Cities and towns; Social psychology; Sociology; Sociology, Urban
No doubt many other social phenomena such as strikes, wars, popular
elections, and religious revivals perform a similar function in
releasing the subconscious tensions. But within smaller communities,
where social relations are more intimate and inhibitions more
imperative, there are many exceptional individuals who find within the
limits of the communal activity no normal and healthful expression of
their individual aptitudes and temperaments.
The causes which give rise to what are here described as “moral regions”
are due in part to the restrictions which urban life imposes; in part to
the license which these same conditions offer. We have, until very
recently, given much consideration to the temptations of city life, but
we have not given the same consideration to the effects of inhibitions
and suppressions of natural impulses and instincts under the changed
conditions of metropolitan life. For one thing, children, which in the
country are counted as an asset, become in the city a liability. Aside
from this fact it is very much more difficult to rear a family in the
city than on the farm. Marriage takes place later in the city, and
sometimes it doesn’t take place at all. These facts have consequences
the significance of which we are as yet wholly unable to estimate.
Investigation of the problems involved might well begin by a study and
comparison of the characteristic types of social organization which
exist in the regions referred to.
What are the external facts in regard to the life in Bohemia, the
half-world, the red-light district, and other “moral regions” less
pronounced in character?
What is the nature of the vocations which connect themselves with the
ordinary life of these regions? What are the characteristic mental
types which are attracted by the freedom which they offer?
How do individuals find their way into these regions? How do they
escape from them?
To what extent are the regions referred to the product of the license;
to what extent are they due to the restrictions imposed by city life
on the natural man?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account