5.8. The Chicago School 
BRIAN FEDOREK 
Biological and psychological positivism looked at differences between criminals and non-criminals. Instead 
of finding differences between kinds of people, the Chicago School tried to detect differences between kinds 
of places. During the 1920-1930s, the University of Chicago was the vanguard for human ecology, which 
is the study of the relationship between humans and their environment. Robert Park (1925) viewed cities as 
“super-organisms,” comparing the city-human relationship to the natural ecosystems of plants and animals 
that share habitats. Furthermore, Burgess (1925) proposed concentric zone theory, which explained how 
cities grow – from the central business district outwards.
1 
Concentric Zones 
Shaw and McKay (1942), who were both former students of Burgess, began to plot the addresses 
of juvenile court-referred male youths. They noticed many of the addresses were located in the zone 
in transition.
2 Upon further investigation, Shaw and McKay noticed three qualitative differences in the 
transitional zone compared to other zones. First, the physical status included the invasion of industry and the 
largest number of condemned buildings. When many buildings are in disrepair, population levels decrease. 
1. Burgess, E.W. (1925). The growth of the city. In R.E.Park, E.W. Burgess, and R.D.McKenzie, Jr., The city. Chicago, IL: University of 
Chicago Press. 
2. Shaw, C.R., & McKay, H.D. (1942). Juvenile delinquency and urban areas. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. 
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