Avery Guest - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Avery Guest
Journal of Urban History, 2001
Draft: 04/09/99 I first encountered Leo on an autumn day in 1966 when, during my second graduate ... more Draft: 04/09/99 I first encountered Leo on an autumn day in 1966 when, during my second graduate term, I was taking a course from him on Urbanism and Urbanization. Leo had actually missed the first few weeks of the course, and his friend Eric Lampard had ably filled in with a discussion of the long-term history of urbanization. Leo was a galvanizing figure in my life. Until that point, I did not see much future for myself as a sociologist. I had enjoyed sociology as a discipline at Oberlin College in Ohio, but what bothered me about it was the seeming abstractness of the subject matter. As presented to me by other faculty, there were many interesting concepts and ideas, but I failed to become engrossed in them because I could not determine their validity. At the time, I was contemplating a return to newspaper reporting which I greatly enjoyed because of its investigative quality, although I saw little of the conceptual overview that I appreciated from sociology. Leo brought it all together. He had a lot of stimulating, clear ideas about what was happening to cities in the United States. And he seemed wedded strongly to the position that ideas were largely accepted on the basis of empirical support. The course was essentially a sampler of Leo's ideas and research. He talked a lot about the nature of urban development in the United States, and he almost always had some interesting tables to discuss in relationship to the ideas, usually written on the chalkboard or handed out in hard copy. While I have resisted the idea of becoming a disciple of anyone, Leo's ideas and data have been the most important to me in my career. Unfortunately, I got to know him at a time in his life when his personal difficulties were beginning to mount. By the time I received my Ph.D. in 1970, it was clear that Leo was headed in a downward personal spiral from which he was never able to rebound fully. It is certainly fair to describe his life as tragic because the incredible promise of his early career was never fully realized. Yet, between the late 1950's and early 1970's, he produced an impressive array of nearly 100 publications that clearly set an agenda for research on urbanization within the human ecology perspective. In one year alone, 1962, he published at least eight papers in refereed journals. Not to be outdone by much, he published at least six papers in 1963. Leo's theoretical heart was with the human ecology approach. In his early professional years, he wrote stimulating papers that tried to revive the aggregate empirical study of social organization as a central focus of sociology. Most of his practical research focused on urbanization, especially the growth and development of cities in the United States, where he tried to lay out their basic patterns of development. Leo also wrote some about world urbanization, and he had others research interests in the relationship of social variables to urbanization. Born in 1927, Leo described (1966a, 152) himself in print as "really just a rural-nonfarm boy from North Ridgeville, Ohio," from which he "escaped in 1948." He attended Miami University in Ohio (then a center for innovative population-related research) and attained a Ph.D. in 1955 with Amos Hawley at Michigan. He served on the faculties at Brown, Berkeley, Michigan State, and, for most of his career, at Wisconsin. While hardly an administrative type, Leo was a major supporter of the creation of the Center for Demography and Ecology at the University of Wisconsin in the early 1960's. Leo had a lively sense of humor, which was mixed with disdain for pomposity. In one paper, he reported (1966a, 155) that the "sociological theory from which I have drawn my greatest inspiration is that of Ben Jonson (c. 1572-1637 A.D.)," described as "a contemporary of Shakespeare, and an actor and dramatist as well as a poet." Leo noted that "Jonson's most notable empirical effort-Every Man in His Humour, first published in 1598-contains the first known principal components analysis of city and countryside and 'rural' and 'urbane' people. I need hardly emphasize the well-known fact that Jonson, employing a varimax rotation and utilizing a CDC 6600, extracted four orthogonal factors." Leo was himself actively involved in dramatics and music. He especially loved jazz and had a wide-ranging knowledge of the
Traffic quarterly, 1976
This article reveals the extraordinary importance of metropolitan structural characteristics such... more This article reveals the extraordinary importance of metropolitan structural characteristics such as age, population size and density, and automobile ownership in affecting the use of public transportation in the journey to work. The data clear show that future changes in the characteristics of metropolitan areas such as population density and automobile ownership are likely to correspond with changes in the use of public transportation. These conclusions are generally suggested by both the cross-sectional analysis for 1970 and the longitudinal 1960-1970 analysis. On the whole, the analysis suggests that the use of public transportation, at the aggregate level, is not closely related to such characteristics of the potential users as income, age, and sex. In particular, the small and not always expected effects of income should be emphasized, since they indicate that future changes in average American income levels by themselves are not likely to have major impacts on the viability of public transit. The article reaches the general conclusion that mass transit development in the United States will have to face the reality of high interdependence between the structure of the metropolitan areas and its use of public transportation. The article's results do not indicate that future development of mass transit in some metropolitan areas is a hopeless proposition. But the results do indicate that the success or failure of mass transit is related very closely to variables that urban planners have little control over.
