Amos H. Hawley

Ecology and Human Ecology

government control tends to promote equal distribution of whatever advantages are derived from planning. Our open-class philosophy and broad educational base would tend to make planning for the exclusive benefit of the elite classes unworkable. Since dictatorial regimes, as well as social planning, tend to arise in crisis situations, it is not at all unexpected to find dictatorships the first proponents of planning. Their coincidental development, however, does not indicate that planning brought about the dictatorships; in fact, quite the reverse was true.25 Still a current trend of thought which is not uncommon among social scientists pictures social planning as the entering wedge for dictatorship. If the problems of social order and stability persist as they are likely to, the possibilities for the future social structure lie between a dictatorship where the planning (not social planning) is for the maintenance of power and social planning for the maintenance of democracy. We probably lack the choice between plan and no plan, but it is conceivable that we could successfully plan our social structure for the maintenance of democratic principles. The greatest danger to such an achievement, as the Italian philosopher Croce recently put it, is active ignorance.26

Community Power and Urban Renewal Success

Starting from the position that power is an attribute of a social system rather than of an individual, this study examines the relationship of the extent of power concentration to urban renewal success. The ratio of managers, proprietors, and officials to the employed labor force measures the concentration of power, and success in urban renewal is represented by arrival of cities at the execution stage in that program. The relationship is found to be statistically significant and remains so under a series of controlled observations. Thus it appears that the conception of power employed offers a promising procedure for comparative studies.

Human Ecological and Marxian Theories

A comparison of two macrolevel paradigms, the human ecological and the Marxian, discloses numerous parallels and some significant differences. The exercise is useful in that it reveals a number of lacunae in human ecological theory. A selection of research problems which might close the gaps in theory is presented.

The Significance of Membership in Associations

In a medium-sized metropolitan area membership in voluntary associations is higher in the central city than in the fringe area. Frequency of membership in both areas varies with demographic characteristics. When standarized rates are computed, the lower fringe rate is found to be not due to demographic composition. Membership in associations is of some consequence in the affairs of the community, particularly in those having to do with the political unification of the area. In the fringe such organizations tend to be vehicles of opposition to that kind of cohesiveness in the community.

Some observations of changes in metropolitan population in The United States

ResumenEste documento estudia las tendencias del crecimiento de la población de los Estados Unidos en áreas metropolitanas en las seis décadas de 1900 a 1960. En 1900, solamente una tercera parte de la población de los Estados Unidos vivía en áreas metropolitanas. En 1960, esta porporción se había doblado, llegando a dos terceras partes, el sector metropolitano de la nación ha tendido a absorber una proporciń progresivamente mayor del crecimiento de la población, La creación de nuevas áreas metropoliatnas ha declinado como factor de influencia en el crecimiento de la población metropolitana. En décadas recientes ha tenido much mayor importancia la incorporación de condados continuos a áreas metropolitanas pre-existentes, condados que han sido incorporados dentro de la órbita de una creciente influencia metropolitana. Como las diferencias defecundidad han disminuído grandemente de importancia, las características del crecimiento metropolitano pueden explicarse casi totalmente a base de diferencias en las tasas de migracion neta. El aumento de la población metropolitana se ha concentrado en gran medida en la vecindad de las pocas áreas metropolitanas de mayor magnitud.

Approaches to the Solution of Fringe Problems: Preferences of Residents in the Flint Metropolitan Area

T HE rapid growth of population in the areas immediately adjoining metropolitan central cities during the past thirtyfive years has created and progressively aggravated a host of problems of concern to central cities as well as to the residents of the so-called fringe areas. From the point of view of the latter, the problems may be summarily described as a general lack of adequate urban facilities. Despite the prevalence in the fringe of an urban type of settlement, sanitary sewerage and water facilities, sufficient police and fire protection, regular garbage and rubbish collections, recreation, public health, and other services are seldom available to more than a small fraction of the residents. While such deficiencies pose threats to the health and wellbeing of the central city population, the fringe problem from their point of view may also be that of inducing the residents of the fringe to accept some responsibility for maintenance of the municipal government of the core city. The inadequacy of urban services in the fringe is in part due to the seemingly inevitable lag of capital improvements behind rapid population growth. Of even greater importance, however, is the fact that jurisdiction

Family growth and family planning: Responses to a family-planning action program in a rural district of Thailand

