Rachael A. Woldoff

The Effects of Local Stressors on Neighborhood Attachment

Various studies have hypothesized that neighborhood attachment — defined as a multidimensional concept composed of attitudes, neighboring, and problem solving — is linked to local stressors in ways that vary by the type of attachment under examination. My study analyzes the effects of four stressors on six dimensions of attachment and shows that social and physical disorder as well as experiences with victimization and crime do not uniformly decrease individual neighborhood attachment. Social disorder has the most widespread negative impact on different types of neighborhood attachment. My results also show that victimization and perceptions of crime affect only problem solving; indeed, they actually increase this form of attachment. This finding suggests that a multidimensional approach to neighborhood attachment is useful, especially when applied to theories of social disorganization and loss of community.

Not Getting Their Money’s Worth African-American Disadvantages in Converting Income, Wealth, and Education into Residential Quality

Previous research has established that racial/ethnic residential inequalities in the United States are due to a combination of resource disadvantage and discrimination. This article builds upon past work by using a new dependent variable (census tract median housing value), examining the effects of wealth, and including interactions between race/ethnicity and resources. The authors find that the Black—White gap in neighborhood quality is explained by the combination of Blacks’ relative disadvantage in resources and the smaller benefits they gain from having those resources. In contrast, Latinos who are not recent immigrants are similar to Whites in both neighborhood quality and their ability to translate resources into residential quality.

Black Collegians at a Rural Predominantly White Institution Toward a Place-Based Understanding of Black Students’ Adjustment to College

This study examines adjustment differences between in-state Black students who are familiar with rural and predominantly White environments versus out-of-state Black students who mainly come from segregated, Black neighborhoods and larger cities. Focus group discussions highlight the role of students’ residential backgrounds, especially racial composition and rural status, in understanding their social adjustment and perceptions of divisions within the Black student population on campus. With regard to geographic divisions, students reported: 1) differences in their comfort levels in predominantly White environments; 2) perceptions of in-state Blacks “acting White” (out-of-state students equating urban residence of origin with authentic Blackness); and 3) perceptions of differences between the two groups in provincialism versus sophistication. We conclude that while race is often seen as unifying Black students at predominantly White colleges, students also have strong place identities that are tied to the racial composition and location of their home communities that serve to divide the Black student community. The study concludes by discussing the importance of Black students’ home environments for shaping their social experiences at predominantly White institutions and suggests avenues for future research.

COMMUNITY CONFLICT OVER ARENA AND STADIUM FUNDING: COMPETITIVE FRAMING, SOCIAL ACTION, AND THE SOCIO SPATIAL PERSPECTIVE*

Abstract This is a study of community conflict over an attempt by the power elite at urban redevelopment through the construction of a stadium and an arena at public expense. The facilities would be for the use and profit of private sector hockey and soccer franchises. Our analysis of the conflict is guided by three theoretical perspectives: competitive framing analysis, social action theory, and the socio-spatial perspective. In this paper our primary focus is on frame analysis as we discuss the contested referendum for public funding for the planned sports facilities. Our goal is to determine why the economically and politically powerful pro-development forces lost the vote to a lightly funded and loose coalition of ideologically diverse citizen groups. We especially focus on the role in the conflict of the contentious issue framing and counterframing activities engaged in by the two combatant sides. In our discussion we add insights from the socio-spatial and social action perspectives to those from frame analysis. Together the three perspectives provide a valuable analytical framework for issues of community conflict over growth and development. Although in the case under discussion the popular opposition was able to defeat the power elite at the ballot box, the elite were able to build their projects through a combination of their own funds and public dollars not subject to voter approval. The success of the opposition in the frame alignment of their position with the voters has provided an action model for oppositional groups in other cities.

Does the middle class have rights to the city? Contingent rights and the struggle to inhabit Stuyvesant Town, New York

From the housing projects inception, New Yorks Stuyvesant Town has been an unlikely site for struggles over inhabitance and social justice. Robert Moses used a public–private partnership to displace residents of the Gashouse district for the initially whites-only affordable housing project. Assisted by local rent-stabilisation legislation, Stuyvesant Town persisted as an affordable housing option until the early 2000s, when the new owners began converting the properties to market-rate rentals. An unlikely coalition of residents mobilised to block the sale, and by the late 2000s rent controls were re-established. This case links significant themes regarding social justice and housing including rent stabilisation, community activism, and neoliberal marketisation. We evaluate the utility of the right to the city perspective for understanding middle-class struggles in the context of housing financialisation. We argue that Lefebvres right to the city applies to the Stuyvesant Town context, although the movement to protect affordable housing was led by middle-income residents who are not the traditional working-class agents associated with his concept. While remaining sympathetic to recent critiques over the vulgarisation of Lefebvres principles, we argue that a focus on spatially contingent rights can transcend both a limited ‘politics of turf’ and empty ‘rights talk’ to create space for broadly empowered and inclusive communities.

Studentification and Disorder in a College Town: STUDENTIFICATION AND DISORDER IN A COLLEGE TOWN

This study uses interview and focus group data to examine how residents perceive and cope with studentification, disorder, and neighbor conflict in a college town. First, we find that nonstudent residents perceive studentification as the cause of neighborhood decline, but mainly blame larger forces and local actors, such as the university, city officials, and local developers, rather than the students. Second, we find that one way that residents adapt to disorder is by using active strategies to defend their neighborhoods, but they believe this role has been forced upon them by the failure of social institutions to address the local problems. Third, given the limited effectiveness of social control efforts and given the structural barriers to fostering order, residents have come to adopt passive strategies that normalize disorder and allow them to avoid further conflict with neighbors.