The mid-nineteenth century was a changing time, and the forces of the industrial revolution were continually changing the social landscape. The industrial revolution brought with it changes in production, manufacturing, farming and transportation, and this had a significant impact on the cultural and socioeconomic aspects of society. The industrial revolution can be regarded as a turning point is social history, especially in the way that the industrial city developed. As the mechanisms of agriculture were changing, this brought with it changes in the urban-rural dynamic. Better technology meant that few people needed to live and work on farms, leaving more people available to search for alternative employment in the growing urban industrial areas.
[...] In his book, Zorbaugh gives us an in depth look at the social segregation that was paramount within the industrial city, but more specifically in this case, Chicago. His research shows that the industrial city was very socially fragmented, as it was rife with structural defects in the organization of the communities. He refers to the Gold Coast, which was an area in Chicago's North Side that was very upscale, with high real estate prices, and occupied by professionals. But behind the scenes of this area lay a behind the scenes slum where those impoverished people that service the Gold Coast lived. [...]
[...] From this, it is clear that, as though mechanisms of the industrial revolution began to take hold in cities across Canada, the United States and even the world, residential segregation began to take hold and it changed the landscape of the urban environment forever. Works Cited: Boal, F. W. (1976). Ethnic Residential Segregation. In D. Herbert and R. Johnson (eds.), Social Areas in Cities. Vol London: Wiley. Goheen, P.G. (1974). Interpreting the American City: Some Historical Perspectives. Geographical Review 64, pp. [...]
[...] We get a good sense of the forces of residential segregation in the industrial city's inner city by looking at Boston. In this city, immigrant concentrations were created in the dwelling in the North and West ends. By 1905, half of the people in the West End were of Russian descent, and 60 per cent of the North End residents were of Italian descent. This was a stark change from the previous generation which saw both of these neighborhoods overcome with Irish inhabitants. [...]
[...] One of the most notable characteristics that were a consequence of residential segregation in the industrial city was class cohesion. Classes were kept together, and there was very little opportunity for the classes to mingle with each other. This in some ways bred a culture of mutual ignorance of each other. What this mean was that the upper class did not really know of the plight of the lower classes, and a new form of urban poverty began to emerge in the industrial cities. [...]
[...] Morgan (1975: 54) noted that a sample of urban areas in England and Wales, over 60 per cent of the variation of segregation by class was associated with the logarithm of city size and the proportion of professional and managerial employment.” Morgan also suggested that more high-status white collar employment there was in the industrial city, meant more group awareness of the social cleavages and it was these socio-psychological that found their expression in increased residential differentiation. Residential segregation did occur in the smaller towns as well though, especially when the discriminating effects of socio-economic status are strengthened by ethnic and racial pluralism. [...]
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