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36-596: The object of the 'Welfare Brotherhood' is twofold. I want to make the 'hoboes' not only better citizens, but better 'hoboes,' and I want the public to appreciate what the 'beat' is, what his rights are, and how he should be looked upon. Contemporary sociologist Nels Anderson wrote in 1923 that the official program of the IBWA was: A. To bring together the unorganized workers. B. To co-operate with persons and organizations who desire to better social conditions. C. To utilize unused land and machinery in order to provide work for

72-525: A better understanding between hobos and the rest of the Chicago community. Anderson received his doctorate from New York University and taught at Columbia University from 1928 to 1934, when he became a civil servant . He worked as a public servant both in Washington, D.C. and abroad, mainly with agencies for work and welfare until 1953. He continued to publish work on hobos and the homeless under

108-666: A process of social disorganization (comparison with the concept of anomie and the strain theories is instructive). Vasishth and Sloane (2000) argue that while it is tempting to draw analogies between organisms in nature and the human condition, the problem lies in reductionism , i.e. that the science of biology is oversimplified into rules that are then applied mechanically to explain the growth and dynamics of human communities. The most fundamental difficulties are definitional: The structures, forms, and patterns are relatively easy to observe and measure, but they are nothing more than evidence of underlying processes and functions which are

144-433: A research method to reveal the features of a society and was the first field research monograph of the famed Chicago School of Sociology , marking a milepost in the discipline of Sociology. The intent of this work was to help the hobos and homeless who were facing great social and economic problems in the Chicago area. He hoped that his work would help supply some insight into the life of this "urban jungle" and would lead to

180-418: A sustained financial commitment to them. Although with hindsight, the school's attempts to map crime may have produced some distortions, the work was valuable in that it moved away from a study of pattern and place toward a study of function and scale. To that extent, this was work of high quality that represented the best science available to the researchers at the time. The Social Disorganization Theory itself

216-521: Is best known for its urban sociology and for the development of the symbolic interactionist approach, notably through the work of Herbert Blumer . It has focused on human behavior as shaped by social structures and physical environmental factors, rather than genetic and personal characteristics. Biologists and anthropologists had accepted the theory of evolution as demonstrating that animals adapt to their environments. As applied to humans who are considered responsible for their own destinies, members of

252-445: Is perhaps best known for the subcultural theories of Thrasher (1927), Frazier (1932; 1932), and Sutherland (1924), and for applying the principles of ecology to develop the social disorganization theory which refers to consequences of the failure of: Thomas defined social disorganization as "the inability of a neighborhood to solve its problems together" which suggested a level of social pathology and personal disorganization, so

288-598: The First World War . Not formally, but because the organization was dependent on his financial support. The IBWA was separate, but supporting, of the IWW. There were however failed attempts by IWW to take over IBWA. After the Big Pinch of government action against the IWW in 1917, the IBWA grew rapidly but was radicalized by in inflow of Wobblies (IWW people), attracting negative government attention. Radical members of

324-650: The UNESCO Institute for Social Science at Cologne, from 1953 to 1962. In 1965, he joined the Department of Sociology at the University of New Brunswick , where he served as a professor until 1977. Throughout his career, Dr. Anderson's research focused on issues of contemporary relevance such as healthy cities and marginalized people. His work is currently subject to a revival, especially in Europe, where

360-521: The IBWA, also started the Migratory Workers Union in 1918 with financing by How who was otherwise a moderate, but it was largely defunct by 1922. Conflict between the two factions continued, and Hobo World was created as a more radical rival of Hobo News . While Hobo World was published more irregularly, the two competed to be the genuine voice of hobo culture. Nels Anderson Nels Anderson (July 31, 1889 – October 8, 1986)

396-656: The alias Dean Stiff. In an autobiographical sequence of articles entitled "Sociology has Many Faces", he wrote that no matter where he was working during these 30 years of being in non-academic sociology work, he always felt he was using and applying his sociological knowledge. During the war, he served in the Middle and Near East with merchant marine personnel. Following the war, he worked as labor relations expert in Germany. At age 65, he returned to research, invigorating social research in Germany and eventually becoming head of

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432-400: The analysis. Park , Burgess , and McKenzie (1925) are credited with institutionalizing, if not establishing, sociology as a science. They are also criticized for their overly empiricist and idealized approach to the study of society but, in the inter-war years, their attitudes and prejudices were normative. Three broad themes characterized this dynamic period of Chicago studies: The school

