Jamie Peck
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199580576
- eISBN:
- 9780191595240
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199580576.003.0004
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Political Economy
This chapter examines the project of the ‘new urban right’, highlighting the role of neoliberal think tanks and their ‘organic intellectuals’ in the development of new policy frames and strategies. ...
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This chapter examines the project of the ‘new urban right’, highlighting the role of neoliberal think tanks and their ‘organic intellectuals’ in the development of new policy frames and strategies. It begins with the right's narration of urban crises in post-1975 New York City before examining the neoliberal makeover of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. During this time, welfarist modes of urban governance have been displaced by a dogmatic (but at the same time inventive) form of neoliberal urbanism, based on the moral reregulation of the poor, together with state-assisted efforts to reclaim the city for business, the middle classes, and the market. Yet neoliberal urbanism has also been an adaptive project, evolving over time and space: if the shift in the ideational climate was a slow, incremental, and largely endogenous one in New York, it roared in from out of town, with violent intensity, in New Orleans.Less
This chapter examines the project of the ‘new urban right’, highlighting the role of neoliberal think tanks and their ‘organic intellectuals’ in the development of new policy frames and strategies. It begins with the right's narration of urban crises in post-1975 New York City before examining the neoliberal makeover of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. During this time, welfarist modes of urban governance have been displaced by a dogmatic (but at the same time inventive) form of neoliberal urbanism, based on the moral reregulation of the poor, together with state-assisted efforts to reclaim the city for business, the middle classes, and the market. Yet neoliberal urbanism has also been an adaptive project, evolving over time and space: if the shift in the ideational climate was a slow, incremental, and largely endogenous one in New York, it roared in from out of town, with violent intensity, in New Orleans.
Ravi Sundaram
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691153599
- eISBN:
- 9781400845248
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691153599.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History
This chapter examines some of the new media technologies of fear that emerged in urban Delhi during the postcolonial period, using the events of the Monkeyman panic as a point of departure. In 2001, ...
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This chapter examines some of the new media technologies of fear that emerged in urban Delhi during the postcolonial period, using the events of the Monkeyman panic as a point of departure. In 2001, Delhi was deluged by stories of a monkey-like creature that attacked people at night. These accounts, which combined both terror and the carnivalesque, originated almost exclusively from the proletarian and lower-middle-class neighborhoods of East Delhi and the nearby suburbs of Ghaziabad and Noida. Almost immediately a frenzy of media effects began with regular television and news reports, daily sightings, and television interviews given by victims of the so-called “Monkeyman.” The chapter explores how new technologies of fear, which intervene through media effects, and cultures of viral media proliferation combined to create productive situations of danger and an urban crisis that constantly exposed the fragility of institutions of power in Delhi in the 1990s.Less
This chapter examines some of the new media technologies of fear that emerged in urban Delhi during the postcolonial period, using the events of the Monkeyman panic as a point of departure. In 2001, Delhi was deluged by stories of a monkey-like creature that attacked people at night. These accounts, which combined both terror and the carnivalesque, originated almost exclusively from the proletarian and lower-middle-class neighborhoods of East Delhi and the nearby suburbs of Ghaziabad and Noida. Almost immediately a frenzy of media effects began with regular television and news reports, daily sightings, and television interviews given by victims of the so-called “Monkeyman.” The chapter explores how new technologies of fear, which intervene through media effects, and cultures of viral media proliferation combined to create productive situations of danger and an urban crisis that constantly exposed the fragility of institutions of power in Delhi in the 1990s.
Katherine Beckett and Steve Herbert
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195395174
- eISBN:
- 9780199943319
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195395174.003.0007
- Subject:
- Sociology, Law, Crime and Deviance
This chapter addresses the question of whether a society should banish or not. It explores the possible alternatives to banishment and stresses the need to decrease the economic and social inequality ...
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This chapter addresses the question of whether a society should banish or not. It explores the possible alternatives to banishment and stresses the need to decrease the economic and social inequality that supports the present urban crisis. This chapter also shows that banishment mostly works to expand the criminal justice system and decrease both the rights bearing capacity and life circumstances of those who are targeted for banishment.Less
This chapter addresses the question of whether a society should banish or not. It explores the possible alternatives to banishment and stresses the need to decrease the economic and social inequality that supports the present urban crisis. This chapter also shows that banishment mostly works to expand the criminal justice system and decrease both the rights bearing capacity and life circumstances of those who are targeted for banishment.
