The Levittowners (eBook)

Ways of Life and Politics in a New Suburban Community

Herbert J. Gans (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2017
Columbia University Press (Verlag)
978-0-231-54264-7 (ISBN)

Infos

Levittown became the site of one of urban sociology’s most famous community studies, Herbert J. Gans’s The Levittowners. The product of two years of living in Levittown, the work chronicles the invention of a new community and its institutions, social and political life, and the former city residents’ adaptation to suburban living.

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In 1955, Levitt and Sons purchased most of Willingboro Township, New Jersey and built 11,000 homes. This, their third Levittown, became the site of one of urban sociology's most famous community studies, Herbert J. Gans's The Levittowners. The product of two years of living in Levittown, the work chronicles the invention of a new community and its major institutions, the beginnings of social and political life, and the former city residents' adaptation to suburban living. Gans uses his research to reject the charge that suburbs are sterile and pathological. First published in 1967, The Levittowners is a classic of participant-observer ethnography that also paints a sensitive portrait of working-class and lower-middle-class life in America. This new edition features a foreword by Harvey Molotch that reflects on Gans's challenges to conventional wisdom.

Autor

Herbert J. Gans is professor of sociology emeritus at Columbia University. His many books include Imagining America in 2033 (2008), Deciding What's News (1979), and The Urban Villagers (1962).

Inhalt

List of TablesForeword, by Harvey MolotchPreface to the Morningside EditionPrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: The Setting, Theory, and Method of the StudyPart 1: The Origin of a Community1. The Planners of Levittown2. The Levittowners—and Why They Came3. The Beginnings of Group Life4. The Founding of Churches5. The New School System6. The Emergence of Party Politics7. The Origin of a CommunityPart 2: The Quality of Suburban Life8. Social Life: Suburban Homogeneity and Conformity9. The Vitality of Community Culture10. Family and Individual Adaptation11. The Impact of the CommunityPart 3: The Democracy of Politics12. Political Communication13. The Decision-making Process14. Politics and Planning15. Levittown and AmericaAppendix: The Methods of the StudyReferencesIndex

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 28.3.2017
• Reihe/Serie: Legacy Editions
• Vorwort: Harvey Molotch
• Verlagsort: New York
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Pädagogik
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie
• ISBN-10: 0-231-54264-X / 023154264X
• ISBN-13: 978-0-231-54264-7 / 9780231542647