make panel data for urban sociology and cooperate with urban sociologists employing qualitative methods to capture the urban dynamics.