author
Roderick Duncan McKenzie
1885–1940
A pioneering urban sociologist, he helped shape the Chicago School’s way of studying cities, neighborhoods, and human ecology. His work traced how communities grow, shift, and connect across the modern metropolis.
1 Audiobook
The city
by Robert Ezra Park, E. W. (Ernest Watson) Burgess, Roderick Duncan McKenzie
About the author
Born in Carman, Manitoba, on February 3, 1885, Roderick Duncan McKenzie became a Canadian-American sociologist known for his work on cities and social organization. He studied at the University of Manitoba, then went on to the University of Chicago, where he became part of the influential circle of scholars later associated with the Chicago School.
McKenzie is best remembered for helping develop human ecology in sociology and for studying the structure of urban life. He contributed to The City with Robert E. Park and Ernest W. Burgess, and later published The Metropolitan Community, a book that drew attention to the rise of large metropolitan regions and the changing shape of modern society.
He later became head of the sociology department at the University of Michigan. Along the way, he also served as second vice-president of the American Sociological Association and was a charter member of the Sociological Research Association. He died on May 3, 1940, leaving behind work that remained important to urban sociology for decades.