URBAN SOCIOLOGY

Submitted by :- Geethanjali VG
ROLL NO ;- 12/2020
BA SOCIOLOGY HONS(5TH
SEM)

EXAMINE THE CONTRIBUTION OF MAX WEBER IN URBAN SOCIOLOGY

History and sociology are at odds with one another because the historian
prefers to concentrate on the concrete historical reality while the sociologist concentrates on
ever-abstract models. Historical sociology, which derives implicit sociological paradigms from
and applies them to actual historical reality, resolves this tension. In contrast to the formal
theoretical sociology created in his book Economy and Society, Weber employs a true historical
sociology in his work The City. Weber creates implicit sociological paradigms about the group,
power, and the connection between politics and economics in The City that are absent from his
formal theoretical sociology and, in some cases, even go against it.The contradiction between
history and sociology is resolved by Weber's historical paradigm in The City through a dialectic
in which the sociological paradigm degenerates into a simple heuristic that is refuted when the
historical sociologist returns to contemplation of the concrete historical reality

In "The Nature of the City," Max Weber debates various definitions of a city.
Weber asserts that there is no single, unambiguous concept of the city. The city is first defined
economically by Weber as a place where trade and commerce predominate over agricultural
activities: "Economically defined, the city is a community whose inhabitants live primarily off
trade and commerce rather than agriculture." Weber emphasizes that not all communities where
trade organizations are used may be referred to as cities. There are various ancestral villages
with commercial centers that function as trade cities; a community must necessarily have some
adaptability to qualify as a "city."Weber now distinguishes between a city and a settlement; his
conception of a city maintains the adaptability and diversity of economic systems. In addition,
according to Weber, the city is essentially a marketplace where "citizens and traders exchange
things." Individualism is included in Weber's concept of the city in that it is not a place with set
rules, dynamics, or a structure. It is a city because of its flexibility, which derives from how
people live their daily lives.On the other hand, as Weber notes, there are several types of cities,
including the land-rent city of Moscow, Peking as the city of officials, and the producer ,
commerce, merchant, and consumer towns. According to Weber's several definitions, there is
no precise economic notion of the city. Every city differs economically, and if one economic
factor predominates over the others, the city takes on the features of that parameter.
 The city should also be seen as a place with rules, rules that go beyond just
economic ones. The political administration of the city is important because it has a propensity
to either perpetuate current relationships of economic and cultural practices or to implement
changes, reforms, or policies to control daily routines. The creation of policies to control the
city's economy is one of the crucial facets of political administration.First and foremost, it is
necessary to stabilize the state of the neighborhood's urban economy. In order to permanently
and economically feed the masses, restrictions must be in place. The urban economic policy
also seeks to "standardize the economic chances of traders and merchants." Given that it only
developed within the guild's political regime, Weber claims that "the urban economic policy does
not represent a universal step in economic evolutions." Additionally, not all cities are in a
transitional phase.

In Weber's interpretation of the city, the concepts of organization and regulation are
crucial. States started to consolidate and become more bureaucratic as cities developed in the
Modern era. It was a time when institutionalization helped ideologies gain statewide traction.
Despite the growth of concepts such as individual liberty or the free market, the regulatory
power of state organization appeared to grow stronger.The political administration made
policies to regulate economic relations. According to Weber, urban economic policy is
determined for inhabitants, not by them. In this regard, the city is not a democratic
space. It is a settlement in which rules, regulations are constructed for individuals to
obey. On the other hand, Weber does underline that the city is an autonomous
association which includes special political and administrative organizations.