Sociological Quarterly, Sep 1, 1974
... DOUGLAS L. CAIWAHAN Vanderbilt University AVERY M. GUEST University of Washington OMER R. CAL... more ... DOUGLAS L. CAIWAHAN Vanderbilt University AVERY M. GUEST University of Washington OMER R. CALLE Vanderbilt [Jniversity ... a consequence of the components D/§, §/N, and N/A, while persons per room and rooms per dwelling have lcss effect (Duncan, 1966; Guest ...
Urban Studies, Mar 1, 2008
Urban affairs quarterly, Jun 1, 1986
American Journal of Sociology, Mar 1, 1984
Although the decline-of-community thesis has received considerable attention from urban sociologi... more Although the decline-of-community thesis has received considerable attention from urban sociologists, most of the empirical evidence brought to bear on the thesis has been cross-sectional rather than longitudinal. In the present study this deficiency is overcome. The ...
Scientia Forestalis, Sep 1, 1979
Economic Geography, Oct 1, 1972
In recent years, there has been a great deal of research on the location of high and low status n... more In recent years, there has been a great deal of research on the location of high and low status neighborhoods in American cities. Some of this research has used single indicators of status such as income or education, while others-notably factorial ecology-have combined ...
Economic Geography, Jul 1, 1974
clearly indicated that older metropolitan areas are most apt to have higher suburban than central... more clearly indicated that older metropolitan areas are most apt to have higher suburban than central city status and have distance from the CBD covarying positively with census tract status. Age of metropolitan areas has been melasured several ways, including the census year that the central city reached 50,000 population [18; 9] and the amount of metropolitan population growth in various historical-transportation periods such as the electric streetcar era and the automobile era [10]. Most of this research has been cross-sectional as opposed to longitudinal in design. These studies have been interpreted by Schnore [18; 16] as indicative of a current "evolutionary" or life cycle pattern of metropolitan development, in which central, older sections of metropolitan areas decline in status over time. Older metropolitan areas, it is alleged, have lower status in their central dis-
American Sociological Review, Aug 1, 1982
... Guest, Avery M. and Christopher Cluett 1974 "Metropolitan retail nucleation.... more ... Guest, Avery M. and Christopher Cluett 1974 "Metropolitan retail nucleation." Demog-raphy 11:493-507. Hawley, Amos 1971 Urban Society: An Ecological Approach. New York: Ronald Press. Hunter, Albert 1974 Symbolic Communities: The Persistence and Change of ...
Contemporary Sociology, May 1, 1990
American Journal of Sociology, May 1, 1971
... Avery M. Guest Dartmouth College ... The sample SMSAs by region are: Northeast: Boston, Buffa... more ... Avery M. Guest Dartmouth College ... The sample SMSAs by region are: Northeast: Boston, Buffalo, New Haven, Rochester; South: Atlanta, Birmingham, Charlotte, Houston; North Central: Akron, Cleveland, Detroit, Flint, Fort Wayne; West: Albuquerque, Denver, Phoenix, Seattle. ...