468-524: The city of Chicago as the object of their study, seeking evidence whether urbanization and increasing social mobility have been the causes of the contemporary social problems. By 1910, the population exceeded two million, many of whom were recent immigrants to the U.S. With a shortage in housing and a lack of regulation in the burgeoning factories, the city's residents experienced homelessness and poor housing, living, and working conditions with low wages, long hours, and excessive pollution. In their analysis of

504-426: The criminal who takes risks and successfully engages in exciting, dangerous activities. The depiction of a society as a collection of socially differentiated groups with distinct subcultural perspectives that lead some of these groups into conflict with the law is another form of cultural disorganization, is typically called cultural conflict. Modern versions of the theory sometimes use different terminology to refer to

540-486: The efficacy of an ethnographic approach to the study of society and social problems is being rediscovered. A conference celebrating the 85th anniversary of the publication of The Hobo was held in May 2008. Chicago school (sociology) The Chicago school (sometimes known as the ecological school ) refers to a school of thought in sociology and criminology originating at the University of Chicago whose work

576-409: The history of development and concluded that the city had not grown at the edges. Although the presence of Lake Michigan prevented the complete encirclement, he postulated that all major cities would be formed by radial expansion from the center in concentric rings which he described as zones, i.e. the business area in the center; the slum area (aka "the zone in transition") around the central area;

612-551: The hobos cooked their favorite mulligan stew . The houses often failed, and How had to spend much time going around and restarting them. The Chicago branch was started by Ben Reitman , and when he was out travelling by Irwin St. John Tucker and the Episcopal minister Michael C. Walsh . It graduated hundreds of hobos every year, 164 of them in 1926. According to Anderson, the IBWA was largely controlled by J. E. How, at least before

648-409: The homeless workers could express themselves. It was held mainly in winter when there were fewer jobs and more hobos in the cities. The success of the "colleges" varied. The Chicago branch was the biggest and one year debated with University of Chicago students. A hobo college was usually a rented building in the hobo area of a city. There would be blankets for sleeping, a washroom and a kitchen, where

684-741: The masses. The hobo colleges, which How started in several cities, primarily offered lodging and meals, but as the name implies also education and a place to meet. The education would be scheduled certain nights and included basic social science, industrial law, vagrancy laws, public speaking, searching for jobs, venereal disease and anything that may be understood and useful for the hobos. They also covered subjects like philosophy, literature and religion. The lectures were held by street orators as well as academics. How often talked about social politics subjects such as 8-hour working day , pensions and unemployment. The discussions following were known to be very lively. They also served as community meeting places where

720-509: The members of the school. Following the Second World War , a "second Chicago School" arose, whose members combined symbolic interactionism with methods of field research (today known as ethnography ), to create a new body of work. Luminaries from the second Chicago school include, Howard S. Becker , Richard Cloward , Erving Goffman , David Matza , Robert K. Merton , Lloyd Ohlin and Frances Fox Piven . The Chicago school

756-443: The place of occurrence of specific behaviors, including alcoholism, homicide, suicides, psychoses, and poverty, and then computing rates based on census data. A visual comparison of the maps could identify the concentration of certain types of behavior in some areas. Correlations of rates by areas were not made until later. For W. I. Thomas , the groups themselves had to reinscribe and reconstruct themselves to prosper. Burgess studied

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792-426: The real constitutive forces in nature and society. The Chicago school wanted to develop tools by which to research and then change society by directing urban planning and social intervention agencies. It recognized that urban expansion was not haphazard but quite strongly controlled by community-level forces such as land values, zoning ordinances, landscape features, circulation corridors, and historical contingency. This

828-442: The same ecological causal processes. For example, Crutchfield, Geerken and Gove (1982) hypothesize that the social integration of communities is inhibited by population turnover and report supporting evidence in the explanation of variation in crime rates among cities. The greater the mobility of the population in a city, the higher the crime rates. These arguments are identical to those proposed by social disorganization theorists and

864-406: The school believed that the natural environment, which the community inhabits, is a major factor in shaping human behavior, and that the city functions as a microcosm: "In these great cities, where all the passions, all the energies of mankind are released, we are in a position to investigate the process of civilization , as it were, under a microscope." Members of the school have concentrated on

