The Ecology of Social Change: Wolverhampton 1851-71

The hypothesis that the process of industrialization/modernization involved an evolution of the dimensions of residential differentiation is examined using Census Returns for nineteenth-century Wolverhampton. Comparison of fac- torial ecologies for I851, I86I and I87I provides strong evidence for this type of temporal change. WHILE in I831 only a quarter of the population of England and Wales lived in towns of over 20 000, by 1881 70 per cent did so: yet little is known of how this urban population explosion was expressed spatially and socially in neighbourhoods of distinctive character. The literature in- cludes two relevant approaches, neither ideal for analysing the evolution of urban residential differentiation during rapid growth and change. The first, the stage model approach,' divides urban history into successive periods, each revealing the particular pattern dictated by key contemporary conditions; isolating these conditions is therefore crucial. The value of the second, factorial ecology,2 depends upon its incorporation within an adequate conceptual frame- work. It is argued here that the stage model offers such a framework and that the most immediate prospect for the advancement of understanding lies in the integration of the two approaches. The present paper describes generalizations derived in this way and considers their appropriateness in relation to data for nineteenth-century Wolverhampton. Change affected two distinct aspects of the urban residential system. First, expansion of the built-up area led to an evolution in the spatial pattern of residential neighbourhoods. It seems probable that major change occurred during industrialization as the pre-industrial pattern with a central high-status area3 was superseded by the peripheral high-status zones of the modern city.4 Second, the dimensions of residential differentiation changed:5 whereas the residential areas of the pre-industrial city differed along a single axis (high-low status), those of a modern city differ along several. Hence the period of rapid urbanization is of considerable interest, for some evolution in the dimensions of residential differentiation may be expected. The present paper examines this hypothesis in detail.