CASE STUDIESthe ways in which cities develop as interrelated
territories involving distinctive ways of life and
opportunities. He described such territories as
‘‘natural areas’’ and stressed that they emerged
based on social and economic competition.
Many of the best-known and most influential
sociological case studies done in the United States
were conducted in the 1920s and 1930s by stu-
dents and faculty members at the University of
Chicago who were interested in the distinctive
ways of life in diverse natural areas (e.g., Anderson
1923; Cressey 1932; Shaw 1930; Thomas 1923;
Wirth 1928; and Zorbaugh 1929). While it was
done later, H. M. Hughes’s (1961) study of Janet
Clark’s life is also an example of the Chicago
approach to case studies and urban life. Perhaps
the best-known and most influential case study
done in the early Chicago school tradition is Wil-
liam Whyte’s (1943) Street Corner Society, a partici-
pant-observer study of a poor Italian-American
community. The significance of the study is relat-
ed to Whyte’s use of his observations to identify
and explicate some basic sociological issues involv-
ing social relations and social control in small groups.
Park’s approach to case studies has been modi-
fied and refined over the years, particularly by
Everett C. Hughes (1970), who developed a com-
parative approach to work groups and settings.
The approach uses case studies to identify and
analyze comparatively generalized aspects of work
groups and settings, such as work groups’ defini-
tions of ‘‘dirty work’’ and their interest in control-
ling the conditions of their work. Becker’s (1963)
use of multiple case studies in articulating the
labeling perspective is a notable example of how
the comparative strategy advocated by E. C. Hughes
may be applied to develop sociological theory.
Another major contributor to the Chicago school
of sociology is Erving Goffman (1959), who used
case studies to develop a dramaturgical perspec-
tive on social interaction. The perspective treats
mundane interactions as quasi-theatrical perform-
ances involving scripts, stages, and characters.
Although less influential than the Chicago
school, a second source for case studies in Ameri-
can sociology was structural-functionalist theorists
who analyzed communities and organizations as
stability-seeking social systems. Structural-functional
case studies were influenced by anthropological
studies of nonindustrial communities and the more
abstract theories of Talcott Parsons and Robert
Merton. These studies analyze how social systems
are maintained and adapt to changing environ-
mental circumstances. For example, structural
functionalists have used case studies to analyze the
consequences of organizational activities and rela-
tionships for maintaining organizational systems
(Blau 1955; Gouldner 1954; Sykes 1958).
An exemplary structural-functionalist case study
is Rosabeth Moss Kanter’s (1977) analysis of a
multinational corporation, which she calls Indsco.
The study examines how social relations in corpo-
rations are shaped by social structures which pro-
duce feelings of uncertainty and marginality among
managers and secretaries. Kanter uses her case
study to illustrate how gender segregation is pro-
duced and maintained in Indsco as secretaries and
managers cope with the practical problems emer-
gent from corporate power and opportunity struc-
tures. She also makes some practical suggestions
for altering these structures in order to better
address the needs of managers and secretaries,
and to produce more egalitarian relations between
corporate members. Many of Kanter’s suggestions
have been adopted by diverse American corpora-
tions. This is another way in which case studies
may influence social policies.RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN CASE-
STUDIES RESEARCHWhile many qualitative sociologists continue to
work within the Chicago school and structural-
functional traditions, several important develop-
ments have occurred in qualitative sociology in the
past twenty-five years. For example, many of the
case studies of ethnic communities done by early
Chicago school sociologists deal with the prob-
lems and social organization of European-Ameri-
can communities. Many more recent case studies,
on the other hand, explore these issues within the
context of nonEuropean-American communities.
Ruth Horowitz’s (1983) case study of a Hispanic
community and Elijah Anderson’s (1990) research
in an African-American community are major con-
tributions to this development.
Age-based communities have also emerged as
subjects for case studies by sociologists. One focus
in this literature involves the distinctive life cir-
cumstances and coping strategies of communities
of older people. Arlie Hochshild’s (1973) study of