Ernest Burgess

Ernest Watson Burgess (born May 16, 1886 – died December 27, 1966) was an American sociologist, famous for his work in Urban sociology at the University of Chicago.

Life

Burgess was born in Tilbury, Ontario, Canada. His father, Edmund J. Burgess was a local minister in a Congregational Church. Burgess was educated at Kingfisher College in Oklahoma, where he received his B.A. degree in 1908. He continued graduate studies in sociology at the University of Chicago, receiving his Ph.D. in 1913.

After teaching in several minor colleges throughout Midwestern States, in 1916, Burgess returned to the University of Chicago, as a newly appointed Assistant Professor of Sociology. He was the only professor at the sociology department who came directly with the background in sociology, as everybody else came from other professional areas. He was appointed full-time professor in 1927 and in 1946 became the chairman of the sociology department. He remained loyal to the university, stayed teaching there until his retirement in 1952.

Burgess served as the 24th president of the American Sociological Society in 1934, Sociological Research Association in 1942, and the Behavior Research Fund (from 1931 to 1934). In 1938 he became involved with the White Housie Conference on Child Health and Protection, serving as the president of the National Conference on Family Relations in 1942. In 1952 Burgess founded the Family Study Center, later known as the Family and Community Study Center. Burgess also served as an editor of the American Journal of Sociology from 1936-1940.

Burgess retired from teaching in 1952, but remained active in publishing. With Donald Bogue he co-authored a textbook Urban Sociology in 1963. Burgess died in 1966 at the age of 80.

Work

Burgess, unlike many earlier sociologists who were establishing theoretical structures of sociological science, was more interested in practical approach to sociology. He invested more that fifty years of his career in research in Urban Sociology. He focused on social phenomena of city growth, crime, delinquency, parole violation, divorce, etc. He strived to develop a reliable theoretical tool to predict such phenomena. In 1929 he writes:

Prediction is the aim of the social sciences as it is of the physical sciences.

Burgess thus devised different statistical and analytical tools to improve that prediction. He believed in qualitative research methods, like interviews and examination of personal documents. With that, he argued, scientist can approach to the human side of a person, understanding the background of a social phenomenon.

Burgess' groundbreaking work in social ecology, in conjuction with his colleague Robert E. Park, provided the foundation for the Chicago School of sociology. Their textbook Introduction to the Science of Sociology, published in 1921, became the “Bible of Sociology” – according to many sociologists, the best-written textbook in sociology of the time. In their other book - The City – Burgess and Park (1925) conceptualized the city into the concentric zones, including the central business district, transitional (industrial, deteriorating housing, ...), working class residential (tenements), residential, and commuter/suburban zones. They viewed cities as something that experiences evolution and change, governed by the same forces of Darwinian evolution that can be seen in the nature. The central force among all is competition. People struggle for land and other urban resources which lead toward formation of groups and areas within the city that are based on certain interest. Those areas spread in concentric circles from the center of the city outwards. Burgess and Park's model of urban growth is thus often known as the Concentric Zone theory.

Burgess spent considerable amount of time in study on the institutions of family and marriage. He was interesting to develop a scientific measurement to predict success in a marriage. His book Predicting Success or Failure in Marriage (1939), co-authored with Leonard Cottrell, comes from that area. In it Burgess theorizes that the adjustment in marriage depends on the attitudes and social characteristics of the husband and wife. He developed a chart for predicting marital success. In it he associates different variables that affect marital stability. Burgess was however often criticized for this work. He wanted to measure marriage without actually including component of love and affection in it, something that is the central point of marriage.

Burgess also studied elderly people, especially the effect of retirement. He collaborated with the government on the program on the effects of government spending for the elderly. His book Aging in Western Societies (1960) comes from that period.

Legacy

Burgess contribution to the development of modern sociology is considerable. He strived in his work to establish sociology as an empirical science. He implied statistical methods and factor analysis to measure wide range of social phenomena and wanted to find reliable instruments to predict them. His managed thus to bridge the gap of sociology as philosophical discipline toward sociology as science. His work both on marriage and on elderly reflect this fact.

Burgess co-authored one of the most influential textbooks in general sociology, which was used decades after his death.

Bibliography

• Burgess, Ernest W. (1916). The function of socialization in social evolution. The University of Chicago press.

• Burgess, Ernest W. (1939). Predicting success or failure in marriage. Prentice-Hall

• Burgess, Ernest W. (1960). The family, from institution to companionship. American Book Co.

• Burgess, Ernest W. (1967). Urban Sociology. University of Chicago Press. ISBN: 0226080560

• Burgess, Ernest W. (1974). On Community, Family, and Delinquency. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226080587

• Burgess, Ernest W. (1978). Aging in Western Societies: A Survey of Social Gero. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226080536

• Burgess, Ernest W., & Park, Robert E. (1921). Introduction to Science of the Sociology. ISBN 0837123569.

• Burgess, Ernest W., Park, Robert E., & McKenzie, Roderick D. (1925). The City. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226646114.

• Burgess, Ernest W. & Bogue, Donald J. (Eds.). (1963). Contributions to Urban Sociology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• American Sociological Association (n.d.). Biography of E. W. Burgess. Retrieved on June 17, 2005 from [1]

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