Neighborhood Effects

The opening chapter of Alex Kotlowitz’s There Are No Children Here resonated a peculiar frequency with me. The first pages of the book portray a vibrant scene with Lafeyette and Pharoah Rivers out on an adventure with their cousin and friends. The mission for the day as the young boys romped across a row of train tracks was simple - catch garter snakes. I had countless days similar to this during my childhood, characterized by new places, expended energy, and ultimately scraped knees. There is something fundamentally pure about these kinds of days - being able to explore even your own backyard for a child is a liberating feeling that to some extent we can all relate to. While images of climbing over dirt hills and searching for critters brings back personal memories, the story soon changes for these two boys and we are exposed to the reality of the world for Lafeyette and Pharoah; Kotlowitz reminds us pointedly in the title that contrary to this depiction of a child’s innocence that there are in fact no children here. This juxtaposition continues throughout the book when we are periodically reminded the ages of the children which evoke a certain feeling of shock given the circumstances they face and the experiences they have. Countless shootings, robberies, and close contact to gangs characterizes the experiences of children at the Henry Horner Homes and other public housing units in Chicago in the mid to late eighties. For Lafeyette and Pharoah the funeral of a friend was an all too common experience. Kotlowitz also portrays other problems facing the community including rising tension with police despite a lack of law enforcement presence, overcrowded and underfunded schools, and a proliferation of drug trafficking. This violent and unstable environment we see ultimately has a direct effect on the boys: Lafeyette slowly turns towards acts of deviance while along with many of their friends while Pharoah tends towards his schoolwork and good behavior. The book gives us an insider perspective on the realities for these boys and shows, quite undeniably, the ways in which their environment has directly shaped their behavior.

Our other reading for the week, Great American City, as well as Chapter 8 from The New Urban Sociology places a large emphasis on location in considering the shaping of cities and inequality within them and is particularly relevant in understanding the problems facing Lafeyette and Pharoah. According to Sampson in Great American City many people presume, in light of globalization, that a certain level of community has died; although still separated by distance, many people would argue advancements of technology have bridged physical distance and in essence flattened the world, connecting us on a new cyber level. This can most commonly be seen in the expansion of social networking, global market expansion, and our seeming inability to detach ourselves from cellular devices. While globalization can be seen in nearly every aspects of our daily lives, Sampsons suggests that this perspective overlooks the influence of location in social interactions and is fundamentally problematic in that it suggests location is no longer relevant in social inquiries. However, a walk down Michigan Avenue with Sampson suggests otherwise. Starting near Water Tower Place, Sampson describes the skyscrapers of the gold coast and casts them quickly after against the broken window communities of the south side. This walk reminded me of a moment in There Are No Children Here when Lajoe takes the children on a trip to the loop. The stark contrast between downtown and the realities of the Henry Horner Homes and it’s occupants was evident even for the children. In comparing the experiences and details of There Are No Children Here we see the ways in which Sampsons theories on neighborhood effects and an emphasis place. Of particular interest to this perspective, Sampson considers pre-world War II frameworks from the Chicago School of Sociology and asserts that “neighborhoods possess relatively enduring features and emergent properties that transcend the idiosyncratic characteristics of particular ethnic groups that inhabit them” (2011: 37) He further suggests that contrary to the idea of social disorganization, studies have shown that it is not so much a disorganization that is occurring but  rather an internal organization, an idea clearly evident in the continued existence and organization of gangs within neighborhoods like the Henry Horner Homes. Although recognizing that globalization is occurring, I think in this regard Sampson makes a relevant point - as seen in There Are No Children Here and especially in the contemporary evidence which he provides, the extent of globalization has much narrower reaches than we often assume and place still largely dictates many aspects of social life.

Sources:

Sampson, Robert J. 2011. Great American City. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.