Ernest Burgess facts for kids

Ernest Watson Burgess (born May 16, 1886 – died December 27, 1966) was a smart thinker from Canada and the United States. He studied how cities and people in them live and interact. He was born in Tilbury, Ontario, Canada.

Ernest Burgess went to Kingfisher College in Oklahoma. He then studied sociology at the University of Chicago. In 1916, he became a professor there. He was known for his work on cities. He also led the American Sociological Association (ASA) as its 24th President.

Ernest Burgess's Big Ideas

Ernest Burgess did important work in many areas. He helped us understand how societies and cities work.

A Famous Sociology Book

In 1921, Ernest Burgess wrote a very important book. He worked with another sociologist, Robert Park. Their book was called Introduction to the Science of Sociology. Many people called it the "Bible of Sociology."

This book looked at life from many angles. It talked about how people interact and how societies change. It also discussed how problems in society, like illness, are often caused by how society is set up, not by people's genes. They showed that problems in a neighborhood often affect anyone living there, no matter who they are. This book was so good that students used it for many years.

How Cities Grow: The Concentric Zone Model

Concentric zone model     Commuter zone     Residential zone     Working class zone     Zone of transition     Factory zone     CBD

Burgess and his friend Robert E. Park did amazing research. It helped start what is known as The Chicago School. They thought of cities as growing in circles, like ripples in a pond.

They called this the Concentric zone model. Imagine a city with different rings:

• The center is the main business area.
• Next is a zone with factories and older homes.
• Then comes a zone for working-class families.
• After that, a zone for larger homes.
• Finally, the outer ring is for people who live in suburbs and travel to the city.

They also believed that cities change and grow, much like living things evolve.

Predicting Success: The Burgess Method

Ernest Burgess also studied how to predict if people would do well after leaving prison on parole. He looked at 21 things that might affect success. For each person, he gave a score of zero or one for each item. A score of one meant a better chance of success.

For example, if someone had job skills, they got a one. If they didn't, they got a zero. He added up these scores. Higher total scores meant a greater chance of success on parole. This way of combining scores is called the Burgess method. It was very accurate for its time. Even today, this method is still useful in understanding predictions.

Understanding Family and Marriage

Ernest Burgess spent a lot of time studying families and marriage. He wanted to find a scientific way to predict if a marriage would last. In his 1939 book, Predicting Success or Failure in Marriage, he said that a happy marriage needs both partners to adjust their attitudes and actions.

He and Leonard Cottrell created a chart to predict marital success. They listed many things they thought affected how stable a marriage would be. However, some people criticized their work. They felt that Burgess and Cottrell didn't include love or affection, which many believe is the most important part of marriage. Interestingly, Ernest Burgess himself never married.

Studying Older Adults

Ernest Burgess also studied elderly people, especially what happens when they retire. This was a topic that wasn't studied much back then. He worked with the government to research programs for older adults. Their findings were published in a 1960 book called Aging in Western Societies. Burgess was the editor of this book.

This book was part of a series that looked at how aging affects people in different countries. It compared things like jobs, retirement, and housing for older adults. The goal was to learn from other societies to better understand aging in the United States.

Key Accomplishments

• President of Behavior Research Foundation (1931)
• President of American Sociological Society (1934)
• President of Sociological Research Association (1942)
• President of National Conference On Family Relations (1942)
• Chair of Sociology Department at the University of Chicago (1946)

See also

• Chicago school (sociology)
• Louis Wirth
• Everett Stonequist
• Frederic Thrasher
• Social disorganization theory