洛杉矶学派Michael Dear(2001)对传统芝加哥学派的城市研究提出了很多评论,通过整合关于城市如何运作、强调文化与政治等更宽广的理论视角来拓展这些讨论。纽约学派的研究更倾向于阶层分析、生产、不平等、二元劳动力市场和其他相关议题,而且主要采用马克思主义分析视角。洛杉矾学派的学者们通常更个人主义、主观主义以及强调消费导向;其中还有一些比较后现代主义。芝加哥是美国天主教人口数量最多的城市,他们重视个人关系、大家庭(extended families)、邻里和民族传统(ethnic tradition)。这反过来引导芝加哥的研究者们更强调文化与政治的影响作用,因为亚文化的不同让城市社区呈现出了很大差异。另外,本文总结了新芝加哥学派城市研究的七个重点。
Michael Dear's(2001) L.A.School builds on a critique of the old Chicago School. This essay extends the discussion by incorporating broader theories about how cities work, stressing culture and politics. New Yorkers lean toward class analysis, production, inequality, dual labor markets, and related themes deriving for some from a secular Marxism. L.A.writers are more often individua list,subjectivist, consumption-oriented; some are also postmodemist. Chicago is the largest American city with a heavily Catholic population, which heightens attention to personal relations, extended families,neighborhoods, and ethnic traditions. These in turn lead observers to stress culture and politics in Chicago,as these vary so heavily by subculture. Seven axial points for a New Chicago School are proposed.