Urban Culture: Exploring Cities and Cultures

by Turley; Alan C.

• ISBN13: 9780130416940
• ISBN10: 0130416940
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2004-01-27
• Publisher: ROUTLEDGE

Summary

Using contemporary cultural examples as a recurrent theme, this innovative volume examines the various theoretical perspectives and paradigms of urban and cultural analysis. It explores the city's impact on how we make and consume all types of culture: art, music, literature, architecture, film, etc., illustrating not only the effects the urban environment has on the production of culture, but, at times, how culture has influenced the city.The author provides an introduction to why the city matters and details the urban environment, culture in the city, music, art/sculpture and writing/theater, architecture/fashion, photography/film/television, government producing culture such as cities/parades/concerts, spontaneous culture and social movements and deviant culture.For individuals interested in urban culture and sociology.

Author Biography

Alan C. Turley: University of New Orleans

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
A Definition of Urban Culture	p. 1
Theories of the City	p. 2
Modern Adaptation of the Chicago School	p. 13
Urban Conflict Theory in the Modern Age	p. 15
Urban Culturalist Theory as a Modern Application	p. 18
Roots of Culture	p. 19
The Development of Urban Culture	p. 20
The Urban Environment	p. 24
Housing in the Urban Landscape	p. 24
Race and Class	p. 28
Business and Jobs in the Urban Landscape	p. 33
Culture Production	p. 36
Evolution of Culture in the City	p. 41
Institutionalized Religion	p. 43
Hierarchy and Class	p. 45
Currency	p. 45
Cultural Artifacts That Denote Class and Conspicuous Consumption	p. 46
The Industrial Revolution and Urban Planning	p. 54
The Growth of the Suburbs	p. 56
Urban Pressure and the Debate on Welfare	p. 60
Music in the City	p. 63
The First Organized Music Makers	p. 63
Producing Musical Culture	p. 65
The Sociology of Musicianship	p. 68
Music Consumption	p. 71
Race and Class in Urban Music Production	p. 73
Music as a Cultural Artifact	p. 76
Urban Music Consumption	p. 78
Los Angeles, New York, and Nashville--The Triumvirate	p. 80
Style, Sound, and Cities	p. 83
Art and Sculpture	p. 88
Ancient Greece	p. 89
The Roman Empire	p. 94
The Renaissance and Culture	p. 96
The Benefits of Urban Culture Production	p. 99
Urban Painting	p. 103
Theater and Literature	p. 108
Architecture and Fashion	p. 119
Ancient Urban Architecture	p. 119
Modern Urban Architecture	p. 122
Housing Discrimination--Race and Class	p. 124
Seeking Solutions: Paris, France; St. Louis, Missouri; and Baltimore, Maryland	p. 128
Cities Built to Suit	p. 130
Fashion	p. 138
Public Health as an Impetus for Urban Culture Production	p. 139
Production of Urban Culture through Fashion	p. 141
Photography, Film, and Television	p. 146
How Photographs Built a City	p. 151
Tinsel Town	p. 152
Live Television to Studio City	p. 158
Government and State Culture Production and Social Movements	p. 165
Cities and Sports	p. 185
Culture Divides a City	p. 187
Spontaneous Culture and Social Movements	p. 191
Sports Riots	p. 191
Destruction of Culture as Culture	p. 193
Urban Uprisings as Urban Political Activism	p. 194
Urban Social Movements	p. 201
Rural Social Movements	p. 206
The Bad City versus the Good City	p. 209
Deviance and Urban Culture	p. 209
How Gambling Built a City	p. 210
White-collar Crime	p. 213
Urban Deviance	p. 215
Police Crisis Culture	p. 217
Rescue Crisis Culture	p. 222
Urban Terror	p. 224
Urban Culture Methods for Research and Teaching	p. 233
Photo Credits	p. 238
Index	p. 239
Table of Contents provided by Rittenhouse. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

This book illustrates the effects of the urban environment on the production of culture. It covers music, art, writing, and deviant culture production from the perspective that the urban landscape and urban structure impact the groups of people living in the city. City life has an effect on production and consumption of culture and literally defines where culture can take place. Using urban theory to talk about culture reflects a new approach to a field that hasn't witnessed many new teaching innovations. A book that covers cultural topics together with urban theory and methods will reach modern students in a way in which they haven't before been challenged. Students grasp modern culture better than they grasp any other type of knowledge, so by combining elements of what they know of their world with the theory and methods of urban sociology and anthropology, this book presents pedagogy in a way that is more accessible to students. Applying urban sociology's main theories to new challenges--like examining culture--should make this book more accessible to students of all ages. This book is a text for courses in urban sociology or urban anthropology; it can also be used as the primary text in an urban culture class. Though some of the culture discussed is from ancient times, the text attempts to engage students to apply the urban theories to which they are exposed to the cultural topic being discussed. Hopefully, this will provoke readers to apply these theories on their own, and this is the goal of any urban course--enabling students to use the theories, not just read, memorize, and forget. The first chapters explain the major theories in urban sociology by using culture production in the urban environment as the recurrent theme. Then we will examine music, writing and theater, architecture and fashion, and photography and film as examples of ways to see urban theory in action as well as to get students to use urban theory in new and novel ways. No special artistic knowledge is needed for these chapters; again, the goal is to get students to use urban theories and apply them to culture (something with which they are more comfortable and familiar than with demographical tables or maps). If I have committed some oversight and the artistic explanations are not detailed enough, please contact me at the following, address: Department of Sociology, University of New Orleans, 2000 Lakeshore, New Orleans, LA 70148. I wish to thank the following reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions: Brian Aldrich, Winona State University; Henry Lee Allan, Wheaton College; Walter F. Carroll, Bridgewater State College; Joe Feagin, University of Florida; W. Richard Goe, Kansas State University; Earl Smith, Wake Forest University; and Renee T. White, Central Connecticut University.