Street Corner Society is a classic case study by William Foote Whyte, which has been considered as a must read in the community of sociology, for decades. Society is a great case study in its ability to be generalized from issues on individual performance, social and organizational structures of a neighborhood, and of course the study of human community in general. United States is one of the wealthiest and advanced countries in the world, yet there are many people and communities who have a sub-standard living. The Italian slum at the North end of Boston is an appropriate example of this. The society Whyte analyzes in Street Corner is not a society of family structures and houses, but a society of the "street corner". The author established his boundary to describe "Cornerville". This particular case has embedded units of analysis including corner boys (individually and in-group), police, racketeers, social workers and politicians. The author selected his samples based on their position in social structure. Whyte wanted to narrate a historical time period by analyzing these varieties of units. He divided the groups of corner boys according to their education. He discussed the individuals and groups in terms of their position in social structure. But most of all Street Corner Society can be viewed as a synthesis between two schools of human community development; the Chicago School and the Harvard School. .
In order to understand Street Corner Society as a synthesis between the Chicago School and the Harvard School of human community development we must first understand each approach. First of all the theme of the Chicago school focused upon human behavior as determined by social and physical environmental factors, rather than genetic, personal characteristics. The school believed the community to be a major factor on human behavior and that the city functioned as a microcosm.