In 2009, Chicago spent millions of dollars to create programs to prevent gang violence in some of its most disadvantaged neighborhoods. Yet in spite of the programs, violence has grown worse in some of the very neighborhoods that the violence prevention programs were intented to help. While public officials and social scientists often attribute the violence - and the failure of the programs - to a lack of community in poor neighborhoods, closer study reveals another source of community division: local politics.Through an ethnographic case study of Chicago's Little Village neighborhood, Wounded City dispells the popular belief that a lack of community is the primary source of violence, arguing that competition for political power and state resources often undermine efforts to reduce gang violence. Robert Vargas argues that the state, through the way it governs, can contribute to distrust and division among community members, thereby undermining social cohesion. The strategic actions taken by police officers, politicians, nonprofit organizations, and gangs to collaborate or compete for power and resources can vary block by block, triggering violence on some blocks while successfully preventing it on others. A rich blend of urban politics, sociology, and criminology, Wounded City offers a cautionary tale for elected officials, state agencies, and community based organizations involved with poor neighborhoods.
Product Identifiers
Publisher
Oxford University Press Inc
ISBN-13
9780190245917
eBay Product ID (ePID)
221896977
Product Key Features
Subject Area
Urban Planning, Sexual Abuse
Author
Robert Vargas
Publication Name
Wounded City: Violent Turf Wars in a Chicago Barrio
Format
Paperback
Language
English
Subject
Anthropology, Criminology
Publication Year
2016
Type
Textbook
Number of Pages
256 Pages
Additional Product Features
Title_Author
Robert Vargas
Country/Region of Manufacture
United States
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