Woven throughout with rich details of everyday life, this original, on-the-ground study of poor neighborhoods challenges much prevailing wisdom about urban poverty, shedding new light on the people, institutions, and culture in these communities. Over the course of nearly a decade, Martin Sanchez-Jankowski immersed himself in life in neighborhoods in New York and Los Angeles to investigate how social change and social preservation transpire among the urban poor.Looking at five community mainstays - the housing project, the small grocery store, the barbershop and the beauty salon, the gang, and the local high school - he discovered how these institutions provide a sense of order, continuity, and stability in places often thought to be chaotic, disorganized, and disheartened. His provocative and ground-breaking study provides new data on urban poverty and also advances a new theory of how poor neighborhoods function, illuminating the creativity and resilience that characterize the lives of those who experience the hardships associated with economic deprivation.
- ISBN10 0520256441
- ISBN13 9780520256446
- Publish Date 2 September 2008 (first published 1 January 2008)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 15 June 2010
- Publish Country US
- Imprint University of California Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 504
- Language English