Elizabeth Todd-Breland
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781469646589
- eISBN:
- 9781469647173
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469646589.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
The introduction outlines the focus, scope, and significance of the book, introducing the Black activists, educators, parents, and students who navigated, challenged, and contributed to the urban ...
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The introduction outlines the focus, scope, and significance of the book, introducing the Black activists, educators, parents, and students who navigated, challenged, and contributed to the urban political and educational landscape from mid-twentieth century civil rights struggles through the recent corporate reorganization of the public sphere. Black women’s political and intellectual labor powered movements for racial justice and is centered in this discussion of Black politics, social movements, and education reform. The introduction explains how the book presents a different account of Black politics and urban communities in the period after the 1960s by challenging interpretations of urban decline and “urban crisis.” It also explains the historical and contemporary importance of education as a site of struggle that reveals the boundaries of U.S. democracy and changes in the relationship between citizens and the state. The introduction outlines how historical considerations of racial liberalism, the Great Migration, the New Deal, labor, Black protest, machine politics, deindustrialization, the politics of Black achievement, desegregation, self-determination, equity, and education reform inform subsequent chapters.Less
The introduction outlines the focus, scope, and significance of the book, introducing the Black activists, educators, parents, and students who navigated, challenged, and contributed to the urban political and educational landscape from mid-twentieth century civil rights struggles through the recent corporate reorganization of the public sphere. Black women’s political and intellectual labor powered movements for racial justice and is centered in this discussion of Black politics, social movements, and education reform. The introduction explains how the book presents a different account of Black politics and urban communities in the period after the 1960s by challenging interpretations of urban decline and “urban crisis.” It also explains the historical and contemporary importance of education as a site of struggle that reveals the boundaries of U.S. democracy and changes in the relationship between citizens and the state. The introduction outlines how historical considerations of racial liberalism, the Great Migration, the New Deal, labor, Black protest, machine politics, deindustrialization, the politics of Black achievement, desegregation, self-determination, equity, and education reform inform subsequent chapters.
Anne Power, Jörg Plöger, and Astrid Winkler
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9781847426833
- eISBN:
- 9781447302964
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781847426833.003.0014
- Subject:
- Sociology, Urban and Rural Studies
This chapter describes how the three larger industrial cities of Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Philadelphia responded to the urban crisis. It explains that programmes of renewal evolved in US cities ...
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This chapter describes how the three larger industrial cities of Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Philadelphia responded to the urban crisis. It explains that programmes of renewal evolved in US cities over the long period of urban decline, often driven by extreme racial problems and a gradual recognition that suburban sprawl was itself a problem. Partnerships between the public, private, and community sectors have emerged to drive change. The chapter also considers the recovery prospects of three smaller U.S. cities: Louisville, Chattanooga, and Akron.Less
This chapter describes how the three larger industrial cities of Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Philadelphia responded to the urban crisis. It explains that programmes of renewal evolved in US cities over the long period of urban decline, often driven by extreme racial problems and a gradual recognition that suburban sprawl was itself a problem. Partnerships between the public, private, and community sectors have emerged to drive change. The chapter also considers the recovery prospects of three smaller U.S. cities: Louisville, Chattanooga, and Akron.
Anne Power, Jörg Plöger, and Astrid Winkler
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9781847426833
- eISBN:
- 9781447302964
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781847426833.003.0013
- Subject:
- Sociology, Urban and Rural Studies
This chapter compares the recovery of American weak market cities with those in Europe. It provides a general overview of urban-development phases in the old industrial U.S. cities that struggled ...
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This chapter compares the recovery of American weak market cities with those in Europe. It provides a general overview of urban-development phases in the old industrial U.S. cities that struggled with industrial decline and urban crisis. These include Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Louisville, Chattanooga, and Akron. The chapter explains how these cities developed into industrial giants and how they were subsequently hit by industrial decline.Less
This chapter compares the recovery of American weak market cities with those in Europe. It provides a general overview of urban-development phases in the old industrial U.S. cities that struggled with industrial decline and urban crisis. These include Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Louisville, Chattanooga, and Akron. The chapter explains how these cities developed into industrial giants and how they were subsequently hit by industrial decline.
