ABSTRACT
Sometime around 1967, U.S. sociology lost its way and spent the next two decades wandering the wilderness. From the founding of the discipline until the late 1960s, sociology had been fundamentally concerned with issues of space. Indeed, according to Park’s widely cited dictum, social relations were spatial relations. In building theories and conducting empirical research, U.S. sociologists concerned themselves fundamentally with understanding how ecological factors shaped and constrained interpersonal behavior and social structure. No analysis of socioeconomic stratification or race relations was complete without describing ecological configurations of class, race, and socioeconomic resources, and outlining how their intersection influenced the life chances and social worlds experienced by individuals.
