Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Social Organization of Suburban Poverty

SES-1103116Mitchell DuneierAlexandra MurphyPrinceton UniversityThis ethnographic community study pursues to move beyond existing economic and demographic descriptive snapshots of the new suburban poverty phenomenon.以宾夕法尼亚州匹兹堡市郊区的宾夕法尼亚山为个案研究，有三个主要问题指导本研究：（1）贫困是如何社会组织的，郊区贫困人口的日常生活是什么样的？(2)郊区广大社区的社会和经济生活是如何围绕贫困问题组织起来的？（3）这些郊区在经济、政治和社会上与更广泛的大都市网络隔离的程度如何？重点是非洲裔美国人的贫困问题。郊区并不具备许多邻里特征，据观察，这些特征对塑造城市穷人的生活很重要（例如公共空间和反贫困组织的存在）。鉴于这些重大差异，我们不能假定，对城市贫困的了解也会适用于郊区。这项研究建立在现有的城市社会学理论的基础上，通过向郊区提出城市贫困问题。在这样做的时候，研究人员对三个不同的郊区行为者感兴趣：（1）贫困居民，（2）机构，（3）地方政府。对于贫困居民来说，郊区建筑环境的差异对穷人重要的三个日常生活特征意味着什么：（1）网络和生存策略的创建，（2）获得反贫困组织的机会，以及（3）邻里社会控制。为了更好地衡量郊区在更广泛的大都市生态中的政治和经济位置，这项研究还将研究广泛的郊区机构（教堂，企业，学校和社区组织）和市政府。 书房？本报告的重点是贫困给这些机构带来的挑战，以及它们用来应对这些挑战的资源和网络。更广泛的影响：作为对新郊区贫困的第一个民族志研究之一，这项研究将成为跨学科社会科学奖学金的一个新兴领域的关键组成部分：郊区贫困。 这项研究还将通过完善独特地形成城市与郊区贫困的特定建筑环境和体制因素，为现有的城市贫困研究和辩论提供重要的启示。此外，通过在学术和公共论坛上发表和介绍研究结果，这项研究将为公共政策做出重要贡献。有人认为，郊区贫困存在于一个？政策盲点？如果我们了解了郊区穷人的生活状况，我们可能才开始充分解决郊区贫困问题。通过努力了解郊区贫困的这些方面，这项研究将帮助我们了解现行政策对郊区贫困人口没有用处的方式，确定地方，州和联邦政策中的差距，阐明各种利益相关者和郊区的特殊性，围绕这些政策应该形成，并帮助我们制作适合这些地方穷人生活现实轮廓的工具。

SES-1103116Mitchell DuneierAlexandra MurphyPrinceton UniversityThis ethnographic community study seeks to move beyond existing economic and demographic descriptive snapshots of the new suburban poverty phenomenon. Using Penn Hills, PA, a Pittsburgh suburb, as a case-study, three primary questions guide this research: (1) How is poverty socially organized and what is everyday life like for the suburban poor?; (2) How is the social and economic life of the wider community organized around poverty in the suburbs?; and (3) To what extent are these suburban neighborhoods economically, politically, and socially isolated from broader metropolitan networks? The focus is on African American poverty. Suburbs do not feature many of the neighborhood characteristics observed to be important in shaping the lives of the urban poor (e.g. public space and the presence of antipoverty organizations). Given these significant differences, one cannot assume that what is known about urban poverty will translate to the suburbs. This research builds upon existing theories of urban sociology by taking questions asked of urban poverty to the suburbs. In doing so, the researchers are interested in three different suburban actors: (1) poor residents, (2) institutions, and (3) local government. With respect to poor residents what do differences in the suburban built environment mean for three features of daily life important to the poor: (1) the creation of networks and subsistence strategies, (2) access to antipoverty organizations, and (3) neighborhood social control. To better measure the political and economic location of the suburb in the broader metropolitan ecology the study will also research a wide range of suburban institutions (churches, business, schools, and community organizations) and the municipal government. The study?s focus is on the challenges that poverty places on these institutions and the resources and networks they use to meet these challenges. Broader Impact: By being one of the first ethnographic studies of the new suburban poverty, this research will be a critical component of what will surely be a rising field of social science scholarship across disciplines: suburban poverty. The research will also shed significant light on existing urban poverty research and debates by refining the particular built environment and institutional factors that uniquely shape urban versus suburban poverty. Further, by publishing and presenting findings in academic and public forums, this research will make important public policy contributions. It has been argued that suburban poverty exists in a ?policy blind spot.? We may only begin to address the problems of suburban poverty adequately if we understand what life is like for the suburban poor. By working to understand these dimensions of suburban poverty this research will help us to understand the ways in which current policies are not useful for the suburban poor, identify gaps in local, state, and federal policies, illuminate various stakeholders and suburban particularities around which policies should be shaped, and help us to craft tools appropriate to the contours of the lived realities of the poor in these places.