Urbanization: economic stratification - Essay Example

Urbanization: Economic Stratification The Industrial Revolution that began in 1700 has transformed the population, culture, and the geographical use of space as the world evolved to accommodate new forms of agriculture and was spurred by the growing ability to manufacture and consume. Along the way, several innovations and inventions contributed to the revolution that made it possible, if not mandatory, for people to reside in highly concentrated areas that became the hub of industrialization and commerce. By 1950 these urban areas had matured and aged into the modern model of urbanization. Along with the restructuring of the geography, the social and political structure was also transformed. "Urbanization is a two-way process because it involves not only movement from village to cities and change from agricultural occupation to business, trade, service and profession but it also involves change in the migrants attitudes, beliefs, values and behavior patterns (Urban growth and urbanization, 2006). While immigrants from Ireland, Germany, Italy, and Poland came together with the freed slaves to form large urban areas, they often failed to assimilate into a homogeneous group. In fact, the different cultural groups remained isolated and formed interdependent neighborhoods that were built around their specific ethnic or cultural needs. It is tempting to view the urban areas as the victims of cultural bias or racial prejudice. However, all these urban areas also had the issue of economics in common. The wealth that the migrants sought by marketing their labor in these industrialized areas was not realized as the urban areas became economically stratified and were excluded from the promise of the American middle class. The urbanization process across the 250-year span of 1700-1950 was a gradual evolution based on the rising technology that was available at the time. In the early 18th century, mechanization was introduced into the workplace with inventions such as the loom for textiles. Work that had previously been accomplished in the home, or locally, was transferred to the new factories that were being built. Industrialization was transforming the concept of labor and altering the face of population centers and commerce. Work that had typically been done in the home was transferred to factories and labor became specialized. This was the initial stages of the definition of the value of labor and began the process of economic stratification. Among the first victims were women and children as in England, "Slop or sweated workers were disadvantaged by the industrial revolution, and those urban areas employing women involved irregular employment, long hours, and poor pay" (Nicholas and Oxley, 1993, p.739). Indeed, rather than improving the standard of living for the masses, the industrial revolution devalued the nature of work and the worker. This was reflected in the poorer quality diets of the urban workers as well as a deterioration of their overall health (Nicholas and Oxley, 1993, p.736). Isolation and a diminished well-being would characterize the revolution as people concentrated in urban areas to be near the employment opportunities. This new mechanization required a power source, which in this era was water. Waterpower would be used to turn the machinery and provide the necessary power for the new machines. This required that the factories be located near an adequate source of moving water. Factories were built along rivers and streams to capture the waterpower and attracted large numbers of workers to the area. The factories would attract workers from the area that settled near the factory and began the development of the new age of urbanization. Three events in the middle of the 19th century coincided to permanently change the face of urban America. The end of the Civil War, the steam engine, and the railroad transformed the ability to locate factories near the raw materials and immigrant workers and expanded the marketplace with the ability to move products by rail. The demands of industry were the driving force behind the move to the urban areas. Cities such as Chicago exploded while the "smaller towns and cities suffered a relative decline in the later part of the nineteenth century, as their industry was sucked into the vortex of the big cities" (Page and Walker, 1991, p.289). Immigrants would locate in the areas where there were industries available for work. Factories would be built near the material source such as the Steele Belt near the iron ore, and the industries that demanded finished steel. The cities of Detroit, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh seemed to rise up overnight. Immigrants were moved by rail from deep within Europe to their new location in the United States. During the period of 1860 to 1910 over 43 million European immigrants arrived and settled in the US (Nash et al., 2004, p.619). While some of these would locate on farms, a vast number would settle in the cities in urban neighborhoods that were cultural and ethnic specific. By 1900 the new face of urban America was defined by specific ethnic neighborhoods that were in competition for space, goods, and services. At the turn of the 20th century, the cities of America, and their expanding urban population, were often living in poverty with the hardships of hunger, violence, disease, and political unrest. Competition for jobs would often pit one ethnic group against another, which would construct tension within society. Worker unrest and Union activity would exacerbate this problem as industrialists sought to fragment and splinter the solidarity of the workers. This would bind the capitalists together in opposition to the labor force and continue to define and isolate the urban areas. The economic and political power structure began to view the urban area as a separate and distinct cultural group that was divided by economic stratification. According to Macedo (2005), "It often appears that the achievement and defense of particular status and privilege are the central goals of narrow and cohesive groups. Acting more like private interest groups than truly public institutions, havens of privilege keep their agendas narrow by practicing the politics of exclusion" (p.78). In addition, the political capital of the urban dwellers was eroded as "the social rights which had been rooted in membership of the village community, the town and the guild, were gradually dissolved by economic change" (Gordon and Stack, 2007, p.120). The politics of exclusion would grow to include housing, educational opportunities, public services, and political representation. These divisionary tactics would maintain urban areas that were fraught with poverty, while the predominantly white capitalist class removed themselves to safe havens in isolated areas. Exclusion was often defined in terms of racial or ethnic characteristics, but was implemented in more pragmatic forms. Cities that were ordinary towns in the middle of the 19th century would be transformed into well-defined urban areas that were built around the model of inner city poverty surrounded by privilege and prosperity. This was accomplished not only be defining the exclusion of the laborers, but was highlighted