Key Takeaways
Ernest Burgess’s concentric zone model, also known as the Chicago concentric zone model and the Burgess zonal hypothesis, is one of the earliest theoretical models used to explain urban social structures.Burgess’s circular zones consist of a city center, a transitional area where immigrants and the poor live, a working-class area with single-family tenements, a middle-class family residential area, and, finally, the commuter zone. Those from each of these residential zones commute to the city center.According to Burgess’s zonal hypothesis, crime occurs most frequently in the transitional zone and least frequently in the commuter zone.Burgess’s concentric zone model fits into the larger construct of human ecology, a field that he and his collaborator Park devised to describe the interactions of people from different social groups within an ecosystem.
What is the Concentric Circle Model?
In creating this model, Burgess sought to explain the clear divisions in socioeconomic status within and immediately outside of Chicago.
Eventually, Burgess identified 5 city zones, each with its own attributes. Burgess’s original (1928) publication blatantly divided areas based on their population of African Americans.
However, modern criminologists have taken a more broad socio-economic stance in determining where to draw lines between areas.
central business district
transitional zone
Just outside of the central business district lies the transitional zone, consisting of recent immigrant groups, deteriorated housing, factories, and abandoned buildings. Lersch (2013) describes this “Zone in Transition” as “the least desirable area to live in the city.”
According to the concentric zone model, most criminal activity happens in the second innermost, transitional zone. This happens because people in the zone of transition experience the most anomie and discrimination, causing them to struggle to adapt to the stresses and demands of their new society.
As a result, this area experiences high rates of social disorganization anddysfunction, causing deviance to flourish. However, as each generation of immigrants assimilates, they move upward in the social structure and outer zones, leaving behind disorganization, dysfunction, and deviance.
In this perspective,devianceis a structural phenomenon, not a function of the characteristics of any ethnic or racial group.
working-class zone
residential zone
Outside of the working class zone is the residential zone, which consists of single-family homes with yards and garages. The inhabitants of these zones are generally well-educated, middle-class families.
commuter zone
Finally, the commuter zone consists of suburbs and those who can afford larger and more expensive housing as well as transportation to and from entertainment and work.
Critique
The concentric zone model has drawn heavy criticism from modern urbanists. According to Quinn (1940), there are two types of criticism that scholars have brought up regarding the Burgess zonal hypothesis:
Criticism argues that an ideal pattern could not exist
Criticism admitting a tendency toward a theoretical ideal pattern, but arguing that the gap between real cities and burgess’s concentric model makes it unworkable
Irregularities in Cities
Perhaps one of the most important and important criticisms of the Burgess zonal hypothesis is its common inapplicability to cities outside of the United States. Paris is an example of one such city where the concentric zone model is not accurate.
In this city, wealthy citizens live in the areas surrounding the city center. The inner ring of the city consists of older attached homes, which often have high property values.
Rather than being housed in the inner city, the urban poor of Paris live in the suburbs on the outskirts of the city. This is a trend that can be seen throughout Europe.
Even in Chicago — the city that originated the concentric zone model — the zones fit more closely into a pattern of concentric semicircles than complete circles, and this semicircle pattern has important irregularities.
Within other cities in North America, such as Montreal in Canada, the zones take the form of irregular ovals and crescents; and New Haven, Connneticut eschews circular zones altogether (Quinn, 1940).
Defining Distance
Distance can be defined both spatially and temporally. It may take far less time to walk a one-mile stretch on a flat street than one winding up a hill with many intersections.
This difference between ways of measuring distance is a complicating factor that Burgess’ zonal hypothesis fails to account for, with implications for how zones can be drawn in cities.
The impact of time cost on how zones develop can be seen in cities that have a rectangular grid pattern. In this case, a circle of “time” could be rectangular, as it could take equal amounts of time to get from one part of the grid to another (Quinn, 1940).
Finally, the concentric zone model has been criticized for assuming an even, unchanging landscape. Certain features — such as hills and water features — may make some locations unusually desirable or undesirable for residential purposes.
Impact and Importance
Park and Burgess used the biological concept of symbiosis — the interactions between organisms living in close proximity to each other — in the context of human communities where people work together toward common goals while also competing for resources.
In the context of the concentric zone model, this is similar to describing how certain populations of people move in and out of areas over time.
These patterns changed dramatically from one ring to the next. From these observations sprung what the researchers called the Burgess zonal hypothesis, or the concentric ring model.
Example
Using Park and Burgess’ human ecology — and the concentric zone model — Shaw and McKay sought to study where high levels of juvenile delinquency accumulate.
They proposed that areas with high rates of juvenile delinquency were close to areas of heavy industry, were physically deteriorated, and populated with highly transient residents.
The researchers hypothesized that areas where populations frequently shifted experienced high rates of delinquency because of invasion, dominance, and succession as the members of one (typically ethnic) group moved into another group’s neighborhood, disrupting the social organization of an area.
Shaw and McKay (1942) mapped industrial areas and the home addresses of juvenile delinquents. The researchers, like Park and Burgess, found that a zone of manufacturing and industry surrounded the central business district.
Finally, Shaw and McKay found that the more vacant and condemned homes there were in an area, the higher its delinquency rate. All of these characteristics correspond to those that Park and Burgess (1928) describe to be of high-crime areas.
Also following Park and Burgess’ theory, Shaw and McKay examined the effect of rental prices on rates of delinquency. Again, the researchers found that, as rental prices rose, rates of delinquency decreased, and as homeownership rates increased, levels of delinquency dwindled.
The farther away from the city center, the more rents and rates of home ownership increased (Shaw and McKay, 1942).
Adding to Park and Burgess, the researchers believed that high delinquency rates existed in these high-turnover communities because those who rented had less motivation and resources to maintain social organization within their neighborhood.
References
Albonetti, C. A., & Hepburn, J. R. (1996). Prosecutorial discretion to defer criminalization: The effects of defendant’s ascribed and achieved status characteristics. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 12(1), 63-81.
Burgess, E. W. (1928). Residential segregation in American cities.The annals of the american academy of political and social science,140(1), 105-115.
Linton, R. (1936). The study of man: An introduction.
Foladare, I. S. (1969).A clarification of “ascribed status” and “achieved status”. The Sociological Quarterly, 10(1), 53-61.
James, A., & James, A. (2017). Constructing childhood: Theory, policy and social practice. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Johnstone, G., & Bauer, K. G. (2004). Sociology and Canadian society. Emond Montgomery Publication.
Miller, B. D. (2017). Cultural anthropology. Pearson.
McKenzie, R. D., Park, R. E., & Burgess, E. W. (1967).The city(Vol. 239). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Quinn, J. A. (1940). The Burgess zonal hypothesis and its critics.American Sociological Review,5(2), 210-218.
Shaw, C. R., & McKay, H. D. (1942). Juvenile delinquency and urban areas.
Saul McLeod, PhD
BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester
Saul McLeod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.
Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc
BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Psychology of Education
Olivia Guy-Evans is a writer and associate editor for Simply Psychology. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors.
Charlotte NickersonResearch Assistant at Harvard UniversityUndergraduate at Harvard UniversityCharlotte Nickerson is a student at Harvard University obsessed with the intersection of mental health, productivity, and design.
Charlotte NickersonResearch Assistant at Harvard UniversityUndergraduate at Harvard University
Charlotte Nickerson
Research Assistant at Harvard University
Undergraduate at Harvard University
Charlotte Nickerson is a student at Harvard University obsessed with the intersection of mental health, productivity, and design.
