Poverty in Nonmetropolitan America: Impacts of Industrial,Employment, and Family Structure Variables

Abstract Poverty is more extensive and more severe in nonmetropolitan areas than in metropolitan areas. Here we maintain that the extensive industrial and economic transformations occurring in rural areas have resulted in patterns contributing to these high poverty levels. These transformations, which include an increase in service‐sector employment, in many ways mirror the economic changes that have occurred in the inner city. We maintain that Wilson's model of the inner‐city underclass can be useful in understanding some poverty trends in nonmetropolitan areas. To test the Wilson model, we analyze 1990 census data. The data generally support the model and indicate that the industrial transformation of rural areas leads to changes in the gender structure of the labor force, and to a more unbalanced sex ratio. These changes, in turn, result in adjustments to family structure, including an increase in the percentage of female‐headed households. This process results in higher poverty levels.     

A COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE ON RACIAL RESIDENTIAL SEGREGATION:

This article takes a first step to compare the residential segregation of blacks and Asians from whites in American and Canadian cities. The analysis is based on census data from 404 American and 41 Canadian cities. African Americans in the United States experience a higher level of residential segregation than Asians in U.S. cities. On the other hand, blacks in Canada experience the same low level of segregation as Asians. To explain the different experiences of blacks in the United States and Canada, a multivariate model is proposed and tested. The results reveal several patterns. First, African Americans are consistently obstructed much more than Asian Americans by their proportion in the city. In contrast blacks in Canada are not. Second, the residential segregation patterns of African Americans are affected strongly by the labor market and strucutral changes of the economy in the city. However, the structural change of the economy in the city has a very weak effect on the level of residential segregation of Asian Americans, black Canadians, and Asian Canadians.     

EFFECTS OF RESIDENTIAL SEGREGATION AND NEIGHBORHOOD OPPORTUNITY STRUCTURE ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF BLACK AND WHITE YOUTH

The object of this article is to consider the impact of local labor market opportunities on the employment of youth, and to evaluate the extent to which residential segregation is detrimental to the employment of young blacks. In the study, labor force statistics for white and black youth are related to job availability estimates derived from Dun and Bradstreet business data for 74 neighborhood communities in the city of Chicago. The findings underscore the unique role of local labor markets, especially for youth enrolled in school. Job availability has a strong impact on the employment ratio of blacks, but affects the employment of white youth only slightly. It appears, however, that when job availability is controlled, blacks benefit somewhat from segregation. The implications for job redistribution and its possible effect on the racial employment gap are discussed.     

Determinants of Black Suburbanization: Regional and Suburban Size Category Patterns*

This study analyzes the movement of blacks to the suburbs of American metropolitan areas, using the framework developed by Taeuber and Taeuber (1965) for the analysis of racial transition in inner city neighborhoods. The data are consistent with their model and suggest that the rate of black population growth is a function not only of the characteristies of individual suburbs themselves, but also of the central cities of the metropolitan areas within which they are located. The units of analysis are all suburbs with populations of 10,000 or more in 1960 and 1970. Suburban size is a key characteristic because the independent variables affect black population growth quite differently in different size categories. While there are clear differences between southern and nonsouthern suburbs in average levels of the push and pull variables, as well as the rate at which the black suburban population grew in the 1960s, the effects of these variables on black suburban growth were the same in both regions.     

