O'NEALL, LINDA REAMS; PHD
THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY, 1982
SOCIOLOGY, SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND DEVELOPMENT (0700)
The present research was an analysis of cities as social systems, using data
for the 148 SMSA's of
200,000 or larger population in 1970. It examines the relationship among variables
representative of
several theoretical concepts, which are system size, productive output, complexity,
growth, level of
energy and system investment in regulatory and maintenance functions. Variables
representing the first
five concepts were considered independent variables: city size, functional specialization,
occupational
and racial diversity, population growth and median income. Variables representing
the last two concepts
were considered dependent variables: city expenditures on such regulatory functions
as fire and police
protection, and such maintenance functions as education, welfare and health.
The hypothesis tested
was that the independent variables would demonstrate a hierarchic pattern in
their unique ability to
explain variation in cities' expenditures for both regulatory and maintenance
activities. From most
powerful to least powerful the order of the independent variables was predicted
to be: city size;
functional specialization; level of energy characteristic of the system, as
measured by median income;
system complexity, as measured by racial and occupational diversity; and population
growth or decline.
To determine the relative contributions of each independent variable in explaining
variation in the
dependent variables, the analysis relied on a multiple regression procedure
which isolates the unique
explanatory power of each variable. The patterns observed among the independent
variables were
summarized and compared by describing them with appropriate path models. Four
findings were of
particular interest: first, city size, traditionally regarded as a highly important
variable, demonstrated little
unique ability to explain variation in maintenance expenditures; second, of
all types of functional
specialization only the degree of specialization in metropolitan functions (financial,
diversified trade and
service functions) showed significant ability to explain variation in either
regulatory or maintenance
expenditures; third, while city size and degree of specialization in metropolitan
functions were most
important in determining regulatory expenditures, system complexity in terms
of occupational and racial
diversity was most important in determining maintenance expenditures; fourth,
population growth or
decline was unimportant in unique contribution to any measures of regulatory
or maintenance
expenditures.
Social
Systems Simulation Group
P.O. Box 6904 San Diego, CA 92166-0904 Roland Werner, Principal Phone/FAX (619) 660-1603 |