A chronological summary of the development of the idea of the city is given in the
chapter titled "The Nature of the City." According to Weber, there are numerous
definitions of a city, but they all include the same element: a "gathering of one or more
independent homes that are in a closed community" (p. 65). A city is a place where
people survive economically on trade and commerce rather than from agriculture. In the
presence of a feudal estate or a market where a regular exchange of goods might take
place, Weber advises that economic "versatility of practised transactions" (p. 66) be
taken into consideration as crucial. Various consumer and producer city types are
described by Weber (prince cities, commerce / merchant cities,

It's unclear how the city and agriculture are related. The full urbanite of antiquity
was a semi-peasant, as he had access to land where he could raise crops and feed
himself (71). A person who cannot obtain all of his food needs from his own land is now
referred to as an urbanite. In addition to housing, a city should include rules for
management by association and a budget (income and costs). Using "economic
restrictions in the aim of permanently and inexpensively feeding the populace and
standardizing the economic opportunities of craftsmen and merchants," a "urban
economic policy" (p. 73) attempted to stabilize the local urban economy (p. 73).
 According to Weber (p. 74), this resulted in concepts like "urban economic
area," "urban area," and "urban authority" that underlie both a political and economic
goal for managing the city. Additionally, he speaks of the transition between semi-rural
and more advanced consumer, producer, or commercial cities.Fortresses or garrisons
were another sort of city in the past; however, they do not exist today. For instance, in
China, a ring of fortifications encircled every city. The walled city was conceptualized in
its early stages as a political unit reliant on a castle. There have been both commercial
cities and martial cities throughout history.According to Weber, the "city" cannot be
immediately regarded as a "community," neither in terms of its economic structure nor
its garrison form. Only in the Occident does the idea of an urban "community" "appears
as a general phenomena" (p. 80). To be considered a full urban community, a
settlement must exhibit the following characteristics: 1. A fortification; 2. A market; 3. A
court of its own and at least partially autonomous law; 4. A related form of association;
and 5. At least partial autonomy and autocephaly, thus also an administration by
authorities in whose election the burghers participate.

According to this view, "even the eighteenth-century cities were true urban
communities only to a modest degree" (p. 81). In this chapter, Weber describes a
variety of aspects of the City, such as the variety of occupations, trade and commerce,
adaptability, densely populated areas, regular markets, judicial system, taxation, and
associations of people (traders, commercial settlers, and residents) that served a range
of purposes over time.

The city, in Weber's opinion, is the pinnacle of Western liberalism and free social
reason. The city is the special location where this occurs if the process of rationalization
is what distinguishes and defines western growth. According to Weber, who analyzes
rationalism, "by this phrase several different things may be understood" and "what is
rational from one point of view may well be illogical from another," what is rational from
one perspective may very well be irrational from another. As a result, rationalizations of
every kind have been used in all spheres of culture and in all facets of
existence.According to Weber, the city represents the apex of Western liberalism and
unrestricted social reason. If the process of rationalization is what characterizes and
defines western growth, then the city is the unique setting where this occurs. "By this
statement various different things may be meant," and "what is logical from one point of
view may very easily be illogical from another," according to Weber, who examines
rationalism. What is rational from one perspective may very well be irrational from
another. As a result, all aspects of culture and existence have adopted various types of
rationalizations
 For Weber, a city is a place of neutral relations where you belong because you
choose to, not through the intermediary of your family, clan, caste, religion, or ancestry.
This is especially true of medieval cities that were born from the coniuratio, the free and
independent association of individuals. If it is true that neutrality almost becomes—and
ultimately becomes—anonymous, it is also true that the free decision to call a city home
frees the person from the previous relational constraints passed down from parents.
Weber then mentions the economic dimension shortly after:

For us to use the term "city," there must be one more prerequisite: a market. A market is
a regular, not just sporadic, interchange of products within the settlement itself that
serves as a vital part of the settlers' means of subsistence and their ability to meet their
requirements. But once more, not every "market" transforms the area where it takes
place into a "city."

In his book "The city in history," Mumford describes cities as extending all
aspects of existence by bringing together the disparate aspects of society and
unleashing the creative forces of all people. The city has expanded the scope of
personal experience and improved engagement opportunities.There is agreement
among Neo-Marxist writers like Mills, Marcuse, and Fromm that the conditions of
capitalist urbanization mutilate the personality, prevent the creation of communities,
destroy social engagement or involvement, and promote indifference, alienation, and
anomie. Mass movements stifle and distract class consciousness, and social behavior
is typically irrational rather than rational.

REFERENCE

Weber, Marx 1978. The City. The Free Press; New York. Pp 65-89