A Critique and Reformulation of the New Urban Sociology

Abstract

It is argued that Marxian urban sociology as developed in the last decade requires substantial reformulation if it is to make any further progress. The problem with the approach is that although the new urban sociology was founded on a Marxist critique of traditional urban sociology its analytical perspective has remained economistic. Crucially, this has resulted in the concept of class being neglected as a result of having been displaced by a focus on basic economic processes, such as the declining rate of profit and the changing organic composition of capital, in relation to urban structure. The need is argued for more sociological dialectical analysis rather than abandonment and reversion to Weberian analysis.

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