Great American City: Chicago and the Enduring Neighborhood EffectThis “landmark work in urban sociology” examines the influence of neighborhoods on social phenomena and in our lives (Claude Fischer, City & Community). For over fifty years numerous public intellectuals and social theorists have insisted that community is dead. Some would have us believe that we act solely as individuals choosing our own fates regardless of our surroundings, while other theories place us at the mercy of global forces beyond our control. These two perspectives dominate contemporary views of society, but by rejecting the importance of place they are both deeply flawed. Based on one of the most ambitious studies in the history of social science, Great American City argues that communities still matter because life is decisively shaped by where you live. To demonstrate the powerfully enduring impact of place, Robert J. Sampson presents here the fruits of over a decade’s research in Chicago combined with his own unique personal observations about life in the city, from Cabrini Green to Trump Tower and Millennium Park to the Robert Taylor Homes. He discovers that neighborhoods influence a remarkably wide variety of social phenomena, including crime, health, civic engagement, home foreclosures, teen births, altruism, leadership networks, and immigration. Even national crises cannot halt the impact of place, Sampson finds, as he analyzes the consequences of the Great Recession and its aftermath, bringing his magisterial study up to the fall of 2010. Following in the influential tradition of the Chicago School of urban studies but updated for the twenty-first century, Great American City is at once a landmark research project, a commanding argument for a new theory of social life, and the story of an iconic city. Praise for Great American City “After Great American City we will never be able to view cities in the same way again. This is one of those rare books that deeply affect how we think about the world. It teaches us afresh how the neighborhoods we live in affect us and the people around us. And there are also immense policy implications. Robert Sampson shows definitively how the fate of the urban poor is so very dependent on the communities in which they live.” —George Akerlof, Nobel Laureate in Economics, University of California at Berkeley “Great American City takes us from the grand theories conjured by its commanding title, down to the iconic street corner to see what it really means when windows are broken. This is a book of big, challenging, provocative, and inspiring ideas, as well as of meticulous, rigorous, and exhaustive data. Sampson has truly shown his shoulders big enough to be counted among Chicago’s most venerated social observers, as well as the most astute theorists of place.” —Mary Pattillo, Northwestern University |
Contents
Part II Principles and Method | 51 |
Part III CommunityLevel Processes | 95 |
Part IV Interlocking Structures | 235 |
Part V Synthesis and Revisit | 353 |
Notes | 427 |
493 | |
525 | |
Other editions - View all
Great American City: Chicago and the Enduring Neighborhood Effect Robert J. Sampson Limited preview - 2024 |
Great American City: Chicago and the Enduring Neighborhood Effect Robert J. Sampson Limited preview - 2024 |
Great American City: Chicago and the Enduring Neighborhood Effect Robert J. Sampson Limited preview - 2012 |
Common terms and phrases
African American altruism analysis argued associated behavior black communities borhood Cabrini-Green causal census tracts chapter characteristics Chicago School clusters collective action collective civic collective efficacy community areas community survey community-level concentrated disadvantage concentrated poverty concept context correlation cultural cynicism density dynamics ecological economic empirical examined example factors families figure focus groups Hegewisch homicide rate homophily hoods idea immigration income individual inequality interactions intervention Latino leaders linked measure mechanisms Morenoff move neigh neighbor neighborhood effects neighborhood-level networks nonprofit North Lawndale observed disorder organizational organizations other-regarding outcomes Park pattern perceived disorder percent black perceptions of disorder PHDCN predictors predicts prior racial composition racial segregation Raudenbush residential mobility residents Robert Taylor Homes sample Sampson segregation selection similar social processes South Side spatial proximity standardized coefficient street theoretical theory tion urban violence wellbeing West West Garfield Park