Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Social Organization of Suburban Poverty

SES-1103116 Mitchell DuneierAlexandra Murphy普林斯顿大学这项民族志社区研究试图超越现有对新的郊区贫困现象的经济和人口描述快照。以宾夕法尼亚州宾夕法尼亚州的匹兹堡郊区宾夕法尼亚州为例，三个主要问题指导了这项研究：(1)贫困是如何在社会上组织的，郊区穷人的日常生活是什么样子？(2)更广泛的社区的社会和经济生活是如何围绕郊区的贫困组织的？(3)这些郊区社区在经济、政治和社会上在多大程度上与更广泛的大都市网络隔绝？焦点是非洲裔美国人的贫困问题。郊区没有许多被认为对塑造城市穷人的生活很重要的社区特征(例如公共空间和反贫困组织的存在)。考虑到这些显著的差异，人们不能假设人们所知道的关于城市贫困的东西会转移到郊区。这项研究建立在现有的城市社会学理论的基础上，将有关城市贫困的问题带到郊区。在这样做的过程中，研究人员对三个不同的郊区参与者感兴趣：(1)贫困居民，(2)机构，(3)地方政府。对于贫困居民来说，郊区建成环境的不同对穷人日常生活的三个重要特征意味着什么：(1)网络和生存战略的创建，(2)获得扶贫组织的机会，以及(3)社区社会控制。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，该研究还将研究广泛的郊区机构(教堂、商业、学校和社区组织)和市政府。S的研究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：作为首批关于新的郊区贫困的人种学研究之一，这项研究将成为一个必然是跨学科的社会科学学术新兴领域的关键组成部分：郊区贫困。这项研究还将通过提炼独特地塑造城市与郊区贫困的特定建筑环境和制度因素，对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展示研究结果，这项研究将做出重要的公共政策贡献。有人认为，郊区贫困存在于政策盲区。只有当我们了解郊区穷人的生活情况时，我们才可能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当前政策对郊区穷人无用的方式，找出地方、州和联邦政策中的差距，阐明应围绕其制定政策的不同利益相关者和郊区特殊性，并帮助我们制定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.