Title Politics in context : assimilation and conflict in urban neighborhoods / Robert Huckfeldt

Published New York : Agathon Press, ©1986

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Description 1 online resource (viii, 191 pages) Summary Political opinions and the behavior of individuals cannot be explained apart from the environments within which they occur. Individual characteristics alone do not determine political actions and opinions. Rather, political behavior must be understood in terms of the actor's relationship to the environment, and the environmental factors that impinge on individual choice. (From the Introduction) "The central argument of this book is that neighborhood social contexts have important political consequences, not only for individual behavior, but also for the political vitality of groups in the political process. This argument has nothing to do with suburbanization, or with the embourgeoisement thesis as it is traditionally constructed. The embourgeoisement explanation for the disappearance of class politics argues that improved working conditions, better pay and suburban living create a working class that is infused by middle class values and a middle class lifestyle. Especially in terms of residential location, a suburban residence produces changed values and, along with these changed values, an entirely different set of political viewpoints. The embourgeoisement viewpoint has been attacked on a number of fronts. [T]he move to suburbia did not necessarily result in the inculcation of middle class values or in the rise of Republicanism or in the diminution of class loyalty. The present effort does not dispute these results: there is no reason to believe that individual affluence or suburban residence should necessarily diminish class loyalties or political differentiation along class lines. It is argued that: (1) social class politics is, first and foremost, group politics (Hamilton, 1972); (2) group politics cannot be explained on the basis of individual interests and predispositions alone and thus (3) the social contexts of group members must be taken into account in order to explain group politics. The important point is that group membership and group politics should not be wholly conceived as the consequence of individual characteristics and individual circumstances. Belonging to a group involves patterns of relations that bind the individual to the group: the very words provoke an image of strong social ties." Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 177-185) and index Notes English Print version record Subject Neighborhoods -- New York (State) -- Buffalo -- Case studies Neighborhoods -- Michigan -- Detroit -- Case studies Political participation -- New York (State) -- Buffalo -- Case studies Political participation -- Michigan -- Detroit -- Case studies Social interaction -- New York (State) -- Buffalo -- Case studies Social interaction -- Michigan -- Detroit -- Case studies SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Essays. Neighborhoods Political participation Social interaction Michigan -- Detroit New York (State) -- Buffalo Genre/Form Case studies Case studies. Études de cas. Form Electronic book ISBN 0875862756 9780875862750 0875860672 9780875860671 0875860680 9780875860688 1280656093 9781280656095 9786610656097 6610656096

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