Inequality In East Portland

Compared to California’s education demographics, San Leandro has a higher percentage of high school graduate, but a lower percentage of higher educational attainment compared to the entire nation (bachelor’s degree or higher). Using Thompson and Hickey’s model for social class in the United States (2005), my family would be considered working class. This is defined as “clerical, pink and blue collar workers with often low job security; common household incomes range from $16,000 to $30,000 [and] high school education” (Thompson et al., 2005). My mother currently works as a part-time waitress and is going to community college to receive an associate’s degree in accounting. My father has been working as a full-time cook at a Chinese restaurant in Oakland Chinatown for about 25 years. His highest level of educational attainment is high school. These racial and social class demographics are important in understanding my social location.

Identifying economic class goes beyond determining how much money a person makes; it is also defined by where a person lives. The lowest people on the economic scale are assumed to live in central cities; the middle-low income people live in the inner-ring suburbs, and the wealthiest live in the exclusive outer-ring suburbs. The authors point out that as one moves outward from the central city to the inner-ring to outer-ring suburbs incomes rise

Portland, Oregon, is known to be not only the hippest major city in America but the whitest. Although Portland has a reputation for being a place that is open and accepting of anything, it has also become one of the country's worst examples of Black displacement and gentrification. Portland officials say they value class and racial diversity and are making efforts to address the larger city crisis.

First, we will analysis supermarket ratios, and income disparities to defined lack of access between Jackson Heights and Bayside. Second, we will analysis poverty rates, unemployment rates, and income disparities to defined economic disparities. Third, we will compare violence ratios to defined neighborhood stability. Finally, we will compare percentages of racial and ethnic populations, healthy food intake ratios within Jackson Heights and Bayside to define the racial and ethnic

The classism that gentrification brings into communities cannot be understated, simply because it is one of the negative driven byproducts of it, because when individuals are forced to see homes in their respective communities go for 2 to 3 times the market value for what they were previously going for, it sends the message that those within a higher income bracket are able to dictate the set prices in real estates. Furthermore, this financial inequality goes beyond just the housing market. Areas that have seen the wholesale installment of the businesses that stem from gentrification are often overlooked and not taken in consideration when it comes to the prices set by them. It is almost as if these independent coffee shops, Whole Foods Markets,

Massey and Denton explore how racial segregation in residence has caused the making of inner city ghettos and their perpetually poor residents, most of whom are African Americans. They argue that institutional racism in the housing market enacted by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), private loan and real estate institutions and actors, and white residents

Concentrated disadvantage is characterized as an indicator depicting the poverty in a specific area or region. I chose the city of Atlanta because I have lived near Atlanta my whole life. I occasionally traveled to Atlanta to watch the Hawks play basketball. On the way home from the games, I would notice the numbers of people that stood on the side of the streets sleeping or asking for money. I never understood the whole concept of why such things happened in this part of town. At no time did I see people in the street begging near my house. Why did I only see them in Atlanta? When I first enrolled in this class, I was excited to learn what causes these patterns and why these patterns exist. Through the main source of my paper “Social

Detroit has been classified as one of America’s most violent cities with a high crime rate. Most of the residential neighborhoods are full of dilapidated buildings, mediocre shopping centers, burned down or vacant houses. Compared to the adjacent city, Dearborn where the crime rate is lower, there is no dilapidated building, there are no burnt down houses in any of the residential neighborhoods. Many Detroit residents often move to suburban cities like Dearborn to escape the decay of their neighborhoods. Moving to these well-kept neighborhoods insinuate the better the neighborhood the lessor of crime. This week articles closely examine the social and economic disparities in urban residential neighborhoods and correlate these disparities to crime and criminal activity. The articles for this week takes a look at Wilson and Keller’s Broken Windows research which argues that neighborhood with physical and

The west and south of downtown Atlanta are the most disposed to poverty. Thus, despite the city’s growth, poverty remains still a significant issue, affecting mostly the communities of color.

