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Crime and gentrification are hot button issues that easily polarize racially diverse neighborhoods. How do residents, activists, and politicians navigate the thorny politics of race as they fight crime or resist gentrification? And do conflicts over competing visions of neighborhood change necessarily divide activists into racially homogeneous camps, or can they produce more complex alliances and divisions? In
Us versus Them, Jan Doering answers these questions through an in-depth study of two Chicago neighborhoods. Drawing on three and a half years of ethnographic fieldwork, Doering examines how activists and community leaders clashed and collaborated as they launched new initiatives, built coalitions, appeased critics, and discredited opponents. At the heart of these political maneuvers, he uncovers a ceaseless battle over racial meanings that unfolded as residents strove to make local initiatives and urban change appear racially benign or malignant. A thoughtful and clear-eyed contribution to the field,
Us versus Them reveals the deep impact that competing racial meanings have on the fabric of community and the direction of neighborhood change.
List of contents
- Acknowledgements
- Chapter 1: The Battle over Race, Crime, and Gentrification
- Chapter 2: A Brief History of Living Together
- Chapter 3: Racial Displacement in Action? Safety Activism and Its Racial Entanglements
- Chapter 4: "You've got reason to be afraid": Crime and Race in Electoral Campaigning
- Chapter 5: Resisting Gentrification and Criminalization
- Chapter 6: "White Vigilantes?" Two Case Studies of Positive Loitering
- Chapter 7: Racial Identities and Political Standpoints: Expected and Unexpected Alignments
- Chapter 8: Crime and Gentrification Beyond Black and White
- Chapter 9: Conclusion
- Appendix: About the Fieldwork
- Notes
- References
- Index
About the author
Jan Doering is Assistant Professor of Sociology at McGill University.
Summary
Crime and gentrification are hot button issues that easily polarize racially diverse neighborhoods. How do residents, activists, and politicians navigate the thorny politics of race as they fight crime or resist gentrification? And do conflicts over competing visions of neighborhood change necessarily divide activists into racially homogeneous camps, or can they produce more complex alliances and divisions? In Us versus Them, Jan Doering answers these questions through an in-depth study of two Chicago neighborhoods. Drawing on three and a half years of ethnographic fieldwork, Doering examines how activists and community leaders clashed and collaborated as they launched new initiatives, built coalitions, appeased critics, and discredited opponents. At the heart of these political maneuvers, he uncovers a ceaseless battle over racial meanings that unfolded as residents strove to make local initiatives and urban change appear racially benign or malignant. A thoughtful and clear-eyed contribution to the field, Us versus Them reveals the deep impact that competing racial meanings have on the fabric of community and the direction of neighborhood change.
Additional text
This important book puts some of the most divisive issues of our day - crime, gentrification, political polarization, and racial identity - under the microscope. It unpacks divisions within already racially integrated Chicago neighborhoods over strategies to address significant crime problems. Ensuing chapters document how well-meaning prevention efforts splintered communities and racial tensions spilled over into electoral politics, creating a minefield for politicians trying to build majority coalitions. Some succeeded, and the study illuminates how good leadership can lower the temperature around debates involving race and class, and find paths toward community solidarity around common problems.