Julia Rabig
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780226388311
- eISBN:
- 9780226388458
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226388458.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This chapter outlines the questions framing the book, the intersecting fields to which its analysis contribute, the historical context in which its events unfold. Following the 1967 uprising, Newark, ...
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This chapter outlines the questions framing the book, the intersecting fields to which its analysis contribute, the historical context in which its events unfold. Following the 1967 uprising, Newark, New Jersey was perceived as a hopelessly faltering city and exemplar of the urban crisis. Yet the record of residents’ own efforts to reclaim Newark’s future belies these perceptions of inevitable decline. This book illuminates how social justice movements influenced by civil rights reforms, black power activism, and antipoverty policies sought to institutionalize their gains in the 1970s and beyond. Organizations and individuals characterized as fixers were key to these transformations. “Fixers” embodied reformist and sometimes, radical vision, political savvy, and deliberate “in-betweenness.” They are predominantly social movement brokers, seeking to mend a social contract or to forge a new one out of pieces of the old. “Fixers” blurred the boundary between protest and politics, between the radical and moderate, or even conservative, between the public realm of legislation and elections and the quasi-private realm of civic associations, trade groups, unions, and nonprofits. Newark’s history of racial discrimination, suburbanization, and economic decline gave rise to a complex landscape of activism in the 1960s and emergence of fixers in the 1970s.Less
This chapter outlines the questions framing the book, the intersecting fields to which its analysis contribute, the historical context in which its events unfold. Following the 1967 uprising, Newark, New Jersey was perceived as a hopelessly faltering city and exemplar of the urban crisis. Yet the record of residents’ own efforts to reclaim Newark’s future belies these perceptions of inevitable decline. This book illuminates how social justice movements influenced by civil rights reforms, black power activism, and antipoverty policies sought to institutionalize their gains in the 1970s and beyond. Organizations and individuals characterized as fixers were key to these transformations. “Fixers” embodied reformist and sometimes, radical vision, political savvy, and deliberate “in-betweenness.” They are predominantly social movement brokers, seeking to mend a social contract or to forge a new one out of pieces of the old. “Fixers” blurred the boundary between protest and politics, between the radical and moderate, or even conservative, between the public realm of legislation and elections and the quasi-private realm of civic associations, trade groups, unions, and nonprofits. Newark’s history of racial discrimination, suburbanization, and economic decline gave rise to a complex landscape of activism in the 1960s and emergence of fixers in the 1970s.
Aaron Shkuda
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780226334189
- eISBN:
- 9780226334219
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226334219.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
New York’s SoHo neghborhood has become a paradigm for artist-driven urban development in former idnsutrial neighborhoods. Yet, less is understood about how artists shaped SoHo’s transition from ...
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New York’s SoHo neghborhood has become a paradigm for artist-driven urban development in former idnsutrial neighborhoods. Yet, less is understood about how artists shaped SoHo’s transition from industrial area to bohemian enclave to upper-income neighborhood. Historians have only begun to examine the origins of post-WWII gentrification in American cities, and scholarly theories of gentrification and the “creative” class rarely treat artists as historical actors. A historical study of SoHo demonstrates how artists’ housing needs, political organizing, entrepreneurship, and the novel arguments they created about the role of the arts in the city generated new forms of urban living and altered scholarly understanding of the importance of the arts in urban life.Less
New York’s SoHo neghborhood has become a paradigm for artist-driven urban development in former idnsutrial neighborhoods. Yet, less is understood about how artists shaped SoHo’s transition from industrial area to bohemian enclave to upper-income neighborhood. Historians have only begun to examine the origins of post-WWII gentrification in American cities, and scholarly theories of gentrification and the “creative” class rarely treat artists as historical actors. A historical study of SoHo demonstrates how artists’ housing needs, political organizing, entrepreneurship, and the novel arguments they created about the role of the arts in the city generated new forms of urban living and altered scholarly understanding of the importance of the arts in urban life.
Julia Rabig
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780226388311
- eISBN:
- 9780226388458
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226388458.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
From the 1960s to the 1990s, civil rights, black power, and antipoverty activists confronted both deeply rooted forms of inequality and new variants produced by the urban crisis. Recognizing the ...
