Cracks in the Pavement: Social Change and Resilience in Poor Neighbourhoods

摘要

Theories of social disorganisation have long since classified certain neighbourhood characteristics as urban pathologies. Empirical studies invariably find increasing conditions of human suffering and decay in such areas. Cracks in the Pavement questions the ability of current theory to explain these neighbourhoods' longevity and argues that the survival of poor neighbourhoods lies in the fact that they are anything but disorganised. It offers a new theory, that social order is maintained through neighbourhood institutions.