Page "Chicago school (sociology)" Paragraph 4

Members of the School have concentrated on the city of Chicago as the object of their study, seeking evidence whether urbanization ( Wirth: 1938 ) and increasing social mobility have been the causes of the contemporary social problems.

Originally, Chicago was a clean slate, an empty physical environment.

By 1860, Chicago was a small town with a population of 10, 000.

There was great growth after the fire of 1871.

By 1910, the population exceeded two million.

The rapidity of the increase was due to an influx of immigrants and it produced homelessness ( Anderson: 1923 ), poor housing conditions, and bad working conditions based on low wages and long hours.

But equally, Thomas and Znaniecki ( 1918 ) stress that the sudden freedom of immigrants released from the controls of Europe to the unrestrained competition of the new city was a dynamic for growth.

See also the broken windows thesis.