Urban Sociology Final Study Guide
Video on letter from economists addressing her majesty on economic crisis in england:
-Economists say a crisis ensued because they missed systemic risk when analyzing the economic situation. Also there was a problem due to excessive power of finance capital by non-big union bankers.
Henri Lefebvre on the "right to city"
-The right to the city is an idea and a slogan that was first proposed by Henri Lefebvre in his 1968 book Le Droit à la ville -Lefebvre summarizes the idea as a "demand...[for] a transformed and renewed access to urban life".David Harvey described it as follows: The right to the city is far more than the individual liberty to access urban resources: it is a right to change ourselves by changing the city. It is, moreover, a common rather than an individual right since this transformation inevitably depends upon the exercise of a collective power to reshape the processes of urbanization. The freedom to make and remake our cities and ourselves is, I want to argue, one of the most precious yet most neglected of our human rights
How has the study of Borders undergone a renaissance?
Borders are not defined by physical walls or a simple division there is a deeper meaning There are various ways to study borders (physical, imagined,lived)
Preston Smith's (author of the Chapter 3, Obama, Race, and Urban Policy) view on police violence and accountability
Class politics motivated the death of freddie gray Police need to be held accountable for their actions. Police violence is not a racial issue but a class issue. (Class wars between the rich and the poor). The presence of black police has not altered the anti racism framework that seeks to explain the recurrent problem of police killing blacks as primarily racially motivated. Police treat the poorest neighborhoods as if everyone is a drug dealer or criminal
President Obama impact on inequality
Despite his stimulus package which attempted to stop the majority of foreclosures and individuals declaring bankruptcy due to the housing crisis, his methods had little impact on income inequality. Income inequality grew substantially during obama's presidency and he made little attempt to reduce the growing wealth gap. He did not change inequality "Rising Inequality" because he did not do much to help the workers rights movement He was provided a unique opportunity but did not take it
Discourse of "personal responsibility"(midterm)
Discourse of personal responsibility refers to taking personal responsibility for one's economic or personal circumstances. (Torres quote about bill cosby and Obama philosophy: "It's not the system it's you, get up off your ass and stop blaming the system." Which was supposedly the obama strategy. Preston smith argues that it is not a person's individual fault for their circumstance with african americans, it is the structural problems caused by institutional racism. Obama attempts to connect with his African American constituents through his message of personal responsibility, that the government can help poor blacks, but a transformation in attitudes has to begin in the home, in neighborhoods, and in places of worship. He claims that, privately, African Americans are disturbed by the eroding work ethic, inadequate parenting, and declining sexual mores in the community. The politics of respectability focuses on correcting the behavior and habits of working class blacks in order for all blacks to gain acceptance by white America.
Federal intervention in cities after the Great Crash 1929
Federal Home Loan Bank Act of 1932, providing savings and loan associations with capital to make mortgage loans and extending the terms and maximum loan-to-value of home loans. This was followed by the National Housing Act of 1934, which established the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). FHA offered federal mortgage insurance, protecting lenders in case borrowers defaulted on their loans and freeing up bank funds to build homes and to reduce interest rates. FHA underwriting conditions included the racial and ethnic composition of the house's neighborhood, producing "redlining" that benefited the suburbs, the institution nonetheless provided a serious stimulus to demand that revived the construction industry for decades to come. Housing Act of 1937, establishing the federal public housing program for low-income households. It aimed to not only house the poor but also employ the submerged middle class.
Obama and race relations (midterm)
He addressed race in his second term he spoke about trayvon martin's killing He did not address race very much He addressed respect politics: focuses on correcting the behaviors and habits of working-class blacks in order for all blacks to gain acceptance by white american Ethnic population expected problems of race (specifically institutional racism) to be addressed during Obama's first presidency. Obama did not attempt to tackle any of these issues until second term, instead focused on broad issues instead of specific racial issues. Obama chose to try and remain impartial to racial issues in an attempt to not aggravate either sides of the racial relation spectrum. During Florida police shooting, it was the only time during his presidency that Obama made a speech regarding a racially charged political issue.
Andy Merrifield on "planetary urbanism"
In which urbanization is increasing its reach everywhere; the urban is shapeless, formless and apparently boundless, riven with new contradictions and tensions that make it hard to tell where borders reside and what's inside and outside There are no boundaries
The roots and effects of the mortgage crisis(midterm)
Inadequate federal oversight over subprime loans The mortgage crisis resulted from the irresponsible sales of packed housing loans. Essentially, banks were taking loans that were considered irresponsible or low class loans, and bundling them together with other irresponsible loans, and then stamping them as responsible or Class A ranked loans and selling them to the highest bidder. Loans were consistently being sold from bank to bank, which led to a housing bubble. Big businesses on wall street were playing the housing market making borderline illegal deals with packages of loans, that led to house flippers and those who took on mortgages they couldn't afford to declare bankruptcy and foreclosure. Other root causes: A period of sustained low interest rates and "cheap" money which fueled buyer demand and a virtual hysteria about "buying now," large numbers of unprepared home purchasers, originators of loans taking little risk in carefully assessing the quality of loans, rating agencies that were not neutral parties in the selling of securities backed by mortgage loans, and a lax federal regulatory environment. Effects of this crisis involved the crashing of the housing market, and millions of americans especially in urban communities losing their houses and declaring bankruptcy. When Obama took office, he inherited these issues, and created the stimulus package plan which attempted to spin the economy out of the recession using government subsidy.