'Gentrification' and desire

II y a moins de vingt ans, les vieux quartiers au coeur des villes canadiennes ou vivait la classe ouvrière étaient menacés de démolition. Maintenant à la mode et habités par une population financièrement à l'aise, ces quartiers sont une forme urbaine paradoxale. Il représentent d'une part la montée d'une structure économique désindustrialisée et dénationaliséd dans laquelle les citadins déclassés et les membres de la classe ouvriere sont marginalisés. D'autre part-et c'est là l'objet central de ce texte-il se trouve fossilisé dans les nouvelles textures de ces quartiers une critique immanente du développement urbain moderne. En ce sens, ces quartiers montrent comment, par l'intermédiaire de l'industrie culturelle, les pratiques culturelles marginales engendrent leur propre déplacement.
The old neighborhoods in Canadian inner cities that less than two decades ago were working-class housing threatened with demolition but have lately become fashionable and affluent are a paradoxical urban form. On the one hand, they represent the emerging dominance of a deindustrialized, denationalized economic structure and the irrelevance of working-class and underclass city dwellers to this process. On another hand-this paper's central theme-fossilized in the new landscapes of these neighborhoods is an immanent critique of modern city-building. In the latter respect, these areas illustrate how, by the workings of the culture industry, marginal cultural practice breeds its own displacement.     

Poverty and Social Context in Remote Rural Communities1

Abstract Many urban analysts studying poor inner city communities argue that social isolation in poor neighborhoods perpetuates poverty. This paper extends analysis of social context to rural areas, comparing a chronically poor coal-dependent Appalachian community with a more diverse, resource-rich community in northern New England. The Appalachian community has more limited job opportunities and over time the scarcity of jobs in a volatile coal economy generated a divided social context. In contrast, the community in northern New England offers both more opportunities for work and has a stable, working middle class that invests in and uses public goods; the poor are not deliberately segregated. These differences in communities' socioeconomic context are reflected in poor women's experiences and aspirations.     

“Castaway Categories”: Examining the Re-Emergence of the “Underclass” in the UK

Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, discussion of poverty often incorporated references to a so-called underclass and its purported welfare dependency. This largely disparaging keyword now seems to have reappeared; recent uncritical references have been seeping into social work’s academic literature. Dwelling primarily on the United Kingdom, this article reveals that the “underclass” notion seems to have been reignited around the time of the economic crisis that began in 2007. This coincided with public concerns about child-protection services. It was, however, the English riots (August 6 to 11, 2011) that multiplied the use of the appellation underclass in media and political discourses. However, disparaging designations of those who are unemployed or low-waged have been present across centuries; the troubled family is the most recent construction. In this context, Loïc Wacquant furnishes a useful analytical framework to conceptualise how underclass stereotypes and other castaway categories are described, contained, and managed.     

Globalization, de-industrialization and Hong Kong's private rental sector

A number of scholars have identified a changing role for private rental housing, as it becomes a more mainstream tenure to house the insecure rich and poor alike in globalizing cities. Hong Kong is an important global city and is experiencing rising rates of social polarization associated with globalization generally, its articulation with the Chinese economy specifically and the impact of the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997. Our empirical research suggests that Hong Kong's private rental sector has responded to and articulates with the city's specific globalization trajectory. It increasingly houses the highly paid, highly skilled but relatively insecure elite and the low paid, low skilled and very insecure underclass, for whom prospects of public housing or home ownership are diminishing. Private renters are younger, more mobile and house both top-end and bottom-end ethnic minorities. The traditional role of private renting and large scale obsolete inner-city housing stock, combined with the aggressive development of up-market and highly desirable private housing estates makes the sector particularly adept at meeting the needs of Hong Kong's hour glass shaped global society. We anticipate that the size of the private rental sector will increase, albeit from a low base and that its hour-glass shape will become more pronounced.     

Is there an underclass in Britain?*

This paper sets out to define the underclass and then test the predictions of three competing theories in the underclass debate. Using the National Child Development Study for the analysis it is found that an 'underclass' suffering from a lack of qualifications, low cognitive ability and chronic joblessness exists. The validity of making a distinction between the working class and an 'underclass' has often been questioned both because of the dubious history of such a distinction and because it is not believed that such a distinction is empirically true. The results in this paper contradict this assertion by finding the underclass to be distinctive from the working class in terms of patterns of family formation, work commitment and political allegiance. The distinct attitudes of the underclass, when coupled with evidence of inter- and intra-generational stability of membership, provide early evidence that a new social class, the underclass, may now exist in Britain.     

