Our Social World: Introduction to Sociology
SAGE Journal Articles
Journal Article 15.1: Elliott, J. R., & Frickel, S. (2013). The historical nature of cities: A study of urbanization and hazardous waste accumulation. American Sociological Review, 78(4), 521–543. doi:10.1177/0003122413493285
Abstract: Endemic uncertainties surrounding urban industrial waste raise important theoretical and methodological challenges for understanding the historical nature of cities. Our study advances a synthetic framework for engaging these challenges by extending theories of modern risk society and classic urban ecology to investigate the accumulation of industrial hazards over time and space. Data for our study come from a unique longitudinal dataset containing geospatial and organizational information on more than 2,800 hazardous manufacturing sites operating between 1956 and 2006 in Portland, Oregon. We pair these site data with historical data from the U.S. population census and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to examine the historical accumulation of hazardous parcels in relation to changing patterns of industrial land use, neighborhood composition, new residential development, and environmental regulation. Results indicate that historical accumulation of hazardous sites is scaling up in ways that exhibit little regard for shifting neighborhood demographics or existing regulatory policies as sites merge into larger, more contiguous industrialized areas of historically generated hazards, creating the environmental conditions of urban risk society.
Learning Objective: 15.5: Discuss national and global urbanization trends.
Summary: Elliott and Frickel describe how shifting land use and urbanization patterns can increase the risk of exposure to hazardous chemicals in ways that can remain hidden to residents and regulators.
Journal Article 15.2: Walters, W. H. (2002). Later-life migration in the United States: A review of recent research. Journal of Planning Literature, 17(1), 37–66. doi:10.1177/088541220201700103
Abstract: This bibliography summarizes the most important recent literature on elderly migration and retirement migration in the U.S. and Canada, providing an interdisciplinary review of articles published between January 1990 and December 2000. It describes and evaluates 232 studies dealing with migration theory and methods, the determinants of later-life mobility, patterns of migration, destination choice, consequences of migration, local and regional development, seasonal migration, return migration, and related topics.
Learning Objective: 15.4: Describe individual decisions that affect population patterns.
Summary: This article describes and evaluates 232 studies dealing with migration theory and methods, the determinants of later-life mobility, patterns of migration, destination choice, consequences of migration, local and regional development, seasonal migration, return migration, and related topics.
Journal Article 15.3: Demissie, F. (2011). Global cities of the south/urban subjects: An introduction. Journal of Developing Societies, 27(3–4), 217–228. doi:10.1177/0169796X1102700401
Abstract: No abstract available
Learning Objective: 15.7 Explain three major environmental problems facing urban areas in the Global South.
Summary: Neoliberalism has transformed the Global South giving rise to a host of urban social movements that have played an important role in the decentralization of government apparatuses and a rescaling of the state.