Finding Security on Skid Row: The Positive Role of Organizational and Social Ties in Service Hubs in the United States and Japan

2021 ◽  
Vol 693 (1) ◽  
pp. 301-320
Author(s):  
Matthew D. Marr
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Social Ties ◽  
The United States ◽  
Ontological Security ◽  
Skid Row ◽  
Positive Role ◽  
Negative Experiences ◽  
Ethnographic Interview ◽  
Sense Of Security

Service hubs are neighborhoods where homelessness and efforts to address it cluster. Are these “skid rows” jails without bars, or are there ways that service hubs bolster residents’ feelings of security about their lives? To address these questions, I analyze ethnographic interview data from sixty residents of four hubs—Skid Row, Los Angeles; Overtown, Miami; Kamagasaki, Osaka; and San’ya, Tokyo. I find that in these service hubs, residents’ ontological security is supported by a combination of engagement with organizations, access to subsidized housing and income, and ties with family and friends. However, this sense of security can be undermined by negative experiences with police and crime, poor sanitation, welfare and aid bureaucracy, and redevelopment projects. I argue that these threats should be addressed to enhance the strengths of service hubs, which can provide important insights for efforts toward more even geographic distribution of housing and aid.

scholarly journals Crime Victimization, Place Attachment, and the Moderating Role of Neighborhood Social Ties and Neighboring Behavior

2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-68
Author(s):  
Renee Zahnow ◽  
Amy Tsai
Keyword(s):  
Place Attachment ◽  
Social Ties ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Crime Victimization ◽  
Linear Modeling ◽  
Negative Experiences ◽  
Residential Neighborhood ◽  
Environmental Setting ◽  
The Relationship

Place attachment is the development of a psychological and emotional bond between an individual and their environmental setting. While positive experiences in the residential neighborhood are central to ongoing develop-ment of people–place bonds, whether negative experiences erode place attachment remains unknown. In this study, we explore the relationship between crime victimization, social ties, neighboring behaviors, and place attachment in Brisbane, Australia. Using multilevel linear modeling, we examine whether negative experiences, specifically crime victimization, in the residential neighborhood affect residents’ attachment to place. We also explore whether this relationship is moderated by neighborhood social ties and/or interactions with neighbors. Results indicate that the negative impact of victimization in the residential neighborhood on place attachment is attenuated through frequent social and/or functional interactions with neighbors.

“You’re a Different Kind of Black—Where You From?”: The Qualifying Role of Place in the Construction of Black Racial and Ethnic Identities among Louisiana Creole Migrants

2020 ◽  
pp. 233264922094990
Author(s):  
Faustina M. DuCros
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Internal Migration ◽  
Black People ◽  
The United States ◽  
Ethnic Identities ◽  
Region Of Origin ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
The Great Migration ◽  
Racial Ethnic

Much of the contemporary scholarship on Black identities focuses on how multiraciality, immigrant status, class, and neighborhood characteristics shape how social actors negotiate identities. In contrast, little analysis exists of how internal migration and regional origin or ancestry shape such negotiations. The study addresses this gap using interview data to examine how U.S.-born Black Louisianans with Creole heritage, who moved to Los Angeles along with their children during the Great Migration, actively negotiate racial/ethnic identities. The results show that participants negotiate identities situationally, especially when ambiguous appearances or surnames trigger interactional encounters in which they are mis-placed as “foreign” to the United States. Specifically, as migrants from one internal U.S. region to another, they use geographical references to situate Black racial and Creole ethnic identities (e.g., they refer to Louisiana or New Orleans) when interacting with non-Creole African Americans and non-Black people in Los Angeles. The study extends prior research on heterogeneous Black identities by demonstrating how internal migration, mixed racial/ethnic ancestry, and region of origin influence native-born Black American identities.

