Cracks in the Pavement: Social Change and Resilience in Poor Neighborhoods (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780520256750)

Woven throughout with rich details of everyday life, this original, on-the-ground study of poor neighborhoods challenges much prevailing wisdom about urban poverty, shedding new light on the people, institutions, and culture in these communities. Over the course of nearly a decade, Mart? S疣chez-Jankowski immersed himself in life in neighborhoods in New York and Los Angeles to investigate how social change and social preservation transpire among the urban poor. Looking at five community mainstays--the housing project, the small grocery store, the barbershop and the beauty salon, the gang, and the local high school--he discovered how these institutions provide a sense of order, continuity, and stability in places often thought to be chaotic, disorganized, and disheartened. His provocative and ground-breaking study provides new data on urban poverty and also advances a new theory of how poor neighborhoods function, illuminating the creativity and resilience that characterize the lives of those who experience the hardships associated with economic deprivation.

Author: Martin Sanchez-Jankowski
ISBN-10: 0520256751
ISBN-13: 9780520256750
Publisher: University of California Press
Language: English
Published: 09/02/2008
Pages: 504
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.47lbs
Size: 8.96h x 6.30w x 1.20d

Review Citation(s):
Multicultural Review 03/01/2009 pg. 68
Choice 08/01/2009