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From the 1960s to the 1990s, civil rights, black power, and antipoverty activists confronted both deeply rooted forms of inequality and new variants produced by the urban crisis. Recognizing the limits of liberal reform in the 1950s and 1960s, they devised new approaches that altered the relationship between urban civil society and the state and endured as neoliberal governing priorities took hold. This transformation is explored through the emergence of individual and organizational fixers. Fixers made new alliances and leveraged sources of power available through new legislation, although their distinctive roles have not been widely recognized in the historiography. Fixers incorporated militant protests and black power goals while institutionalizing social movement gains and implement stalled reform on the local level. They protested private-sector discrimination, unfulfilled government promises, and the destructive consequences of urban renewal. They simultaneously attempted to build more equitable institutions and pursue methods of enforcement where government policies failed. By the 1970s, organizational fixers adopted a broad view of the interconnected aspects of racial inequality and capitalism, but sought to address them on a neighborhood scale through community development corporations. This book offers insight into the black freedom struggle in the urban north by examining the intersection of movements it enabled, the varieties of black power that briefly coalesced, and the significant—if incomplete—reforms it institutionalized in the transformation from liberalism to neoliberalism.Less
From the 1960s to the 1990s, civil rights, black power, and antipoverty activists confronted both deeply rooted forms of inequality and new variants produced by the urban crisis. Recognizing the limits of liberal reform in the 1950s and 1960s, they devised new approaches that altered the relationship between urban civil society and the state and endured as neoliberal governing priorities took hold. This transformation is explored through the emergence of individual and organizational fixers. Fixers made new alliances and leveraged sources of power available through new legislation, although their distinctive roles have not been widely recognized in the historiography. Fixers incorporated militant protests and black power goals while institutionalizing social movement gains and implement stalled reform on the local level. They protested private-sector discrimination, unfulfilled government promises, and the destructive consequences of urban renewal. They simultaneously attempted to build more equitable institutions and pursue methods of enforcement where government policies failed. By the 1970s, organizational fixers adopted a broad view of the interconnected aspects of racial inequality and capitalism, but sought to address them on a neighborhood scale through community development corporations. This book offers insight into the black freedom struggle in the urban north by examining the intersection of movements it enabled, the varieties of black power that briefly coalesced, and the significant—if incomplete—reforms it institutionalized in the transformation from liberalism to neoliberalism.
Mark Wild
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780226605234
- eISBN:
- 9780226605371
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226605371.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This book examines a movement of liberal Protestant clergy and laypeople in the United States who after World War II developed new forms of ministry adapted to the changing environment of urban ...
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This book examines a movement of liberal Protestant clergy and laypeople in the United States who after World War II developed new forms of ministry adapted to the changing environment of urban America. Cities during this period were enduring the effects of deindustrialization and suburbanization. Responding to these conditions, which were encapsulated under the term urban crisis, they developed a broad, multifaceted ecclesiology that reconceived the church as a central institution in a multiethnic urban society. They hoped this renewed church would reconcile social divisions, alleviate injustice, and improve race relations. Their approach to ministry drew on the Protestant principle, closely related to neoorthodoxy, which stated that no human institution, including the church, could achieve perfection. The Protestant principle encouraged renewalists to revise their ministries continuously. The result was a dramatic escalation of activity, funded by denominational supporters during an optimistic period in the church’s history. Internal tensions over political strategies and race relations, however, soon fractured the movement. More renewalists began to venture beyond church organizations in their ministries, and black renewalists mounted a spirited campaign for racial equality in the church. Ultimately the renewal movement foundered on these internal contradictions and external pressures. The renewal movement illustrates the dynamics that drove both secular political liberalism and liberal Protestantism. It helps us to see how the relationship between religion and urbanization affected the evolution of liberal political traditions. The ideology and ecclesiology underlying these quests for social reform were both productive and destabilizing.Less
This book examines a movement of liberal Protestant clergy and laypeople in the United States who after World War II developed new forms of ministry adapted to the changing environment of urban America. Cities during this period were enduring the effects of deindustrialization and suburbanization. Responding to these conditions, which were encapsulated under the term urban crisis, they developed a broad, multifaceted ecclesiology that reconceived the church as a central institution in a multiethnic urban society. They hoped this renewed church would reconcile social divisions, alleviate injustice, and improve race relations. Their approach to ministry drew on the Protestant principle, closely related to neoorthodoxy, which stated that no human institution, including the church, could achieve perfection. The Protestant principle encouraged renewalists to revise their ministries continuously. The result was a dramatic escalation of activity, funded by denominational supporters during an optimistic period in the church’s history. Internal tensions over political strategies and race relations, however, soon fractured the movement. More renewalists began to venture beyond church organizations in their ministries, and black renewalists mounted a spirited campaign for racial equality in the church. Ultimately the renewal movement foundered on these internal contradictions and external pressures. The renewal movement illustrates the dynamics that drove both secular political liberalism and liberal Protestantism. It helps us to see how the relationship between religion and urbanization affected the evolution of liberal political traditions. The ideology and ecclesiology underlying these quests for social reform were both productive and destabilizing.