When people talk about racism throughout modern society, a question that emerges is “How does modern racism influence residency and neighborhoods in economic and political viewpoints?” Some argue that segregation within the housing market has been a devastating, long-term, issue for African Americans as a result of racial zoning due to income along with race, while others believe that the United States has indeed enforced policies to prevent blacks from obtaining and maintaining wealth to merge with white communities. My own view is that there is not an individual economic or political reason to link the issue of residential segregation, but a combination of both working with one another to promote this notion of residential segregation. Evidence to support my claim include an understanding of what racism actually is, either systematic, institutional, or prejudice throughout modern society. Then, racism understood throughout the housing market with political and economic support. Furthermore, what racial zoning is and its effect on neighborhood value, such as economics, politics and education. Finally, historic evidence and witness accounts to support residential segregation, and opinions on the matter.

The “Chicago School” model of assimilation highlights zones that move away from the central area, which have been known to initially concentrate ethnic groups (Gottdiener et al, 66). Immigrant groups from the introduction of Industrialization have filtered out into other zones, while African Americans have found it hard to leave the “black belt” (Gottdiener et al, 66). Zones throughout cities form based on where people desire the most as well as if they are affordable for that person. “Groups or individuals that were successful took over the better positions in the city, such as the choicest business locations, or the preferred neighborhoods. The less successful would have to make do with less desirable positions” (Gottdiener et al, 64). From this quote we can analyze that, in the model of assimilation, the less desirable positions are in the city center. The inner city zones have been noted to be sites of crime, as well as other social problems such as gangs and illness (Gottdiener et al, 65). While the inner city is less desirable, movement outwards towards the suburbs can be noted as the most desirable locations. With an increase in desire for these locations, comes the increase in price. Therefore, people living in the suburbs must be able to afford the higher prices of the real

The U.S. is seen as a country loaded with opportunities and economic successes as it is one of the top ten richest countries in the world. However, the U.S. has a poverty problem that’s been going on for decades. Oregon in particular has a high poverty rate and has shown some improvements to limit poverty, but it is not nearly enough to solve the problem. Thesis: Although the poverty rates in Oregon seem to be improving, it is still an ongoing problem; fortunately, there are many programs statewide to address economic hardship.

The drastic reduction of stable manufacturing work in American cities remains one of the biggest, if not the foremost, issue linked to poverty. The growth in blue-collar factory, transportation and construction jobs that were traditionally held by men has dissipated for a variety of reasons, from Globalization to the rise in Illegal Immigration. This structural change in the inner-city job market is of particular interest because of the amalgamation of both Economics and Poverty/Segregation issues. Without clearly defining and addressing this crucial structural issue, the war on poverty will be extremely difficult to successfully address and overcome.

Katherine S. Newman is an anthropologist who has carried out extensive and highly respected research on poverty and urban life. Previously at Columbia University, she is currently Ford Foundation Professor of Urban Studies at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She is the author of several books; Declining Fortunes: The Withering of the American Dream, 1993, and Falling from Grace: Downward Mobility in the Age of Affluence, 1999. Her writings are on middle class economic instability, urban poverty, and the sociology of inequality. She previously taught at the University of California (Berkeley), Columbia, Harvard, and Princeton (Bibliography of Newman, Katherine, 2010).

"Everyone believes the face of poverty is black. The white poor blend in, the black poor stand out," suggests social activist Bell Hooks (4). At first glance, Hooks's observation seems statistically relevant: 24.7% of African Americans in the United States were living below poverty level in 2008, compared to 11.2% of whites (DeNavas-Walt, Proctor, and Smith 14). However, this casual analysis fails to compare the size of the two populations, which balloons the seemingly paltry 11.2% up to nearly 27 million, versus 9 million for blacks (DeNavas-Walt, Proctor, and Smith 14). As SUNY economist Michael Zweig notes, "The fact that minorities are poor in greater numbers than their share of the total population contributes to the misconception