Ernest Burgess

Ernest Watson Burgess was a highly influential Canadian-American urban sociologist. He spent much of his career as a professor at the University of Chicago. His work helped shape how we understand cities, social groups, and human behavior. Burgess was a leader in his field and served as the 24th President of the American Sociological Association. He also held leadership roles in several other major sociological organizations. His research touched many different parts of human life, from crime to marriage to aging.

One of Burgess's most significant achievements was co-authoring a major textbook. In 1921, he worked with sociologist Robert Park to write "Introduction to the Science of Sociology." This book was so important that many people called it the "Bible of Sociology." It covered many complex topics like human nature, social interaction, and competition. The authors used their observations to challenge existing ideas about social problems. They argued that social disorganization caused crime and disease in certain areas. They believed the environment of a slum caused these issues, not the people or their heredity.

Burgess and Park also developed a way to visualize how cities are organized. They created the concentric zone model to describe urban growth. This model suggests that cities grow in a series of rings or zones. The center is the central business district. The next ring is a transitional zone with industries and deteriorating housing. Moving outward, there are working-class residential zones, often called tenements. The outermost rings consist of residential areas and commuter or suburban zones. They viewed cities as evolving systems that change much like living organisms.

In the field of criminology, Burgess developed a mathematical way to predict behavior. He wanted to know if people on parole would succeed or fail. He identified 21 different measures that might be linked to success. He used a system called the Burgess method of unit-weighted regression. He assigned a score of one for a positive factor and zero for a negative one. For instance, having job skills earned a score of one. A man lacking those skills received a score of zero. By adding these scores together, he created a scale to predict outcomes.

This mathematical method proved to be remarkably accurate. For men with the highest scores, between 14 and 21, the success rate was 98%. For men with scores of 4 or less, the success rate was only 24%. This work is credited with the birth of actuarial dangerousness prediction. While modern researchers now use more advanced methods like multiple regression, his method remains useful. Many experts have noted that these newer methods do not always show a clear advantage over his original approach.

Burgess also turned his attention to the institutions of family and marriage. In 1939, he wrote a book titled "Predicting Success or Failure in Marriage" with Leonard Cottrell. They attempted to create a scientific chart to predict marital stability. They believed that harmony required specific adjustments in social behavior and attitudes from both partners. However, their work faced criticism from other scholars. Critics pointed out that the chart did not include love or affection as variables. Most people believe these emotional components are the most important parts of a marriage. Interestingly, Burgess himself was never married.

In his later years, Burgess focused on the study of aging and the elderly. At that time, the effects of retirement were often neglected by researchers. He collaborated with the government to study how programs for the elderly were working. In 1960, he served as the editor for the book "Aging in Western Societies." This was the third volume in a series produced by the Inter-University Training Institute in Social Gerontology. The series included volumes on comparative data, trends, and case studies from various countries.

This research involved comparing the United States to other nations. Burgess and his colleagues looked at France, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, and West Germany. These five countries were chosen because their cultures and social structures were similar to the United States. By studying these different societies, researchers hoped to better understand aging in America. Burgess contributed to this work by writing the introduction and acting as editor. His diverse studies helped connect sociology to economics, criminology, and even biology.