Keynesian Era Urban Policy v. Neoliberal Retrenchment Era
KEURB- be the policy of the United States to promote the general welfare of the Nation by employing its funds and credit, as provided in this Act, to assist the several States and their political subdivisions to alleviate present and recurring unemployment and to remedy the unsafe and insanitary housing conditions and the acute shortage of decent, safe, and sanitary dwelling for families of low income, in rural or urban communities, that are injurious to the health, safety, and morals of the citizens of the Nation Keynesian: 1965 HUD 1968 watershed in interventionist urban policy Started after great crash in 1929 First phase was to stimulate economy while rebuilding america's cities Regulation and restructuring the housing finance system For years this era was about making housing attainable to middle class Obama adopted this on a modest scale Federal Housing Administration (FHA): offered federal mortgage insurance: "provided a serious stimulus to demand that revived the construction industry for decades to come.": "tied housing construction to job creation." Herbert Hoover, FDR, Harry Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, LBJ Neoliberalism: deregulation and a market that has a lot of power ( free market and free trade) state is to create and preserve an institutional framework appropriate to such practices Raegan Housing and community development program funding received the largest cutbacks Tax breaks for some areas in poor neighborhoods
Role of unions in urbanization
Most unionization occurs in urban areas (big city) largely an urban phenomenon
Obama's legacy on housing
Not strong .. was only a marginal improvement
A significant example of a social movement
Primary example is the welfare rights movement according to Frances Fox Occupy Wallstreet, Black Lives Matter
President Regan impact on unions
Reagan ushered in this anti unionism Legacy continues today .. liberals call reagan economics reaganomics Most anti-labor president in U.S History Used strategically placed management positions to target unions and disassemble them, also attempted to lower the minimum wage.
Obama's legacy on Homelessness
Reducing homelessness is said to be the area that Obama succeeded the most
Manual Castells on social change vs social transformation
Social movements have three basic characteristics, first urban movement participants must see themselves as "urban" or related to the city; second urban movements are locally based and territorially defined; and third they tend to adopt three types of major goals "collective consumption, cultural identity, and political self-management" what Castells calls "social change" results only when all three characteristics come together in a movement's practice. Social change is not the same as social transformation because Castells argues that their localism and particularity urban social movements have a limited capacity for structural reform (bottom of 272 to top of 273) Know they are not the same
LBJ's intervention in national urban policy (Keynesian)
The Keynesian interventionist period of national urban policy culminated in 1965 with President Lyndon B. Johnson's establishment of a full-fledged Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). In elevating the House and Home Financing Agency (HHFA) In response to the backlash against urban renewal of the cities and the urban disorders of the 1960s, President Johnson passed the "Model Cities" program. To accomplish the comprehensive, coordinated revitalization of the economies of distressed neighborhoods, the program introduced master planning.
First bill signed by president obama in 2009
The lilly ledbetter fair pay act of 2009 is a federal statute in the United States that was the first bill signed into law by president obama on january 29 2009. The new act states that the 180-day statute of limitations for filing an equal-pay lawsuit regarding pay discrimination resets with each new paycheck affected by that discriminatory action.
The "post-racial era" and Obama (midterm)
There was a belief after Obama was elected president in 2008 that we lived in a post-racial society. This is a false belief however, and a common misconception when a member of the black community makes it to the elite spectrum of a political or economical establishment. Although this belief persisted following his election, Obama did not directly target issues related to racial inequality in urban communities. He rather focused in broad goals related to healthcare and economic stimulus. Obama's race-neutral discourse and policies have restricted his ability to respond effectively to the particular concerns of black citizens. Scholars argue that Obama entered into a Faustian bargain with whites, receiving their vote in exchange for avoiding discussions about race. The lack of prominence of race in Obama's discourse and policy agenda should not be interpreted as a lack of commitment to advancing the interests of African Americans. The preoccupation with the post-racial debate means that Obama;s underclass discourse and the neoliberal urban policies it informs are mistakenly understood in an exclusively racial context, which inexorably calls for a racial policy solution to African Americans' urban problems
The notion of the "right to the city"
determined by the citizens and is a collective movement.. It's a common right among people because.. It's a right to change ourselves to change the city.. Think protest..