Book Reviews

2012 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 809-818
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
The United States ◽  
Factor Endowments ◽  
University Of Wisconsin ◽  
European Colonization ◽  
The University ◽  
Relative Differences

Jeffrey G. Williamson of Harvard University and University of Wisconsin reviews “Economic Development in the Americas since 1500: Endowments and Institutions” by Stanley L. Engerman and Kenneth L. Sokoloff. The EconLit abstract of the reviewed work begins: Eleven papers explore differences in the rates of economic growth in Latin America and mainland North America, specifically the United States and Canada, and consider how relative differences in growth over time are related to differences in the institutions that developed in different economies. Papers discuss paths of development -- an overview; factor endowments and institutions; the role of institutions in shaping factor endowments; the evolution of suffrage institutions; the evolution of schooling – 1800–1925; inequality and the evolution of taxation; land and immigration policies; politics and banking systems; five hundred years of European colonization; institutional and noninstitutional explanations of economic development; and institutions in political and economic development. Engerman is John H. Munro Professor of Economics and Professor of History at the University of Rochester. The late Sokoloff was Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of California, Los Angeles. Bibliography; index.

Mobilizing a Community–Academic Partnership to Provide DIY Handwashing Stations to Skid Row Residents During COVID-19

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-12
Author(s):  
Graham DiGuiseppi ◽  
Callahan Corcoran ◽  
Todd Cunningham ◽  
Hoan Nguyen ◽  
Monique Noel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
The United States ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Homeless Population ◽  
Community Partnership ◽  
Skid Row ◽  
Similar Work ◽  
Stable Housing ◽  
Do It Yourself ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is having a devastating impact on global health. In the United States and abroad, there is concern for how the novel coronavirus will affect vulnerable populations, including people experiencing homelessness. Individuals who lack stable housing are more likely to have preexisting health conditions and limited access to basic preventative hygiene practices such as handwashing and sanitizing. The situation has become critical in Los Angeles’ Skid Row neighborhood, where nearly 5,000 unhoused residents (13% of the city’s homeless population) reside on any given night. Community members’ concerns have mounted as social and health services in the area have decreased, and early efforts to prevent the transmission of coronavirus did not adequately address the lack of access to handwashing stations and hand sanitizing products. This Practice Note details an academic–community partnership that uses grassroots organizing to provide “do-it-yourself” handwashing stations to the Skid Row neighborhood. We describe how an academic–community partnership was mobilized to establish innovative practices in response to the coronavirus, offering lessons and recommendations for others hoping to do similar work.

A People's Theater on Skid Row

2017 ◽  
Vol 68 (9) ◽  
pp. 58
Author(s):  
Walda Katz-Fishman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Working Class ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Skid Row ◽  
Political Theatre ◽  
Monthly Review ◽  
The World

In Acting Like It Matters, James McEnteer gives a compassionate account of John Malpede—actor, activist, and co-creator of the political theatre troupe the Los Angeles Poverty Department (LAPD)—and of the Skid Row community that is the organization's heart and soul. The story of Malpede and the LAPD is one of life as art and art as life, and its protagonists are the dehumanized homeless citizens of Los Angeles and their compatriots in cities across the United States and the world, who represent a growing part of today's global working class pushed out of the formal economy.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

Urban particulate matter pollution: a tale of five cities

2016 ◽  
Vol 189 ◽  
pp. 277-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Spyros N. Pandis ◽  
Ksakousti Skyllakou ◽  
Kalliopi Florou ◽  
Evangelia Kostenidou ◽  
Christos Kaltsonoudis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Atmospheric Chemistry ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Fine Particulate Matter ◽  
The United States ◽  
Chemical Signatures ◽  
Range Transport

Five case studies (Athens and Paris in Europe, Pittsburgh and Los Angeles in the United States, and Mexico City in Central America) are used to gain insights into the changing levels, sources, and role of atmospheric chemical processes in air quality in large urban areas as they develop technologically. Fine particulate matter is the focus of our analysis. In all cases reductions of emissions by industrial and transportation sources have resulted in significant improvements in air quality during the last few decades. However, these changes have resulted in the increasing importance of secondary particulate matter (PM) which dominates over primary in most cases. At the same time, long range transport of secondary PM from sources located hundreds of kilometres from the cities is becoming a bigger contributor to the urban PM levels in all seasons. “Non-traditional” sources including cooking, and residential and agricultural biomass burning contribute an increasing fraction of the now reduced fine PM levels. Atmospheric chemistry is found to change the chemical signatures of a number of these sources relatively fast both during the day and night, complicating the corresponding source apportionment.

