Urban ecology and the underclass in New York City.
Item
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Title
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Urban ecology and the underclass in New York City.
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Identifier
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AAI9417472
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identifier
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9417472
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Creator
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Huang, Qi.
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Contributor
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Adviser: William Kornblum
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Date
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1994
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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, Demography | Urban and Regional Planning
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Abstract
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Ricketts and Sawhill's (1988) definition of underclass areas is used to develop a social class ecology map of the underclass in New York City. To estimate whether the underclass has grown in the 1970-1990 period, Ricketts and Mincy's (1980) cutoffs were used. The major findings are: (1) During the 1970s and 1980s, New York City experienced a substantial increase in social problems mainly due to the increase of welfare households, female-headed families, and unemployment. (2) The number of underclass tracts increased substantially for the period from 1970 to 1980, but decreased for the period from 1980 to 1990; from 1970 to 1980, the population in underclass tracts more than quadrupled but decreased by 23 percent between 1980 to 1990. (3) There were similar patterns in the number of concentrated poverty areas (poverty rate more than 40 percent) and population. These processes were associated with a substantial increase in poverty concentration in the 1970s and a decline in the 1980s. (4) Poverty and the urban underclass are ultimately shaped by the economy and population of the state and the city. Business cycles and the change in polarization of income are major factors in explaining the growth and shrinkage of the underclass and poverty for this period. (5) Ecological analysis using cross-sectional (proportions as independent variables) and longitudinal (change in proportions) regression models shows that poverty rate is the major predictor for the presence of underclass behaviors in a census tract; the proportion of middle class, percentage of blacks and Hispanics, percentage of foreign-born population (1980 and 1990), and distance from established underclass tracts are also important explanatory variables. (6) Spatial analysis using computer mapping techniques shows that highly concentrated underclass areas are located within highly segregated black and Hispanic neighborhoods. Hispanics had the highest poverty rates in the city for the last few decades, but in the "persistent slums" the percentage of non-Hispanic blacks was much higher than that of Hispanics. This supports Massey's argument that segregation is a structural factor in forcing African-Americans into becoming an urban underclass. (7) The maps show that underclass areas expanded in the 1970s, and shrank in the 1980s. Some underclass tracts revived strongly during the 1980s. The tracts that received the greatest influx of immigrants are located along subway lines. My research reveals that, once again, the phenomenon of ethnic succession via new immigration has changed city neighborhoods during the last two decades, a pattern that has typified the American city for over a century.
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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.
