Edward Orozco Flores
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781479850099
- eISBN:
- 9781479818129
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479850099.003.0003
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Religion
This chapter draws from census and American Community Survey data (ACS) to evaluate the fitness of Los Angeles as a case study in segmented assimilation theory. It reveals that many elements of ...
More
This chapter draws from census and American Community Survey data (ACS) to evaluate the fitness of Los Angeles as a case study in segmented assimilation theory. It reveals that many elements of segmented theory hold up, such as increases in immigration and the nonwhite population, as well as high poverty rates. Further analysis, though, reveals that respondents' inner-city neighborhoods were characterized not just by high poverty rates, but also by demographic dynamism—moving up and out. Over time, age cohorts in the respondents' high-gang-activity neighborhoods experienced less poverty and residents were more likely to relocate elsewhere. These demographic trends set a different backdrop for this study on gang recovery, one in which gradual, limited socioeconomic mobility exists in adulthood—rather than the overly dim underclass portrait painted by segmented assimilation scholars.Less
This chapter draws from census and American Community Survey data (ACS) to evaluate the fitness of Los Angeles as a case study in segmented assimilation theory. It reveals that many elements of segmented theory hold up, such as increases in immigration and the nonwhite population, as well as high poverty rates. Further analysis, though, reveals that respondents' inner-city neighborhoods were characterized not just by high poverty rates, but also by demographic dynamism—moving up and out. Over time, age cohorts in the respondents' high-gang-activity neighborhoods experienced less poverty and residents were more likely to relocate elsewhere. These demographic trends set a different backdrop for this study on gang recovery, one in which gradual, limited socioeconomic mobility exists in adulthood—rather than the overly dim underclass portrait painted by segmented assimilation scholars.
Edward Orozco Flores
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781479850099
- eISBN:
- 9781479818129
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479850099.003.0004
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Religion
This chapter builds upon the body of literature on segmented assimilation and religion by examining how two urban American ministries facilitated immigrant-origin Latino recovery from gangs in the ...
More
This chapter builds upon the body of literature on segmented assimilation and religion by examining how two urban American ministries facilitated immigrant-origin Latino recovery from gangs in the first decade of the twenty-first century. Despite declining middle-class work opportunities, religion provided gang members the social support and resources necessary to leave gang life behind. Two contrasting models of social reintegration sheltered recovering gang members from gang life, and encouraged them to achieve conventional markers of success, such as employment, home ownership, and marriage. The first ministry, Victory Outreach, facilitated gang recovery by creating rigid social boundaries between the church and the broader local community. Homeboy Industries on the other hand facilitated gang recovery by maintaining and rearticulating porous boundaries between itself and the community. In examining the two faith-based approaches to gang recovery, the chapter also builds on Omar McRoberts' Streets of Glory (2003) and his 2002 Urban Institute report.Less
This chapter builds upon the body of literature on segmented assimilation and religion by examining how two urban American ministries facilitated immigrant-origin Latino recovery from gangs in the first decade of the twenty-first century. Despite declining middle-class work opportunities, religion provided gang members the social support and resources necessary to leave gang life behind. Two contrasting models of social reintegration sheltered recovering gang members from gang life, and encouraged them to achieve conventional markers of success, such as employment, home ownership, and marriage. The first ministry, Victory Outreach, facilitated gang recovery by creating rigid social boundaries between the church and the broader local community. Homeboy Industries on the other hand facilitated gang recovery by maintaining and rearticulating porous boundaries between itself and the community. In examining the two faith-based approaches to gang recovery, the chapter also builds on Omar McRoberts' Streets of Glory (2003) and his 2002 Urban Institute report.
