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，将发展政策放在首位，这一举措被称为“城市企业家主义”。研究城市政治的学者倾向于把否定社会福利作为地方政治中的一个突出议程。与此同时，阶级类别，尤其是“工人阶级”，越来越多地被视为城市政治中一个无关紧要的类别。这一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工和社区为基础的争取最低工资、负担得起的住房和医疗保健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。该项目提出了以下问题：(1)为什么在新自由主义城市重组的情况下，以地方政府为中心的再分配政治日益增长？(2)城市企业家主义如何塑造活动家的需求和战略？(3)阶级、种族和社区的政治轴心如何牵涉到这些斗争中？(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把改革需求定位于日益严重的社会经济两极分化和硅谷以移民为主的低工资工人阶级社区的形成背景下。以圣何塞市和圣克拉拉县为重点，对主要组织领导人、社区活动家和当地政策制定者的深入采访将与档案、公共记录和当地媒体的审查相结合，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。这名学生希望证明，社会福利已经被硅谷以工会和社区为基础的激进主义牢牢地放在了当地的政策议程上，而且这种激进主义构成了一种新兴的地区性工人阶级政治。另一个正在调查的问题是，财政重组和地方政治结构是否以模棱两可、相互矛盾的方式塑造了新的政治格局。这项研究填补了城市研究硅谷社会和政治地理的空白，硅谷是一个以科技和经济活力著称的地区。它这样做的方式揭示了高科技地区低工资工人面临的工资不足以及获得住房、医疗保健和其他必需品的问题。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，但过去25年来日益加剧的经济不平等引发了低薪工人的严重不满。这项研究调查了这些不满是如何在政治上表达的，不仅是在战略和要求方面，而且是在基于特定群体身份的动员方面。这项研究有望给城市地理学的研究带来一个新的探索，即工作场所和住所之间的联系在告知阶级兴趣方面的联系。这项研究对对日益严重的社会经济不平等问题感兴趣的政策制定者具有潜在的影响。这项研究还通过确定制约和促进政治激进主义的力量，对社会运动产生了潜在的影响。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.