Human Ecology and Its Link to Geographical Sociology

Abstract

Human ecology is largely interested in the social organization of populations and the effects of environment and larger social structure on individuals within a given macro context. Since the turn of the twenty-first century, sociologists have become enamored with the effects of the environment through the application of statistical methods which take place into account as a factor. However, during the early 1900s these methods were far from being advanced and the primary approaches to spatial analysis in sociology consisted of the “hand-produced” methods used by Charles Galpin which spawned the early Chicago School adoption and extension of them. The next half century witnessed an unprecedented boom in spatial thinking that has continued to provide the framework—sometimes without explicit recognition—for much of the spatial analysis that is undertaken today. It is at these intersections of place, culture, and social process that the actual academic placement of human ecology has been argued over the years. Regardless of its standing as a discipline, the work of those in the realm of human ecology, such as Amos Hawley, Robert Park, and even Emile Durkheim, has contributed immensely to our contemporary ability to think of social processes as they occur in ecological context.