by Theodore Caplow, Sheldon Stryker, Samuel E. Wallace

"The evaluation of urbanism as a way of life is especially crucial for cities in transition, those compelled to make present decisions about the whole course of their future development. San Juan is of particular interest because of the way it has grown by migration. Most of its new residents come directly from agricultural villages or isolated farms, without intervening stages. Because of its relationship to the United States, San Juan has more industries, more automobiles, more modernity of every kind than would ordinarily be expected in the capital city of an underdeveloped area.

"...The neighborhood -- as it will be described in this book -- is the first stage of society beyond the individual household. The analysis of such miniature social systems may be informative, as a step towards the analysis of larger chunks of social reality that can not be so easily observed or understood.

"...our inquiry into the San Juan neighborhood will carry us into some reflections on the nature of urbanism and the general question of how small voluntary groups develop and survive. we shall examine such problems as whether an increase in the intimacy of associations in a group can be expected to decrease the number of relationships and whether people who seek a closer relationship with their social superiors will necessarily avoid the company of their inferiors...some of these problems have not been posed in this form before..."

More books by Theodore Caplow

The First Measured Century: An Illustrated Gude to Trends in America, 1900-2000
Sociologie Militaire
The Academic Market Place
Peace Games
Perverse Incentives - The Neglect of Social Technology in the Public Sector
Elementary Sociology
Recent Social Trends in the United States 1960-1990
Leviathan Transformed - Seven National States in the New Century
The Sociology of Work
Principles of Organization
Two Against One: Coalitions in Triad
Old Men Drunk and Sober
Toward Social Hope
Middletown Families: Fifty Years of Change & Continuity
All Faithful People: Change & Continuity in Middletown's Religion
Managing an Organization
American Social Trends
Systems of War & Peace

Back to Top

This site ismaintained by Brenda Tekin for the Sociology Department of the University of Virginia. Images on this site are provided by
ITC at UVA, the University of Virginia Library, Sharon Hays, Brenda Tekin & Tammy Ashley.