ResumenDespués que un programa de Planeación Familiar se había estado llevando a cabo durante ocho meses en un distrito rural de Tailandia con una población de cerca a 70.000 habitantes, se efectuó nueva investigación con el objecto de obtener indicaciones sobre la efectividad del programa. En ambas investigaciones se empleó una muestra al azar del 25 por ciento—aunque no superpuesta—de mujeres casadas entre 20 y 44 años de edad, cuyos maridos estaban aún vivos. La única diferencia en el diseño y ejecución fué la de incluir en la segunda investigación algunas preguntas sobre el diseño y ejecución del programa. Excluyendo una o dos exepciones, las características de las dos muestras de problación fueron tan similares, que las diferencias en concimiento, actitudes y prácticas deben ser mirada como efecto del programa.El programa de acción no solo fué ampliamente conocido en el distrito, sino también altamente valorado, hasta tal punto que 9 de cada 10 mujeres opinaron que él debería ser extendido a todo el reino. La motivación a universe a la planeación familiar se incrementó perceptiblement. Una sustancial proporción—23%—de las mujeres que anteriormente habían desprobado su práctica, cambiaron su actitud hacia aprobarla, principalmente porque ellas mismas habían llegado a convencerse de la inocuidad y utilidad del control de la fertilidad. Menos del 3 por ciento de quienes anteriormente habían aprobado el programs, ahora lo desaprobaron.La proporción de mujeres que tenían algún conocimiento de anticonceptivos se dobló durante los ocho meses de funcionamiento del programa. El hecho más sobresaliente sinembargo, fué el cambio en el uso real de métodos, que creció de 1% al 21% de las mujeres elegibles (mujeres nó embarazadas, subfecundas o esterilizadas). Otro 16 por ciento en la segunda investigación, planeba comenzar a usar anticonceptivos en un futuro cercano, muchas veces, después de terminado su actual embarazo. La frecuencia de aceptación de la planeción familiar excedió la frecuncia esperada entre las mujeres acercándose o que yá hablían alcanzado el número “ideal” de hijos (4). Mujeres de gran fecundidad y más de 40 años, raramente aceptaron asistencia clínica.SummaryA resurvey of a rural district in Thailand, of about 70,000 population, was conducted after a family-planning program had been in operation for eight months in order to ascertain indications of effectiveness of the program. Both the “before” and “after” surveys employed a 25 percent simple random, though non-overlapping, sample of married women 20–44 years of age whose husbands were living. The only difference in design and execution was the inclusion in the resurvey of questions about the action program. Barring one or two exceptions, the characteristics of the two population samples were so similar that differences in knowledge, attitudes, and practices could be regarded as effects of the program.The action program not only made itself widely known in the district, it also evoked a highly favorable appraisal, to such an extent that nine of every ten women thought the program should be extended over the entire kingdom. Motivation to engage in family planning increased perceptibly. A substantial proportion (23 percent) of the women who formerly disapproved of the practice changed their attitudes to approval, mainly because they had become convinced of the harmlessness and the utility of fertility control. Less than 3 percent of the former approvers had become negative.The proportion of women who claimed some kind of knowledge about contraceptive methods more than doubled during the eight months of the programs operation. More impressive, however, was the change in actual use of methods, which rose from 1 to 21 percent of the eligible women (women who were not pregnant, subfecund, or sterilized). Another 16 percent, in the resurvey, planned to begin use of contraceptives in the near future, in most instances after a current pregnancy. The frequency of acceptance of family planning practice exceeded the expected frequency among women who were approaching or had attained the “ideal” number of children (4.0 children). High-parity women 40 or more years of age seldom accepted clinical assistance.

Human Ecology, Population, and Development

Human ecology, as distinguished from bioecology, originated with the observation of analogous forms of organization in urban and plant communities. Since its inception, therefore, the discipline of human ecology has evinced a strong predilection toward the use of collective organization, not the individual, as its unit of analysis. Justifying this orientation is evidence that adaptation by all forms of life is essentially a collective rather than an individual process.

Metropolitan Area Schools: Resistance to District Reorganization:

of many of the political, social, and economic factors which influence educational policy decisions. The book deserves wide reading because of the present focus on the problems of public education and it contains important guidelines for both proponents and opponents of district reorganization. It may well become the ‘ntnnual’ for developing pro and con campaigns in communities across the nation.” --The Western Political Quarterly

Unemployment and migration in the depression, 1930-1935.

Abstract This is a study of the reciprocal relationship between migration and unemployment in Michigan during the depression period 1930 to 1935. Specifically, it is concerned with two questions: By the use of matched control groups it is found that the differential in unemployment rates occurs after migration, not before. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that in a depression migrants tend to be at a disadvantage in the new labor market to which they move. 1. Do the migrants during a depression have a poor employment history as compared with non-migrants of similar characteristics? 2. Do the migrants have a better employment experience after migration than non-migrants of similar characteristics? * This study was made possible by a grant from the Faculty Research Funds of the Horace Rack-ham School of Graduate Studies of the University of Michigan.