Anne Power, Jörg Plöger, and Astrid Winkler
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9781847426833
- eISBN:
- 9781447302964
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781847426833.003.0015
- Subject:
- Sociology, Urban and Rural Studies
This chapter discusses the lessons that can be learned by European cities from the recovery of U.S. cities from urban crisis and industrial decline. The core lesson seems to be that change is ...
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This chapter discusses the lessons that can be learned by European cities from the recovery of U.S. cities from urban crisis and industrial decline. The core lesson seems to be that change is possible by working at problems, adopting a long-term approach, and pursuing what works. However, there are three factors that make the recovery of U.S. weak market cities particularly problematic. These include the lack of historic and deeply embedded urban infrastructure and culture, the different cycles of rapid immigration into U.S. cities that created many human and social tensions from which people sought to escape, and the fragile systems of social and public support for cities.Less
This chapter discusses the lessons that can be learned by European cities from the recovery of U.S. cities from urban crisis and industrial decline. The core lesson seems to be that change is possible by working at problems, adopting a long-term approach, and pursuing what works. However, there are three factors that make the recovery of U.S. weak market cities particularly problematic. These include the lack of historic and deeply embedded urban infrastructure and culture, the different cycles of rapid immigration into U.S. cities that created many human and social tensions from which people sought to escape, and the fragile systems of social and public support for cities.
Gilles Carbonnier
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780190491543
- eISBN:
- 9780190638467
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190491543.003.0007
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
How do individuals, households and communities seek to survive in the midst of humanitarian crises? How do aid agencies assess and respond to the needs for assistance? This chapter delves into the ...
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How do individuals, households and communities seek to survive in the midst of humanitarian crises? How do aid agencies assess and respond to the needs for assistance? This chapter delves into the Syrian refugee crisis in Lebanon and illustrates the complexity of assessing evolving needs and designing humanitarian responses in an urban, middle-income country environment. The chapter explores the pros and cons of cash assistance and market-based interventions, and discusses how to address mounting hostility between the host and refugee populations.Less
How do individuals, households and communities seek to survive in the midst of humanitarian crises? How do aid agencies assess and respond to the needs for assistance? This chapter delves into the Syrian refugee crisis in Lebanon and illustrates the complexity of assessing evolving needs and designing humanitarian responses in an urban, middle-income country environment. The chapter explores the pros and cons of cash assistance and market-based interventions, and discusses how to address mounting hostility between the host and refugee populations.
Tom Adam Davies
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780520292109
- eISBN:
- 9780520965645
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520292109.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
This introductory chapter briefly captures the major themes covered in this book. It explores three key concepts regarding Black Power: how the ideas, tactics, and language readily associated with ...
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This introductory chapter briefly captures the major themes covered in this book. It explores three key concepts regarding Black Power: how the ideas, tactics, and language readily associated with Black Power permeated the community activism, and everyday lives, of ordinary African Americans at the local level; how and why mainstream politicians and institutions exploited Black Power's flexibility as an ideology and organizing tool in their efforts to guide the course of black advancement; and the subsequent impact and meaning of those efforts. The chapter examines how public policies intended to engage, modify, and sublimate the Black Power impulse evolved as a response not only to the deepening urban crisis and growing black radicalism but also to the Johnson administration's troubled War on Poverty.Less
This introductory chapter briefly captures the major themes covered in this book. It explores three key concepts regarding Black Power: how the ideas, tactics, and language readily associated with Black Power permeated the community activism, and everyday lives, of ordinary African Americans at the local level; how and why mainstream politicians and institutions exploited Black Power's flexibility as an ideology and organizing tool in their efforts to guide the course of black advancement; and the subsequent impact and meaning of those efforts. The chapter examines how public policies intended to engage, modify, and sublimate the Black Power impulse evolved as a response not only to the deepening urban crisis and growing black radicalism but also to the Johnson administration's troubled War on Poverty.