American Journal of Sociology, Sep 1, 1974
Contemporary Sociology, Mar 1, 2004
Sociological Human Ecology, 2019
Journal of Urban History, 2001
Draft: 04/09/99 I first encountered Leo on an autumn day in 1966 when, during my second graduate ... more Draft: 04/09/99 I first encountered Leo on an autumn day in 1966 when, during my second graduate term, I was taking a course from him on Urbanism and Urbanization. Leo had actually missed the first few weeks of the course, and his friend Eric Lampard had ably filled in with a discussion of the long-term history of urbanization. Leo was a galvanizing figure in my life. Until that point, I did not see much future for myself as a sociologist. I had enjoyed sociology as a discipline at Oberlin College in Ohio, but what bothered me about it was the seeming abstractness of the subject matter. As presented to me by other faculty, there were many interesting concepts and ideas, but I failed to become engrossed in them because I could not determine their validity. At the time, I was contemplating a return to newspaper reporting which I greatly enjoyed because of its investigative quality, although I saw little of the conceptual overview that I appreciated from sociology. Leo brought it all together. He had a lot of stimulating, clear ideas about what was happening to cities in the United States. And he seemed wedded strongly to the position that ideas were largely accepted on the basis of empirical support. The course was essentially a sampler of Leo's ideas and research. He talked a lot about the nature of urban development in the United States, and he almost always had some interesting tables to discuss in relationship to the ideas, usually written on the chalkboard or handed out in hard copy. While I have resisted the idea of becoming a disciple of anyone, Leo's ideas and data have been the most important to me in my career. Unfortunately, I got to know him at a time in his life when his personal difficulties were beginning to mount. By the time I received my Ph.D. in 1970, it was clear that Leo was headed in a downward personal spiral from which he was never able to rebound fully. It is certainly fair to describe his life as tragic because the incredible promise of his early career was never fully realized. Yet, between the late 1950's and early 1970's, he produced an impressive array of nearly 100 publications that clearly set an agenda for research on urbanization within the human ecology perspective. In one year alone, 1962, he published at least eight papers in refereed journals. Not to be outdone by much, he published at least six papers in 1963. Leo's theoretical heart was with the human ecology approach. In his early professional years, he wrote stimulating papers that tried to revive the aggregate empirical study of social organization as a central focus of sociology. Most of his practical research focused on urbanization, especially the growth and development of cities in the United States, where he tried to lay out their basic patterns of development. Leo also wrote some about world urbanization, and he had others research interests in the relationship of social variables to urbanization. Born in 1927, Leo described (1966a, 152) himself in print as "really just a rural-nonfarm boy from North Ridgeville, Ohio," from which he "escaped in 1948." He attended Miami University in Ohio (then a center for innovative population-related research) and attained a Ph.D. in 1955 with Amos Hawley at Michigan. He served on the faculties at Brown, Berkeley, Michigan State, and, for most of his career, at Wisconsin. While hardly an administrative type, Leo was a major supporter of the creation of the Center for Demography and Ecology at the University of Wisconsin in the early 1960's. Leo had a lively sense of humor, which was mixed with disdain for pomposity. In one paper, he reported (1966a, 155) that the "sociological theory from which I have drawn my greatest inspiration is that of Ben Jonson (c. 1572-1637 A.D.)," described as "a contemporary of Shakespeare, and an actor and dramatist as well as a poet." Leo noted that "Jonson's most notable empirical effort-Every Man in His Humour, first published in 1598-contains the first known principal components analysis of city and countryside and 'rural' and 'urbane' people. I need hardly emphasize the well-known fact that Jonson, employing a varimax rotation and utilizing a CDC 6600, extracted four orthogonal factors." Leo was himself actively involved in dramatics and music. He especially loved jazz and had a wide-ranging knowledge of the
Traffic quarterly, 1976
This article reveals the extraordinary importance of metropolitan structural characteristics such... more This article reveals the extraordinary importance of metropolitan structural characteristics such as age, population size and density, and automobile ownership in affecting the use of public transportation in the journey to work. The data clear show that future changes in the characteristics of metropolitan areas such as population density and automobile ownership are likely to correspond with changes in the use of public transportation. These conclusions are generally suggested by both the cross-sectional analysis for 1970 and the longitudinal 1960-1970 analysis. On the whole, the analysis suggests that the use of public transportation, at the aggregate level, is not closely related to such characteristics of the potential users as income, age, and sex. In particular, the small and not always expected effects of income should be emphasized, since they indicate that future changes in average American income levels by themselves are not likely to have major impacts on the viability of public transit. The article reaches the general conclusion that mass transit development in the United States will have to face the reality of high interdependence between the structure of the metropolitan areas and its use of public transportation. The article's results do not indicate that future development of mass transit in some metropolitan areas is a hopeless proposition. But the results do indicate that the success or failure of mass transit is related very closely to variables that urban planners have little control over.