Civil Society Opposition to Nonferrous Metals Mining in Montana

This paper discusses the opposition of civil society to nonferrous metals mining in Montana. The mineral resources and mining history of Montana are discussed, as is the vibrant civil society of that state. Montana’s civil society has opposed mining due to its environmental effects, particularly upon areas of high conservation value. This opposition has involved litigation and the implementation of a ban on the use of cyanide by the mining industry. The paper concludes with a discussion of whether this opposition to mining has damaged the economy of the state and Montana’s future as an example of the “New West,” wherein amenities based growth act as the principal agent of economic activity.     

Effects of urbanism,race, and class on happiness and physical health

The joint effects of urbanism, race, and socioeconomic status on self reported health and happiness are studied. Relationships of “neighborhood fear” and unemployment with health and happiness are also studied within different urban/rural race‐class categories. It is hypothesized that 1) lower socioeconomic status (SES) blacks residing in central cities will report the poorest health and lowest happiness and 2) “neighborhood fear” and unemployment will be most strongly related to health and happiness among central city lower SES blacks. The sample is pooled data from the 1972–1983 National Opinion Research Center (NORC) General Social Surveys. Findings indicate that urbanism has a modest negative relationship to happiness, but low SES urban blacks are not uniquely low in happiness. Contrary to the central city hypothesis, neighborhood fear is most strongly related to health among suburban blacks with less than high school or high school graduation attainment. A relative deprivation explanation is advanced. Unemployment negatively relates to the happiness of blacks and whites in a variety of urban‐SES‐race categories.     

Latinos,Blacks, and the Competition for Low-Skill Jobs: Examining Regional Variations in the Effect of Immigration on Homicide in the U.S.

Past research has shown that a lack of low-skill jobs increases both unemployment and homicide for blacks. Therefore, it is important for scholars to understand the potentially negative effects brought about by increased competition for these jobs. Given the recent dramatic rise in the number of low-skilled Latinos in the United States, this paper examines how increased Latino competition for low-skill jobs affects black homicide victimization. Using negative binomial regression, I examine black homicide victimization data obtained from coroner's reports. Results indicate that Latino competition for jobs only affects blacks in urban areas that have recently experienced a large increase in its Latino population; however, the effects vary by industry.     

Migration of Retirement‐Age Blacks to Nonmetropolitan Areas in the 1990s

Older blacks migrated to nonmetropolitan (nonmetro) communities in the 1990s to a degree not true of the past. Some of the nonmetro counties that attracted them are well‐known retirement areas also favored by other retirees, mostly whites. Two‐thirds of black retirement counties, however, are areas in the Old South that are not attracting other retirees at a substantial rate, if at all. Although the data indicate significant rates of retirement‐age blacks migrating to 85 nonmetro counties, most migration by older blacks is to metro destinations.     

知识城市与知识资本的管理研究

知识城市是21世纪城市可持续发展的一种全新理念。知识经济时代的到来引发对知识城市以及知识资本的研究,知识资本的管理以及知识城市的塑造将是未来城市发展的重要问题。本文主要研究知识资本的概念范畴以及管理城市知识资本的框架,借鉴并扩展了知识资夯导航系统以及CICBS模型,为我国未来知识城市的构建提供参考。     

上海全面深化改革的初步思路研究

上海城市发展的战略目标是到2020年基本建成国际经济、金融、贸易、航运中心和社会主义现代化国际大都市。根据城市发展的战略目标及其内涵,上海全面深化改革的主要目标是建立与“四个中心”和社会主义现代化国际大都市相适应的管理体制与运营机制,形成符合上海城市全面转型发展要求的制度框架。上海全面深化改革应当围绕市场化、国际化和民生化的方向,将处理好政府与市场、社会的关系作为主线,把重点放在符合国家要求,上海又有一定操作空间,有可能取得重大突破和发挥对全国示范引领作用的领域,能体现出上海城市发展的要求和特点,同时也为全国改革总体设计提供借鉴和参考。     