by the definition of wealth. Market forces alone are unable to account for the severity of the division as Le Goix states, "Indeed, the development of gated communities is the result of a market demand for security features fitting a standardised leading offer from the homebuilding industry, but also emerges from a partnership between local governments and private land developers" (p.330). The economically advantaged would congregate into communities that "adopted restrictive zoning ordinances, refused public housing, and turned away the poor and the weak. In other words, they built invisible fences to transform themselves into elite residential areas of wealth, prestige, beauty, and gracious living" (Jackson, 2000, p.191). These areas used their political power to divert economic resources away from the urban areas as the cities and older suburbs began to decay. "Whether one looks at the distribution of housing, school tax bases, or transportation, a pattern emerges in which cities and suburbs are increasingly resource starved, while developing suburbs are increasingly resource rich" (Powell, 2000, p.221). While the urban areas were often defined by their racial and ethnic component, it was the economic stratification and the exclusion of resources that shaped their characteristics and form. The economic stratification that arises from urban exclusion is perpetuated by an educational system that relies on local resources. Jackson (2000) states, "education, and police and fire protection are local responsibilities in the American system of decentralized authority" (p.187). This casts the urban education in a significantly different mold than that of rural America. Smaller towns and cities are likely to have fewer schools that are more homogeneous due to the smaller student population. However, "the outcome could well be much greater variance in educational outcomes in the larger settlements, as between both schools and population groups (or individuals)" (Gordon and Monastiriotis, 2006, p.215). Because the urban areas were geographically divided by status and culture, the reliance on local resources and the politics of exclusion resulted in a discriminatory school system that was segregated by race and ethnicity. Excluding the urban areas from education could guarantee some degree of economic stratification, while policies on housing made mobility an unrealistic option. When voters are dissatisfied with local services or schools, they are often encouraged to vote with their feet. However during the first half of the twentieth century, this option was not available to many of the urban population that was locked in a cycle of poverty. According to Wyly (1999), "On the one hand, individuals and families choose among different housing units, neighborhoods, and municipalities in accordance with individual needs at various stages of their lives. On the other hand, the actions of home builders, lenders, investors, and governments at all levels, from local to federal, shape the array of choices open to individual households" (p.315). By the early 20th century the influence of the social elite and the lack of political will had limited the options available to urban dwellers by exerting market forces that were driven by exclusionary prejudice. The exclusion, segregation, and marginalization of the urban areas had become institutionalized by the middle of the 20th century. "Federal Housing Administration (FHA) policies that, from their inception in 1934, rendered FHA-guaranteed loans for minority homeownership practically unattainable while ensuring that home ownership for whites became more feasible than ever. The racially discriminatory policies of the FHA were not merely de facto; the underwriting manual explicitly reflected its policy of refusing loans to homebuyers in minority or racially integrated neighborhoods" (Powell, 2000, p.223). The practice of redlining in real estate assured that the urban areas and their inhabitants would remain isolated and excluded from one of the most basic symbols of economic prosperity; private home ownership. This has resulted in a polarization of classes based on race that is built on the foundation of economics. According to Cowan (2006), "The combination of suburban exclusion and the high correlation between wealth and race in this country results in a pattern common to many metropolitan areas: high concentrations of minority poverty in cities surrounded by predominantly white, affluent, exclusionary suburbs (p.295). By 1950, race and socio-economic class had defined the urban areas across America and were locked in an institutionalized cycle that offered no escape or remediation. In conclusion, the Industrial Revolution that held the promise of elevating the standard of living for the masses locked many people into a cycle of poverty due to the social forces of relocation and the exclusionary policies of society. Civil and social rights dissolved as local governance perpetuated preferential legislation in zoning and education that led to a highly separated urban area and gated communities of wealth and privilege. The lack of educational opportunities was buttressed by official policies that prevented mobility and the possibility of owning a private home outside the urban enclave. The de facto discrimination based on race that resulted was the product of the centuries of economic isolation and the formation of highly defined socio-economic classes. References Cowan, S. M. (2006). Anti-snob land use laws, suburban exclusion, and housing opportunity. Journal of Urban Studies, 28(3), 295-313. Gordon, A., & Stack, T. (2007). Citizenship beyond the state: Thinking with early modern citizenship in the contemporary world. Citizenship Studies, 11(2), 117-133. Gordon I., & Monastiriotis V. (2006). Urban size, spatial segregation and inequality in educational outcomes. Urban Studies, 43(1), 213-236 Jackson, K.T. (2000). Gentlemen's agreement: Discrimination in metropolitan America. In B. Katz (Ed.), Reflections on regionalism (pp.185-217), Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press. Le Goix, R. (2005). Gated communities: Sprawl and social segregation in southern California. Housing Studies, 20(2), 323-343 Macedo, S. (2005). Democracy at risk: How political choices undermine citizen participation and what we can do about it. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press. Nash, G. (2004). The American people: Creating a nation and a society. New York, NY: Pearson Education Nicholas, S., & Oxley, D. (1993). The living standards of women during the industrial revolution, 1795-1820. The Economic History Review. 46(4), pp.723-749. Page B., & Walker, R. (1991). From settlement to Fordism: The agro-industrial revolution in the American Midwest. Economic Geography, 67(4), pp.281-315. Powell, J.A. (2000). Addressing regional dilemmas for minority communities. In B. Katz (Ed.), Reflections on regionalism (pp.218-248), Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press. Urban growth and urbanization (2006). Retrieved November 9, 2008, from http://www.sociologyguide.com/industrial-and-urban-society/Urban-growth-and-urbanization.php Wyly, E.K. (1999). Continuity and change in the restless urban landscape. Economic Geography, 75(4), pp.309-338. Read More