THE DYNAMICS OF NEIGHBORHOOD DEFENSE: A SOCIOLOGICAL ACCOUNT OF GREENPOINT, BROOKLYN (COMMUNITY, RACE, ETHNIC RELATIONS, NEW YORK).
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Title
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THE DYNAMICS OF NEIGHBORHOOD DEFENSE: A SOCIOLOGICAL ACCOUNT OF GREENPOINT, BROOKLYN (COMMUNITY, RACE, ETHNIC RELATIONS, NEW YORK).
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Identifier
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AAI8508695
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identifier
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8508695
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Creator
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DESENA, JUDITH NOEL.
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Contributor
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Sylvia Fava
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Date
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1985
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Sociology, Ethnic and Racial Studies
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Abstract
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This research focuses on the response of Greenpoint, a predominantly white, blue collar neighborhood in Brooklyn to the changing metropolis. Residents of Greenpoint have responded by creating a "defended neighborhood" (Suttles, 1972). This research describes the strategies of defense that residents of Greenpoint employ in order to maintain a predominantly white, non-Hispanic neighborhood.;Interviews with 55 residents of Greenpoint suggest that the neighborhood is segregated into northern and southern areas, and that this segregation is based on ethnicity. Northern Greenpoint is composed mainly of Poles and Hispanics. Because of the presence of Hispanics, residents discuss a division in the neighborhood. Southern Greenpoint is made up of Polish, Irish, Italian, and Hispanic groups.;Residents of both northern and southern Greenpoint attempt to resist minority growth by employing a number of defensive strategies. These strategies include: an informal housing network, where available housing never reaches the market, but is absorbed beforehand.;Local surveillance, both informal and formal, is examined as a strategy of defense in southern Greenpoint. Residents "keep an eye" on one another's property, watch the block, and participate in civilian patrols. The role of neighborhood women in defending southern Greenpoint from change is explored. The findings suggest that women are involved in a variety of neighborhood activities. Non-Hispanic residents in northern Greenpoint employ strategies of defense that are somewhat similar to those existing in the south except that defense is by building rather than block.;The ways of Hispanic residents, who are the target of these strategies, are also examined. This includes a portrayal of how Hispanics obtain housing, and the relationships between them and their non-Hispanic neighbors.;Further, this research focuses on why non-Hispanics defend. Four explanations, from the point of view of neighborhood residents, are presented: the prevention of crime, the prevention of physical deterioration, the increasing threat of minority growth, and the limited options of residents of Greenpoint. Greenpoint's future is also discussed. It examines such factors as minority growth, an increase in Polish immigrants, and gentrification. Finally, the implications of this study for theory are addressed, including: housing as the focus of neighborhood defense, the role of the Church in Greenpoint, an examination of women as a unit of analysis, and the consequences of "insider" research. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.).
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Sociology