900-468: The situation, Thomas and Znaniecki (1918) argued that these immigrants, released from the controls of Europe to the unrestrained competition of the new city, contributed to the city's dynamic growth. Like the person who is born, grows, matures, and dies, the community continues to grow and exhibits properties of all of the individuals who had lived in the community. Ecological studies (among sociologists thus) consisted of making spot maps of Chicago for

936-444: The social bonds between a youth and society, the lower the odds of involvement in delinquency. When social bonds to conventional role models, values and institutions are aggregated for youth in a particular setting, they measure much the same phenomena as captured by concepts such as network ties or social integration. But the fact that these theories focus on the absence of control or the barriers to progress, means that they are ignoring

972-566: The societal pressures and cultural values that drive the system Merton identified in the Strain Theory or the motivational forces Cohen proposed were generating crime and delinquency. More modern theorists like Empey (1967) argue that the system of values, norms and beliefs can be disorganized in the sense that there are conflicts among values, norms and beliefs within a widely shared, dominant culture. While condemning crime in general, law-abiding citizens may nevertheless respect and admire

1008-442: The term, "differential social organization" was preferred by many, and may have been the source of Sutherland's (1947) differential association theory . The researchers have provided a clear analysis that the city is a place where life is superficial, where people are anonymous, where relationships are transitory and friendship and family bonds are weak. They have observed the weakening of primary social relationships and relate this to

1044-401: The unemployed. D. To furnish medical, legal and other aid to its members. E. To organize the unorganized and assist them in obtaining work at remunerative wages and transportation when required. F. To educate the public mind to the right of collective ownership in production and distribution. G. To bring about the scientific, industrial, intellectual, moral and spiritual development of

1080-697: The urban environment of Chicago would also be influential in combining theory and ethnographic fieldwork . Major figures within the first Chicago school included Nels Anderson , Ernest Burgess , Ruth Shonle Cavan , Edward Franklin Frazier , Everett Hughes , Roderick D. McKenzie , George Herbert Mead , Robert E. Park , Walter C. Reckless , Edwin Sutherland , W. I. Thomas , Frederic Thrasher , Louis Wirth , and Florian Znaniecki . The activist, social scientist, and Nobel Peace Prize winner Jane Addams also forged and maintained close ties with some of

1116-557: The zone of workingmen's homes farther out; the residential area beyond this zone; and then the bungalow section and the commuter's zone on the periphery. Under the influence of Albion Small , the research at the school mined the mass of official data including census reports, housing/welfare records and crime figures, and related the data spatially to different geographical areas of the city. Criminologists Shaw and McKay created statistical maps: Thomas also developed techniques of self-reporting life histories to provide subjective balance to

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1152-486: Was a landmark concept and, as it focuses on the absence or breakdown of social control mechanisms, there are obvious links with social control theory . Travis Hirschi (1969) argues that variations in delinquent behavior among youth could be explained by variations in the dimensions of the social bond, namely attachment to others, commitments to conventional goals, acceptance of conventional moral standards or beliefs , and involvement in conventional activities. The greater

1188-403: Was a practical attempt by sociologists to apply their theories in a city laboratory. Subsequent research showed that the youth athletic leagues, recreation programs, and summer camp worked best along with urban planning and alternatives to incarceration as crime control policy. Such programs are non-entrepreneurial and non-self-sustaining, and they fail when local or central government does not make

1224-410: Was an early American sociologist who studied hobos , urban culture, and work culture. Anderson studied at the University of Chicago under Robert E. Park and Ernest Burgess , whose Concentric zone model was one of the earliest models developed to explain the organization of urban areas. Anderson's first publication, The Hobo (1923), was a work that helped pioneer participant observation as

1260-485: Was characterized as ecological because the external factors were neither chance nor intended, but rather arose from the natural forces in the environment which limit the adaptive spatial and temporal relationships between individuals. The school sought to derive patterns from a study of processes, rather than to ascribe processes to observed patterns and the patterns they saw emerge, are strongly reminiscent of Clements' ideas of community development. The Chicago Area Project

1296-478: Was influential in the early 20th century. Conceived in 1892, the Chicago school first rose to international prominence as the epicenter of advanced sociological thought between 1915 and 1935, when their work would be the first major bodies of research to specialize in urban sociology . This was considered the Golden Age of Sociology, with influence on many of today's well known sociologists. Their research into

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