From the Ground Up (ebook)

Argumento de From the Ground Up (ebook)

Where do neighborhoods come from and why do certain resources and effects--such as social capital and collective efficacy--bundle together in some neighborhoods and not in others? From the Ground Up argues that neighborhood communities emerge from neighbor networks, and shows that these social relations are unique because of particular geographic qualities. Highlighting the linked importance of geography and children to the emergence of neighborhood communities, Rick Grannis models how neighboring progresses through four stages: when geography allows individuals to be conveniently available to one another; when they have passive contacts or unintentional encounters; when they actually initiate contact; and when they engage in activities indicating trust or shared norms and values.

Seamlessly integrating discussions of geography, household characteristics, and lifestyle, Grannis demonstrates that neighborhood communities exhibit dynamic processes throughout the different stages. He examines the households that relocate in order to choose their neighbors, the choices of interactions that develop, and the exchange of beliefs and influence that impact neighborhood communities over time. Grannis also introduces and explores two geographic concepts--t-communities and street islands--to capture the subtle features constraining residents' perceptions of their environment and community.

Basing findings on thousands of interviews conducted through door-to-door canvassing in the Los Angeles area as well as other neighborhood communities, From the Ground Up reveals the different ways neighborhoods function and why these differences matter.

"This engaging book usefully articulates the geographic constraints on the formation of neighboring relations and the centrality of child-related activities to neighboring. It presents data from innovative empirical research and will interest those working in community and urban studies."--Peter V. Marsden, Harvard University

"With insight, Grannis conceptualizes neighborhoods as a chain of networks that form along predictable geographic boundaries linking local residents to one another. The data collected is extraordinarily rich and unique."--George E. Tita, University of California, Irvine

"Grannis provides neighborhood effects researchers with an important set of conceptual tools for studying and understanding the processes that shape both the lives of neighborhood residents and the strength and efficacy of the communities they form."--Liam Downey, American Journal of Sociology

"While I heartily recommend this book to my colleagues in geography, spatial analysis, and travel behavior, it should be of great interest to researchers in the sociology of communities as well."--Antonio Paez, Journal of Children and Poverty0List of Illustrations and Tables ix
Prologue xv

CHAPTER ONE: Neighborhoods and Neighboring 1
Geography and Community 1
It's the Kids, Stupid! 4
Overview of the Book 8

CHAPTER TWO: The Stages of Neighboring 17
Neighboring: A Superposed Relation 17
Stage 1 Neighboring 20
Stage 2 Neighboring 20
Stage 3 Neighboring 23
Stage 4 Neighboring 25
Main Points in Review 27

CHAPTER THREE: Reconceptualizing Stage 1 Neighboring 28
Proximity 28
Boundaries 29
Face Blocks 31
Tertiary Face Blocks 32
Intersections 34
Main Points in Review 35

CHAPTER FOUR: Reconceptualizing Stage 1 Neighbor Networks 37
Layers of Complex Network Structures 37
T-Communities and Islands 42
Main Points in Review 46

CHAPTER FIVE: Selection and Influence 48
Selecting Homophilous Immediate Neighbors 48
Influence 52
Homophily and Influence Acting on Different Stages of Neighboring 56
Main Points in Review 57

CHAPTER SIX: Respondents, Interviews, and Other Data 59
Gang Neighborhood Ethnography and Interviews 60
Overview of the Other Data Collection Events 61
Structured Interviews 61
Cognitive Mapping and Alternatives 62
Data Collection in 68 Los Angeles Neighborhoods 65
Adaptive Link-Tracing 66
The Second Los Angeles Data Collection 67
College Town Census and Resample 68
Administrative Data 70
Main Points in Review 72

CHAPTER SEVEN: Selecting Stage 1 Neighbors 73
Selecting Racially Homophilous Tertiary Street Neighbors 73
Accepting Heterogenous Higher-Stage Neighbors 76
A Dialogue with Administrative Data 78
Segregating Tertiary Street Networks 79
Tertiary Street Network Borders 84
The Impact of a Single Tertiary Street Connection 89
Main Points in Review 90

CHAPTER EIGHT: Unintentional Encounters 93
The Substantive Reality of Passive Contacts 93
The "Lived" Experience of Tertiary Street Networks 96
A Note about Large, Multiunit Complexes 105
Main Points in Review 107

CHAPTER NINE: Stage 3 Neighbors and Tertiary Streets 109
Tertiary Street Proximity and Stage 3 Neighbors 109
Tertiary Street Networks and Stage 3 Neighbor Networks 113
More Than Proximity 119
Main Points in Review 127

CHAPTER TEN: The Importance of Neighbor Networks 129
Three Degrees of Neighboring 129
A Note about the Exhaustive Census 134
Neighboring Is a Family Relation 135
The Importance of Convenient Availability 139
Main Points in Review 144

CHAPTER ELEVEN: Network Influence Theory 148
Social Influence Network Theory 148
Beyond Density 151
The Horizon of Observability 155
Structural Cohesion 158
Merely a Mechanism? 159
Main Points in Review 161

CHAPTER TWELVE: Influence Networks in a College Town 162
T-Communities, Children, and the Horizon of Observability 162
T-Communities and Social Control 164
Neighbor Influence and T-Community Culture 166
Main Points in Review 176

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Influence Networks in a Gang Barrio 178
Geographic Neighborhood and Sociological Neighborhood 178
Neighborhood Community and Tertiary Street Networks 180
An Efficacious Neighborhood 182
Neighborhood Efficacy as a Function of Influence Networks 184
Influence Networks as a Function of Tertiary Street Networks 187
Main Points in Review 190

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Implications 192
Summary 192
What It All Means 197

APPENDIX: Survey Instrument 201
Notes 207
References 219
Index 237