Doctoral Dissertation Research: Searching for Working Class Politics: Labor, Community, and Urban Power in Silicon Valley

自20世纪70年代末以来，以权力下放、财政危机和城市间投资竞争加剧为特征的新自由主义城市重组，导致城市以牺牲社会福利支出为代价优先考虑发展政策，这一举动被称为“城市资本主义”。“城市政治的学术倾向于将否定社会福利视为地方政治的一个突出议程。 与此同时，阶级类别，特别是“工人阶级”，在城市政治中越来越被视为一个无关紧要的类别。 本博士论文研究项目的目的是了解自20世纪80年代初以来，硅谷以劳动和社区为基础的生活工资，经济适用房和医疗改革运动的发展与当地政治背景和新自由主义城市结构调整的关系。 本课题提出了以下问题：（1）为什么在新自由主义的城市重建中，以地方政府为中心的再分配政治不断发展？ (2)活动家的需求和策略是如何被城市的功利主义所塑造的？ (3)阶级、种族和社区的政治轴心是如何卷入这些斗争的？ (4)地方政治结构如何影响改革努力的结果？ 绘制基本社会经济指标图将在硅谷社会经济两极分化日益严重和形成以移民为主的低工资工人阶级社区的背景下确定改革需求。 以圣何塞市和圣克拉拉县为重点，深入采访主要组织的领导人、社区活动家和当地政策制定者，并审查档案、公共记录和当地媒体，以重建改革战略、它们与政治经济背景的互动以及不同活动的结果。 学生希望证明，社会福利已被坚定地放在地方政策议程的工会和社区为基础的行动主义在硅谷，这种行动主义构成了一个新生的区域工人阶级的政治。 同样在调查中的是，新的政治是否已经形成了财政结构调整和地方政治结构在模糊的，矛盾的方式。这项研究填补了一个空白的城市研究的社会和政治地理的硅谷，一个地区著名的技术和经济活力。 它以一种揭示高科技地区低工资工人面临的工资不足和获得住房、医疗保健和其他必需品的问题的方式进行了研究。 虽然经济和政治趋势严重阻碍了美国各级政府的社会福利和再分配，在世纪的最后四分之一里，经济不平等的加剧引起了低工资工人的严重不满。 本研究调查这些不满如何在政治上表达，不仅在战略和需求方面，而且在动员基于某些群体身份。 本研究希望能为都市地理学的研究带来一个新的探索，探讨工作地点与居住地之间的联系，以提供阶层兴趣。 这项研究对关注日益严重的社会经济不平等问题的政策制定者具有潜在的影响。 这项研究也有潜在的影响，社会运动，通过确定的力量，限制和使政治活动。 作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个强大的独立的研究生涯。

Since the late 1970s, neoliberal urban restructuring characterized by devolution, fiscal crises, and increased interurban competition for investment has caused cities to prioritize development policies at the expense of social welfare expenditures in a move dubbed "urban entrepreneurialism." Scholarship on urban politics has tended assume the negation of social welfare as a salient agenda in local politics. At the same time, class categories, particularly the "working class," has increasingly been seen as an irrelevant category in urban politics. The purpose of this doctoral dissertation research project is to understand the development of a labor- and community-based movement for living wage, affordable housing, and health-care reforms in Silicon Valley since the early 1980s in relation to local political context and neoliberal urban restructuring. The project asks the following questions: (1) Why has there been a growing politics of redistribution centered on the local state despite neoliberal urban restructuring? (2) How have activists' demands and strategies been shaped by urban entrepreneurialism? (3) How have the political axes of class, race and community been implicated in these struggles? (4) How has local political structure influenced the outcome of reform efforts? Mapping of basic socioeconomic indicators will locate reform demands in the context of growing socioeconomic polarization and the formation of low-wage, predominantly immigrant working-class communities in Silicon Valley. Focusing on the city of San Jose and Santa Clara County, in-depth interviews with leaders of key organizations, community activists, and local policymakers will be triangulated with a review of archives, public records, and the local press to reconstruct reform strategies, their interaction with political-economic context, and outcomes of different activities. The student expects to demonstrate that social welfare has been firmly placed on local policy agendas by union- and community-based activism in Silicon Valley and that this activism constitutes a nascent regional working-class politics. Also under investigation is whether the new politics have been shaped by fiscal restructuring and local political structure in ambiguous, contradictory ways.This study fills a gap in urban studies on the social and political geography of Silicon Valley, a region celebrated for its technological and economic dynamism. It does so in a manner that reveals the problem of inadequate wages and access to housing, health care, and other necessities faced by low wage workers in high tech regions. While economic and political trends have severely hampered social welfare and redistribution at all levels of government in the U.S., rising economic inequality over the last quarter of a century has generated serious discontents on the part of low wage workers. This study investigates how these discontents have been politically expressed, not only in terms of strategies and demands, but also in terms of mobilization based on certain group identities. This research is expected to bring to the study of urban geography a renewed exploration of the linkage between workplace and residence in informing class interest. This research has potential implications for policymakers interested in the problem of growing socioeconomic inequality. This research also has potential implications for social movements by identifying the forces that constrain and enable political activism. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.