The Modern Era

            As always we have a different topic that we discuss every week. In this week’s discussion we discussed the book Great American City by Robert J. Sampson. This is a very interesting read it talks about the placements of interaction around the city of Chicago. An interesting point of view that Sampson mentions is how our networks have changed in the modern era. How technology has essentially become the root of all-evil.

            Something that you can’t deny in a city that you go to, you will experience a change of scenery as you go from neighborhood to neighborhood. Sampson mentions in the book on page 32 on how, “Neighborhoods differ dramatically in their quality, feel, sights, sounds, and smells.” Sampson points out the differences in the neighborhoods concentration of collective civil events. This event tells us a lot how community engagement effects the allocation of resources in different neighborhoods. He points out how real estate agents have brainwashed us when buying property, how it is all about location. I the neighborhood that I live in Little Village; 26^th street is considered to be the second magnificent mile behind Michigan Avenue on downtown. Despite not being in the core of downtown 26^th street has the second most profitable neighborhood in small business. But as Sampson mentioned it is all about location. You will never see a high-end store on 26^th street such as Louis Vuitton, Armani, Nordstrom, or even Starbucks in this neighborhood. There are many simple reasons why; the income that surrounds Little Village is not high. As in the book mentions, bad locations mean bad business and thus franchises are concentrated in particular parts of the cities. The couple stores that I mentioned you would only find them at specific high-income neighborhoods. But never at neighborhood that experiences a level of social disorganization. 

            It’s interesting the mentioning of Globalization and the effect of technology on networks within a community. Globalization is the connection of views, products or ideas that interchange through the world. Technology has advanced our way of living but also shape our behaviors in our daily lives. Globalization has become a culture that is practiced in a city. It brings culture, ideas, and innovations that we share through the world. Ideally globalization helps us advance and educated us more than what happens in our inner circle or neighborhood. In the book it mentions placelessness as a concept from modernity that we are able to live or move wherever one desires. We live under that idea that we are free to go anywhere we choose to go. Technology in the modern era helps us believe that we are capable of moving or living anywhere we want. The fact that we are connected with other countries or cities helps us believe in the dream of living anywhere we want. But as Sampson clearly points out, that people living under hard circumstances they can’t escape that reality. Due to reason they can’t control such as discrimination, crime, poverty, or status they are stuck in those circumstance. The idea of technology liberating you is interesting to me. Technology has helped us advance in many ways. Technology can become a source a tool in order to liberate us and have the opportunity to live where we choose. The ways I see how technology has helped us improve is the way we do business. An example that I could think of is the whole app industry. 20-15 years ago that industry didn’t exist. Now it is an industry that has potential for anyone to participate. But the most important part is if your application becomes successful you can essentially make a good amount of money. It opens yourself into a new world that you weren’t exposed before and essentially it has helped you improve economically. An example is the game angry birds how successful it has become. It is considered under the top 5 as the most profitable application that exists according to Forbes magazine.

            Despite being a different era, the world hasn’t change much. Money is the main thing that matters here. It opens up your chances of opportunity in lifestyle. From who you to socialize with to the type of education you receive. Despite that the world may come more together due to technology those barriers still exist and the quality of life of the rich and the poor haven’t differ in much. The gap may have changed to better or worse.