Three Conceptions of Spatial Locality in Chicago School Sociology (And Their Significance Today)

The development of new spatial methods has heightened long-standing interest in the local organization of urban life. This growth in empirical research has run ahead of theories about the nature of local space: to a large extent, contemporary sociology employs the same conceptions of space developed in works of the Chicago School produced between 1918 and the early 1930’s. This article describes three major notions of locality developed by the Chicago School, respectively defined by ecology, institutions, and subjective perceptions. These accounts of locality are not theoretically consistent, and make reference to partially distinct empirical phenomena. A brief survey of contemporary neighborhood research reveals the persistence of these spatial accounts, as well as uncertainty about the goals of neighborhood research. Revisiting the accounts of urban place developed by the Chicago School suggests five distinct ends for research on locality: research programs focusing specifically on ecology, institutions, or perceptions; methodological and theoretical pluralism in pursuit of maximally rich description; and empirical integration seeking to describe the role of multiple processes in the production of local space. Citation: Merriman, Ben. 2015. “Three Conceptions of Spatial Locality in Chicago School Sociology (And Their Significance Today)” American Sociologist 46(2):269-287.