Cities, society, and social perception : a Central African perspective / J. Clyde Mitchell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mitchell, J. Clyde (James Clyde), 1918-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cities and towns--Africa, Central.

Cities and towns.

Urbanization--Africa, Central.

Urbanization.

Sociology, Urban--Africa, Central.

Sociology, Urban.

Central Africa.

Physical Description:

xxii, 336 pages ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford [Oxfordshire] ; New York : Clarendon Press, 1987.

Summary:

A dramatic consequence of the impact of Western capitalism on countries to which it has turned for raw materials and export markets has been the spectacular growth of cities in developing regions. Drawing on empirical material assembled during his twenty-one years in Africa, Mitchell here uses statistical analysis to investigate changing urban conditions in South Central Africa and their wider social, political, and economic contexts. This comparative study provides a unique springboard for an examination of the way in which urban sociologists and anthropologists think about urban phenomena in general.

Contents:

Cities and Society 3

The Situational Perspective 7

Cognitive Specifications of the Context: Situations 9

Structural Specifications of the Context: Settings 14

The Urban Context 18

Warranted Naivety 25

Comparison, Case Studies, and Generalization 31

2 Cities in a Divided Society 34

The Extent of Urbanization in South Central Africa 40

The Administrative Context 51

The Economic Factors in Urban Selection 59

3 Labour Circulation and Urban Growth 64

Labour Circulation 65

Geographical Mobility 71

Age and Sex Selection 75

Geographical Selection 85

Contextual Parameters, Social Structure, and Social Perception 93

4 The Perceptions of City Life 98

The Attitude Study 106

Response to Selected Items 110

Rural-Urban Self-rating 115

The Underlying Dimensions in the Items 116

The Relationship of Background Factors to Basic Attitudes 124

Diffuse and Specific Cognitive Orientations 133

5 Social Status and its Perception 135

Occupational Ranking and Colonial Society 141

Intercalary Roles and Occupational Prestige 145

Hierarchical Position and the Perception of Status 158

Discrepancies in Respect of Occupations 164

General Social Position and the Perception of Status 168

Social Structure, Social Status, and Social Perception 178

6 The Perception of Regionalism and Ethnicity 180

Cognitive Ethnicity: A Northern Rhodesian Example 183

The Social and Historical Setting of the Analysis 188

The Ordering of the Items 195

Social Distance Scores and Perceptions of Inter-ethnic Distances 201

Multi-dimensional Distance Analysis 203

Social and Personal Factors Affecting the Perception of Ethnicity 215

Directly Perceived Aspects of Ethnic Distance 216

Cues and Characteristics 221

Perception and Behaviour: Co-residence in Single Quarters 225

Perception and Behaviour: Ethnic Intermarriage 231

Structural and Cognitive Ethnicity 235

7 Comparative Urbanism: Early American and Recent African Cities 243

Industrialization and City Growth 244

Rates of City Growth 246

The Demographic Context 248

Economic Conditions 251

Poverty and Overcrowding 252

Social Differentiation 257

Ethnic Association 259

Processes of Categorization and Incapsulation 263

8 Comparison and Analysis: Formulations of City Life 278

Psychologistic Assumptions 283

Ethnologistic Assumptions 287

Situational Analysis 289

Disorganization: Primary Contacts and Networks 296

Social Networks and Social Situations 301

Social Networks and Social Settings 310

Settings, Situations, and Analysis 311.

Notes:

Includes index.

Bibliography: pages 317-331.

ISBN:

0198232535 :

OCLC:

14587492