1954/04/01 by Joel Smith
Social Sciences · Mathematics · #Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies #Census and Population Estimation
paper · doi:10.2307/2088402
S OCIAL scientists are often confronted with the problem of dividing large areas into smaller sub-units for purposes of research. The process through which any desired sub-area system is derived varies with the theoretical position and substantive interests of the investigator involved. In recent decades, urban sociologists and ecologists have been particularly concerned with the division of cities (large areal units) into census tracts (small areal units). The distinction and utility of the census tract lies in the fact that it is the smallest urban areal unit for which the Bureau of the Census regularly reports complete information. As of 1950, approximately seventy-five American cities of over 100,000 population have had census tract plans accepted for use by the Bureau of the Census. These plans may be deemed useful for sociological research only insofar as they provide a set of urban sub-areas which are meaningful for research within cities and among cities. The plain fact is that most tract plans are not meaningful in this sense. Census tracting has largely been a piecemeal operation, and sociologists have only been directly responsible for the plans of a small number of the cities already tracted. Since the existing plans have been formulated by members of widely divergent interest groups,