Lisa Levenstein
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- July 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807832721
- eISBN:
- 9781469605883
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807889985_levenstein
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
This book reframes highly charged debates over the origins of chronic African American poverty and the social policies and political struggles that led to the postwar urban crisis. It follows poor ...
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This book reframes highly charged debates over the origins of chronic African American poverty and the social policies and political struggles that led to the postwar urban crisis. It follows poor black women as they traveled from some of Philadelphia's most impoverished neighborhoods into its welfare offices, courtrooms, public housing, schools, and hospitals, laying claim to an unprecedented array of government benefits and services. With these resources came new constraints, as public officials frequently responded to women's efforts by limiting benefits and attempting to control their personal lives. Scathing public narratives about women's “dependency” and their children's “illegitimacy” placed African American women and public institutions at the center of the growing opposition to black migration and civil rights in northern U.S. cities. Countering stereotypes that have long plagued public debate, the book offers a new paradigm for understanding postwar U.S. history.Less
This book reframes highly charged debates over the origins of chronic African American poverty and the social policies and political struggles that led to the postwar urban crisis. It follows poor black women as they traveled from some of Philadelphia's most impoverished neighborhoods into its welfare offices, courtrooms, public housing, schools, and hospitals, laying claim to an unprecedented array of government benefits and services. With these resources came new constraints, as public officials frequently responded to women's efforts by limiting benefits and attempting to control their personal lives. Scathing public narratives about women's “dependency” and their children's “illegitimacy” placed African American women and public institutions at the center of the growing opposition to black migration and civil rights in northern U.S. cities. Countering stereotypes that have long plagued public debate, the book offers a new paradigm for understanding postwar U.S. history.
Joe Street
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780813061672
- eISBN:
- 9780813051192
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813061672.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This chapter pays particular attention to Dirty Harry’s representation of key themes discussed in the previous chapter, arguing that the film presents a refraction of San Francisco’s contemporary ...
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This chapter pays particular attention to Dirty Harry’s representation of key themes discussed in the previous chapter, arguing that the film presents a refraction of San Francisco’s contemporary history. Once placed in its San Francisco context, Dirty Harry’s conservatism is revealed through links between real events and key scenes in the film. Key themes include the film’s impressionistic use of San Francisco’s geography; its representation of the counterculture, race, gender and sexuality; and the relationship between the city’s liberal elite, Callahan and the film’s principal villain. The chapter emphasizes Dirty Harry’s exploration of the methods used by criminals to manipulate legislation designed to protect their rights as American citizens. Its overriding argument is that the film’s ambiguities complicate and disrupt, yet fail to eclipse, the explicit and implicit conservative thrust of the film. Where a more nuanced film might have presented Callahan’s conservatism as the “least-worst” option in a complex world, Dirty Harry suggests that conservatism is the only genuine solution to the urban crisis.Less
This chapter pays particular attention to Dirty Harry’s representation of key themes discussed in the previous chapter, arguing that the film presents a refraction of San Francisco’s contemporary history. Once placed in its San Francisco context, Dirty Harry’s conservatism is revealed through links between real events and key scenes in the film. Key themes include the film’s impressionistic use of San Francisco’s geography; its representation of the counterculture, race, gender and sexuality; and the relationship between the city’s liberal elite, Callahan and the film’s principal villain. The chapter emphasizes Dirty Harry’s exploration of the methods used by criminals to manipulate legislation designed to protect their rights as American citizens. Its overriding argument is that the film’s ambiguities complicate and disrupt, yet fail to eclipse, the explicit and implicit conservative thrust of the film. Where a more nuanced film might have presented Callahan’s conservatism as the “least-worst” option in a complex world, Dirty Harry suggests that conservatism is the only genuine solution to the urban crisis.