Sociological Quarterly, Sep 1, 1974
... DOUGLAS L. CAIWAHAN Vanderbilt University AVERY M. GUEST University of Washington OMER R. CAL... more ... DOUGLAS L. CAIWAHAN Vanderbilt University AVERY M. GUEST University of Washington OMER R. CALLE Vanderbilt [Jniversity ... a consequence of the components D/§, §/N, and N/A, while persons per room and rooms per dwelling have lcss effect (Duncan, 1966; Guest ...
Urban Studies, Mar 1, 2008
Urban affairs quarterly, Jun 1, 1986
American Journal of Sociology, Mar 1, 1984
Although the decline-of-community thesis has received considerable attention from urban sociologi... more Although the decline-of-community thesis has received considerable attention from urban sociologists, most of the empirical evidence brought to bear on the thesis has been cross-sectional rather than longitudinal. In the present study this deficiency is overcome. The ...
Scientia Forestalis, Sep 1, 1979
Economic Geography, Oct 1, 1972
In recent years, there has been a great deal of research on the location of high and low status n... more In recent years, there has been a great deal of research on the location of high and low status neighborhoods in American cities. Some of this research has used single indicators of status such as income or education, while others-notably factorial ecology-have combined ...
Economic Geography, Jul 1, 1974
clearly indicated that older metropolitan areas are most apt to have higher suburban than central... more clearly indicated that older metropolitan areas are most apt to have higher suburban than central city status and have distance from the CBD covarying positively with census tract status. Age of metropolitan areas has been melasured several ways, including the census year that the central city reached 50,000 population [18; 9] and the amount of metropolitan population growth in various historical-transportation periods such as the electric streetcar era and the automobile era [10]. Most of this research has been cross-sectional as opposed to longitudinal in design. These studies have been interpreted by Schnore [18; 16] as indicative of a current "evolutionary" or life cycle pattern of metropolitan development, in which central, older sections of metropolitan areas decline in status over time. Older metropolitan areas, it is alleged, have lower status in their central dis-
American Sociological Review, Aug 1, 1982
... Guest, Avery M. and Christopher Cluett 1974 "Metropolitan retail nucleation.... more ... Guest, Avery M. and Christopher Cluett 1974 "Metropolitan retail nucleation." Demog-raphy 11:493-507. Hawley, Amos 1971 Urban Society: An Ecological Approach. New York: Ronald Press. Hunter, Albert 1974 Symbolic Communities: The Persistence and Change of ...
Contemporary Sociology, May 1, 1990
American Journal of Sociology, May 1, 1971
... Avery M. Guest Dartmouth College ... The sample SMSAs by region are: Northeast: Boston, Buffa... more ... Avery M. Guest Dartmouth College ... The sample SMSAs by region are: Northeast: Boston, Buffalo, New Haven, Rochester; South: Atlanta, Birmingham, Charlotte, Houston; North Central: Akron, Cleveland, Detroit, Flint, Fort Wayne; West: Albuquerque, Denver, Phoenix, Seattle. ...
American Journal of Sociology, Sep 1, 1974
Contemporary Sociology, Mar 1, 2004
Sociological Human Ecology, 2019