Final answer:
Robert E. Park's urban sociology, through the Chicago School, differed from classical European tradition by highlighting environmental influences on human behavior in urban settings rather than individual characteristics of urban populations.
Step-by-step explanation:
Compared to the classical European tradition, Robert E. Park's urban sociology brought a significant shift in perspective by emphasizing the influence of the environment on human behavior, particularly in urban settings. Park's work through the Chicago School of sociology introduced the concept of social ecology, which analyzed how individuals and communities adapted to their environments.
This approach was groundbreaking for its time, as it considered the broader social and spatial context of the city, and how such contexts could lead to social problems like chaos in inner cities, rather than attributing such issues strictly to the inherent characteristics of urban populations. Park's research highlighted the complexity of urban social dynamics and stressed the importance of considering a multitude of factors, including spatial arrangements, economic pressures, and cultural diversity, when studying urban life.
Notably, Park redirected the focus from individual pathologies to environmental influences, countering deterministic approaches prevalent in earlier European analyses.