Searching for Ontological Security via Homeland Media Use: The Case of Korean Temporary Visa-Status Migrants in the United States

2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 404-422
Author(s):  
Claire S. Lee
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
The United States ◽  
Ontological Security ◽  
Everyday Lives ◽  
Ethnographic Approach

Temporary visa-status migrants initially might be perceived as emancipated mobilities who are privileged enough to enter and exit the United States without taking any major risks. This article examines the struggles involved in the experiences of the Korean temporary visa-status migrants living in the United States, and especially the role of media in their transnational everyday lives. Using a quasi-ethnographic approach by conducting qualitative interviews with 40 Korean visa-status migrants, this article argues that the homeland media, both television and Internet, sustain “ontological security” throughout the radical transitions, feeling of “existential outsideness,” and transnational insecurities and precariousness. The study offers a helpful insight in both understanding the contemporary dispersed audiences and contextualizing different migrant positions within the easily lumped category of mobile elites or cosmopolitans.

The Development of Japanese as a Heritage Language in the Los Angeles Conurbation

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 336-356
Author(s):  
Masako O. Douglas ◽  
Hiroko C. Kataoka ◽  
Kiyomi Chinen
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Capacity Development ◽  
The United States ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Japanese American ◽  
The Family ◽  
History Of

This paper examines the current status of Japanese as a heritage language (JHL) in the Los Angeles conurbation, applying the Capacity-Opportunity-Desire (COD) framework. After briefly describing the Japanese-American community and the history of JHL education in the United States with a focus on the Los Angeles conurbation, we review research to date on JHL capacity development in JHL schools and the role of the family in JHL development. We then present the results of two studies and analyze factors that contribute to JHL development,reflecting on COD principles. We conclude by presenting suggestions for future research on JHL based on this framework.

California’s Regulatory Leadership: Broader Implications

2019 ◽  
pp. 231-244
Author(s):  
David Vogel
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Competitive Advantage ◽  
Federal Government ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
Environmental Politics ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Pacific

This concluding chapter reviews the key themes of the book and explores some of the broader implications of this analysis of California's regulatory leadership. Three points are particularly critical: the importance of the local dimension of environmental policies, the role of business in environmental politics, and the limits of environmental regulation. The chapter then discusses the increasingly important role states are playing in environmental protection in the United States and shows how California has economically benefited from its environmental policy leadership. One important reason why California has been able to consistently adopt more stringent regulations than those of the federal government and other states is that many of its improvements in local and state environmental quality have been a source of competitive advantage. The improvements it has made in air quality—most notably in Los Angeles—its protection of the trees in the Sierras and along the Pacific, and its land use controls along the coast and around the San Francisco Bay have all made California a more attractive place to move to, invest in, and visit.

scholarly journals Practice of Faith under COVID-19: Exceptional Cases

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 306-316
Author(s):  
David Emmanuel Singh
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
South Korea ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Costs ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Positive Role ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

Included here are some cases that highlight exceptional behaviour under the novel coronavirus (CV) pandemic that cuts across religious boundaries. The Christian cases were drawn from the United States and South Korea; Islamic cases were drawn both from India and Iran; and the Hindu and Sikh cases were highlighted from India. Of these, notably, Iran is a declared theocracy, whereas the United States and India are arguably contexts of rising Christian and Hindu theocracies. We are familiar with the evidence of the positive role of religions in society. This paper brings together exceptional cases where irrationality, control and selfishness trump wisdom and altruism. The evidence highlighted here shows that people are capable of suspending reason and behaving with a motive inspired by faith (often tarnished by the state’s intervention), even when it is clear there might be serious personal and social costs involved.

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