The Ghost of Patrick Geddes: Civics as Applied Sociology

Abstract

In 1904 and 1905 Patrick Geddes (1905, 1906) read his famed, but today little-read, two-part paper, ‘Civics: as Applied Sociology’, to the first meetings of the British Sociological Society. Geddes is often thought of as a ‘pioneer of sociology’ (Mairet, 1957;Meller, 1990) and for some (egDevine, 1999: 296) as ‘a seminal influence on sociology’. However, little of substance has been written to critically assess Geddes's intellectual legacy as a sociologist. His work is largely forgotten by sociologists in Britain (Abrams, 1968;Halliday, 1968;Evans, 1986). Few have been prepared to follow Geddes's ambition to bridge the chasm between nature and culture, environment and society, geography, biology and sociology. His conception of ‘sociology’, oriented towards social action from a standpoint explicitly informed by evolutionary theory. A re-appraisal of the contemporary relevance of Geddes's thinking on civics as applied sociology has to venture into the knotted problem of evolutionary sociology. It also requires giving some cogency to Geddes's often fragmentary and inconsistent mode of address. Although part of a post-positivist, ‘larger modernism’ Geddes remained mired in nineteenth century evolutionary thought and fought shy of dealing with larger issues of social class or the breakthrough work of early twentieth century sociology of Simmel, Weber and Durkheim. His apolitical notion of ‘civics’ limits its relevance to academic sociology today.

Patrick Geddes: Founder of Environmental Sociology

“…When he is reclaimed for sociology, there will be plenty of time for everyone to engage in the most stringent critique. Nevertheless, I hope to have avoided the hagiography that Law finds in most treatments of his work (Law, 2005: 1.1), while considering it in its own terms, as a contribution to the making of sociology before sociology was properly made. In many ways, it is a brilliant anticipation of much more recent approaches to sociology, with its wide ranging interdisciplinary focus, and its insistence on examining the relationship between people and their environments – not just social and cultural, but also physical, as in the idea of ‘territory’ or region, and natural (via his concern with the resources of matter and energy).…”

The High-Rise and the slum: speculative urban development in mumbai

“…A real survey would not simply produce an enumeration and a map of existing structures. The survey as understood by early followers of Geddes, including Lewis Mumford, was much more than an audit of people and space (Law, 2005 ) . It was about understanding how to connect existing topography and milieus with urban development.…”

Drawing as Radical Multimodality: Salvaging Patrick Geddes's Material Methodology

“…Thus, this ambitious project to transform social life through detailed fieldwork, radical theory building, and public spectacle, which could move buildings, fill streets with pageantry, and exhibit the world in a tower, disappeared. Geddes's generalist approach and overcomplexity in his methodology have been criticized (Law ). However, new emphases on public, environmental, and regionalist approaches of the studies (Scott and Bromley ) and the porosity of this social science, particularly in its relations with biological sciences (Renwick ), suggest the salience and timeliness of the archive to rethinking current social scientific practice.…”