Cities 07

Stansell argued that the Bohemian lifestyle encouraged a society focused on the individual classified by the changing of social norms, and values. Stansell used the word anomie to describe the evolving condition of society. To support his argument he talked about how women could go to the grungy restaurants and saloons without a man, and men of the working class could intermix with the elites to talk about business, politics, or entertainment. The general feeling that I get from reading Stansell is that he is happy about the “anomie” that bohemia creates. While Stansell is supportive of the social effects the city has on a population Wirth is a little less welcoming of the idea of the decay of social norms and values. In this OBE I will compare and contrast Stansell and Wirth on their opinions of: urbanism, family, and reasons for the gathering revulsion.

It is reasonable to claim that Stansell believed that bohemia distinguished urbanism from ruralism in Wirth’s terms. Wirth said that the urban lifestyle can be defined by its physical structure, relations revolving around institution and social hierarchies, ideology, and an array of personalities uniting that is controlled by system of society (Wirth, 102). Stansell talks a lot about the people who were spotted in these “shabby” restaurants and saloons. Making up the majority of the people were poor immigrants. Interesting enough the bohemian lifestyle was intriguing to some middle class gentlemen and ladies. After everyone had a couple rounds of drinks from the bar the alcohol blurred the social class lines of the structure. Consequently in New York workers explained politics to the “sophisticates” and they welcomed them at their table in the saloon. Therefore, I believe that Stansell would not agree with Wirth on the subject of urbanism when he defined an aspect of it, “as a system of social organization involving a characteristic social structure, a series of social institutions, and a typical pattern of social relationships (Wirth, 102).” In fact he would say that combining e workers (poor immigrants) and sophisticates (elites) in a social setting would harvest competition and reciprocated exploitation (Wirth, 100).”

Another interesting comparison I saw were Stansell’s and Wirth’s feeling about the blurring of the social norms. In particular Stansell focused on the social norms of women. In his article it seemed as if he was applauding women, identifying with bohemia, who ventured out to the saloons without a male guardian. However, Wirth would attribute falling reproduction rates in the city to this change in the roles of women. He would be upset to see that maintaining home and producing babies was not a priority anymore.