农村女儿养老支持力研究

养老是一项关系国计民生的重要工程,关系到整个社会的和谐与稳定。基于豫东A村的调查发现,随着农村大量男性青壮年向城市大规模的流动和女性自主意识的提高,农村儿子养老力量有所弱化,女儿养老的能力和养老意愿不断增强。女儿对父母的经济支持、生活照料、精神支持等方面的支持力作用愈发显著,女儿在家庭养老方面的重要性愈发显现,在农村老人晚年生活保障方面起着非常重要的作用。     

Changes in White Attitudes Toward Blacks: 1963-1977

This paper investigates white attitudes toward blacks from nationalsurvey data collected in 1963, 1972, and 1977. Five attitudeitems are examined with respect to a full multivariate frameworkincluding age, educational attainment, region of residence,and time as independent variables. The results generally showlarge effects for each independent variable on each attitudeitem, net of the others. Variations from this pattern are alsoexplored. There is evidence that racial liberalism among whitesis slowing its growth in the 1970s and even reversing in somecases. The results are discussed and tentative conclusions suggested.     

中国城市服务经济指数·2010

＂中国城市服务经济指数＂编制目的是真正做到为各有关城市制定发展战略和相关政策提供依据,进而为中国服务经济的健康持续发展,提供智力支持。通过对2010年服务经济指数排名及简要分析,进一步阐明其指标体系及脸谱图,提出各城市和地区要结合自身的发展现状、利用本地区的优势,积极发展与自身条件相适应的服务经济。     

Making Heterogeneous Space: Land Development and the Proletarianization of Urban Underclass in Post War Japan

This paper aims to focus on a correlation between urban land development and a “proletarianization” of day‐laborers by examining Mitsui Fudosan Group [Mitsui Real Estate Group] as an agent of urban developments and construction industry in Japan, with examining daylaborers’ riots and moral economy as a counter‐culture against gentrified urban spaces.It is necessary to acknowledge the fact that the national projects – maintained by the closed market and the subcontracting labor system in the construction industry – also induce a radical opposition against the urban development. Although national projects are inevitably accompanied by gentrification, eviction of the homeless, and social exclusion of the underclass, unavoidable transgression or deviation conflicts with urban development, such as periodic and spontaneous riots by day‐laborers, demonstrates a vulnerability of the national unity. In fact, the day‐laborers changed the street labor market into their own field in order to overturn the hierarchy determined by the subcontracting structure in the construction industry. Their bodily expression in the form of riots had radically transgressed the ideas promoted in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics as “One World,” or the 1970 Osaka Expo as “Progress and Harmony for Mankind.” The Olympic legacy was disrupted boldly and transformed into a radical egalitarian thought in this sense. The underclass is immediately defined and commodified by national projects, however, it does not mean that its body is completely involved in its time and space.     

CONVERGENCE,POLARIZATION, OR WHAT?

Wilson (1978, 1987) argues that since the 1960s, race has become a less important determinant of the life chances and outlooks of individual blacks than has sociocconomic status; moreover, he suggests that as race has declined in its significance, the black community has become more socioeconomically differentiated and polarized. Using data from the 1964 through 1984 American National Election Surveys, this article examines hypotheses derived from both Wilson's "declining significance of race" thesis and his "polarization" thesis. The results show that (1) race declined in its significance to a limited degree, but continued to be an important determinant of attitudes and outlooks; (2) blacks at all income levels continued to be more similar to other blacks with different incomes than to nonblacks with incomes similar to their own; (3) the black community did not undergo social, political, and economic polarization; and (4) socioeconomic standing did not become more important than race as a determinant of the social, political, and economic attitudes and outlooks examined.