© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���4 | doi �0.��63/�569�330-� �34� �90 Comparative Sociology �3 ( �0 �4) �85–� �4 COMPARATIVE SOCIOLOGY brill.com/coso Ecologies, Post-Modern Urbanisms, and Symbolic Economies: A Comparative Assessment of American Urban Sociology Marcus Anthony Hunter Yale University marcus.hunter@yale.edu Abstract The field of urban sociology has been significantly linked to particular cities, with cities such as Chicago (IL), Los Angeles (C A), and New York City (NY) have become hallmarks reflecting both the possibilities and the limitations of the urban sociological imagination. Using what have been three major foci in American urban sociology – 1) Organization of the City, 2) Ethnography and 3) Neighborhoods – using a compara- tive assessment of the field this paper seeks to apprehend the larger understandings, trends and methods in the field. Comparing urban sociological methods and theories through sections focusing on the three aforementioned themes, this article under- scores paths taken in the field whilst highlighting potential new directions. Keywords urban sociology – comparative sociology – American urban sociology ethnography neighborhoods – social theory The work in the field of American urban sociology is a virtual mosaic, collec- tively aimed at understanding, analyzing, theorizing, and describing the city and its residents to produce sociological knowledge about the human condi- tion. From Robert Park (1915) and Ernest Burgess’ (1916, 1925) concepts of human ecology and concentric zones (respectively), to Edward Soja (1996, 2000) and Michael Dear’s (1998, 2002) ideas of post-modern urbanism, to Sharon Zukin’s (1991, 1995) imagining of symbolic economies, American urban sociology has been significantly linked to particular cities, notably Chicago (IL), Los Angeles