Customer Reviews

The Gold Coast and the Slum: A Sociological Study of Chicago's Near North Side (University of Chicago Sociological Series)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Gold Coast and the Slum is one of the classic studies of the Chicago School of urban sociology. In that sense, it has been largely superceded by more sophisticated analyses in the intervening decades, yet in terms of readability and flair it is very difficult to think of a better introduction to the world of urban studies. Today, in fact, it reads more like a work of literature than a sociological study--but in a time in which the relative fortunes of sociology are on the decline and the fortunes of literary study are on the rise, it may have more to say now than it did even at the time of its first publication. When one considers the rise of what are now called "edge cities," those odd conglomerations of city and suburbia, whose major products are often far more closely related to the fantastic and the imaginary than to the tangible products of standard urban industrialism, perhaps a method which owes more to literary study than to the quantifying methods sociology has developed since the decline of the Chicago School is more appropriate. In that sense, The Gold Coast and the Slum may deserve a fresh look.