College of Education

School of Continuing and Distance Education 2014/2015 – 2016/2017

SOCI 309/339

URBAN SOCIOLOGY

Session Five

Basic Structure of the Urban Communities – Political,

Religious and Economic structures

Lecturer: Prof. Chris Abotchie, Department of Sociology

Contact Information: cabotchie@yahoo.com

godsonug.wordpress.com/blog

Session Overview

Slide 2

Introduction • In the preceding sessions, we have made several references to life in the

urban communities. What is urban life? Urban life is what urban sociology is all about. Remember our definition of urban sociology? In the concluding part of the definition, there is reference to the fact that the urban sociologist has for his field, the whole life of man in the urban community!

• Given the large number of heterogeneous people inhabiting the highly dense communities in the city, n what way is orderly behaviour possible by the multitude? What makes the whole life of man in the urban community orderly? This is what the basic structure is all about!

• Social structures (that is the rules governing behavior, or the mechanisms of social control) emerged in response to the need for society to ensure the orderly attainment of the basic needs of all of its citizens. Why are social structures important and why is their study one of the main concerns of the sociologist?

Session Overview contd.

Slide 3

• Social structure has been defined by Ginsberg (1961) as those human

relations which have achieved a certain definiteness of outline or form

and a relative permanence. This implies the more or less distinctive

arrangement of the specialized and mutually dependent social institutions, groups or associations, and the complexes of these, which

constitute societies.

• Without a social structure, urban residents would live, as suggested by

Hobbes (1946) in a state of nature, governed by reason in the service of their passions. To achieve these passions men would constantly struggle

for power and for more power to secure the power they already have.

• The outcome of this struggle would be according to Hobbes, a state of a

war of all against all, and the life of the urbanite would become solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.

Session overview contd.

Slide 4

• To prevent this chaos the institutions which constitute the basic

structure emerged, to regulate how urbanites achieve their basic

needs without resorting to a ͚ǁ ar ͛.

• These institutions to which you have already been introduced are,

the political religious economic, marriage and family, educational and health institutions.

• How do these play out in the urban communities, to ensure orderly

life?

Session Outline

Slide 5

The main topics to be covered in this session are as follows:

• Topic One: The maintenance of law and order in the urban communities through the political institution.

• Topic Two: The purpose and functions of religious institutions in the city.

• Topic Three: The structure and functioning of the urban

economy.

Objectives/Expected Outcomes for the Session

Slide 6

On the completion of this session, you should be able to:

• Explain how law and order is maintained through the political institution

in the urban communities.

• Identify and discuss the factors that account for a proliferation of

religious organizations in the city.

• Identify and explain the main components of the urban economy.

Reading List

Slide 7

Abotchie, C. (2016) Sociology of Urban communities, Accra, Olive Tree

Printing and Publishing Chapter Three- Five: pp 30 - 63

Topic One The Maintenance of Law and Order in the Urban Community –

Slide 8

The Political institution

Introduction

• The political institution, as we identified earlier, is responsible for the maintenance of law and order and the assignment of power and positions to people in the society.

• The maintenance of law ad order is critical in the urban communities because of the large size of heterogeneous people in these communities, the intense competition for scarce commodities, congestion in residential areas, over urbanization and the associated problems of crime and juvenile delinquency.

• The large population and the associated problems often lead to unanticipated capricious behavior, conflicts, lack of moral involvement with other people, and violence. The life of man in the urban community is thus of concern to urban authorities. What measures are in place to ensure harmony in urban life?

Factors of Potential Disorder

Slide 9

Factors of Potential Disorder

• Perhaps, more than any other place of habitation; the urban community requires

a basic structure because of the spatial concentration of people within the limits of the area and the ensuing intense competition for the cultural goals.

• Wherever there is an agglomeration of heterogeneous people interacting in

proximity in a specifically defined limit, there would, as suggested earlier, be constant conflicts; constant unanticipated capricious and anti-social behavior and impersonality of inter personal relations – basically because of psychic overload, conservation of psychic energy, poverty and over-urbanization.

• This leads to deviant behavior of various types, including crimes. Inevitably,

therefore, the urban area has the conditions of life which are naturally productive of disorder. Because of this the urban areas, more that any other places, require a basic structure

Factors of Potential Disorder - Poverty

Slide 10

• The constant inflow of economically deprived (poor) migrants into the

urban area immediately creates problems for housing and leads to the

creation of slums or inner cities often described as bad neighborhoods, dens of vice, drugs, prostitution, differential association (learning the

techniques of crime from close friends) and crime.

• Further, the problems of over urbanization – that is, the inability of the

urban area to economically cater for its migrants produces a major condition for social deviance – namely, unemployment.

• Recall that one of the major centrifugal and centripetal (push or pull) reasons why migrants leave their places of habitation in the rural villages

is economic – the search for jobs, based on the belief – fact or fiction - that the urban area - the crucible of civilization - is the place where

manufacturing and service industries (employment opportunities) abound.

• Thus when the urban area is unable to meet these expectations – there

is the problem of unemployment or over urbanization and its associated

criminal behavior – stealing, robbery, burglary, violence etc.

• The concentration of people in the urban areas thus leads to the

problem of public disorder and it is the political institution which is

responsible for the maintenance of law and order.

Slide 11

Factors of Potential Disorder – Over-Urbanization

The Urban Political Institution

The Mayor and the Police

Slide 12

The Political Institution in the Urban Area

• Politics, defined by Lucy Mair (1951) refers to the discussions and maneuverings which take place before a decision is taken. Political administration involves the carrying out of the decisions taken in order to ensure law and order.

• In most modern urban communities, there is a representative of the

central government –usually a Mayor - who is in charge of the general maintenance of law and order. In performing this duty, the mayor has access to the services of the Police.

• The work of the police in maintaining law and order involves the use of

power or authority.

Functions of the Police - Power

Slide 13

• Before we discuss the role of police in the exercise of power in the urban

area, let ͛s examine the nature of power and its other possible

applications in the urban communities.

• Power, according to Max Weber (1946) refers to the ability to achieve

oŶe͛s goal even at the resistance of others. Power is exercised at two

levels in the urban area. At the micro level and at the macro level.

• At the micro level power is exercised daily by persons in positions of

trust over their subordinates, as for example by employers over employees or by parents over their children, to bring about conformity. Macro-level power involves the power of the state exercised by the

government on its behalf, to bring about conformity in the entire society.