The structure of a New Zealand community: An essay in the sociology of place

Abstract

The study is concerned with the development of a sociology of place arising from observations made in 1969 - 71 in a small town (pop. 1759) in the Auckland region. The ecological approach used by Roger G. Barker and his associates (see for example, Barker, R.G., 1968, Ecological Psychology, Stanford) is used as the starting point for a sociological analysis of the ways in which meaning is embodied in the physical environment and the ways in which these meanings affect social life.

Part I of the thesis, Preliminary Considerations, deals in three chapters with the problems of a phenomenological analysis of the community. Barker’s approach is critically reviewed and the main analytical concepts, “place” and “milieux” (its concrete isolates) are examined.

In Part II, Place as a Social Fact, the discussion proceeds by applying and refining the ideas developed in Part I, with particular relationship to the analysis of the Harbourtown milieu inventory. The problems of milieu analysis including those of ecological relationship, of time, and of symbolism are examined in detail.

Part III returns to a more theoretical consideration and sets out the main structure, problems and applications of the sociology of place. Community is seen as an intersection of time, place and social structure, and this triangle is transposed to deal with other problems. The application of the principles of the sociology of place to problems of planning is discussed. In the final chapter the problem of the relationship between place and community is reformulated as one of aesthetics; it is concluded that community is not compassed in an understanding of its functional or moral aspects out is the object of feeling as an ideal cultural form.