Racial Segregation and the American Foreclosure Crisis - Essay Example

Review by The of the The of the School The and where it is located The Review Rugh and Massey in their Racial segregation and the foreclosure crisis were able to develop a unique point of view on the economic crisis that happened in the United States economy. Thus, they point out that residential segregation should be seen as the most important cause of the foreclosure crisis. The researchers also argue that the role of segregation in the process does not depend on the economic causes that were well researched which means that it provides a completely new look on the problem in question. What is more important is that Rugh and Massy prove that the explanatory power of segregation exceed that of all the other factors that are typically taken into account while analyzing foreclosure crisis as well as major factors that contributed to it. An important part of the paper is dedicated to showing how ineffective was Community Reinvestment Act with regard towards home owners who belong to a particular minority. In other words, this piece of legislation was not able to bring in positive changes in the situation. While developing their idea, the authors point out the fact that racial segregation was able to structure not only the causes of the foreclosure crisis, but also affect its geographic as well as social distribution, shaping the consequences of this negative economic event. Another important point which is highlighted by the authors is that racialization of the crisis in not new, but a phenomenon which can be traced back for a considerable amount of it. In other words, it reflects the systematic failure that occurs in the social environment of the United States. Finally, the authors prove the necessity to tackle racialization of various socioeconomic processes with the help of new pieces of legislature; they articulate the necessity to create federal program that would monitor such inequality. Now, it may be particularly important to analyze every finding that was brought up in the paragraph above from a sociological perspective. Thus, one would make no mistake that the phenomenon of residential segregation is primarily caused by disparity in income; the latter, in its turn, often reflect the racial division of the society. That is why there is no wonder in the fact that residential segregation parallels racial segregation which occurs economically. Therefore, it is rather obvious that the foreclosure crisis should not be viewed independently, but be regarded as an outcome of the society that features some unsettled racial issues. It must be noted that in the course of presenting the findings, the authors engage a wide variety of factors such as excessive subprime lending, overbuilding, housing price inflation and many others. However, they point out that the phenomenon of segregation should be viewed independently of these factors. In other words, it is not complexly accurate to suggest that the issue of race amplifies the above mentioned factors, but should be regarded as an independent one. Indeed, this shows that a considerable number of economic problems that occur in the society may be directly linking to the peculiarities of social structure. What is more important is that article puts emphasis on the fact that racial segregation that happens in terms of residence is able to explain the foreclosure crisis in a better way if compared to other factors. In other words, the economists are not able to provide a comprehensive picture since they are missing the sociological constituent. This means that sociologists should educate the society about the real causes of the foreclosure crisis and make sure that segregation based on race is eliminated from the social environment of the United States of America in the near future. One would make no mistake that the government tries to address the issue and one of such efforts was analyzed in the paper. Indeed, the authors pay attention towards the effect that Community Reinvestment Act had on the social environment. The major claim that they make shows that it proved itself to be ineffective and had little or no positive impact on the problem. This means that the social policies that are designed by the government may be somewhat effective in theory, but when they are implemented their actual effect does not introduce many changes. That is why governmental policies should be reevaluated. The validity of the claims that are made by the author is supported by the evidence that they found while examining the issue from a broader perspective. Indeed, the racial aspect of the foreclosure crisis does not seem very plausible; however, the article successfully shows that segregation was able to affect the causes of the crisis and shape it in geographical and social terms. Indeed, economic dimension of the above mentioned negative phenomenon seems to offer exhaustive answers to the questions; however, it fails to explain geographical peculiarities of it. Contrary to that, sociology is able to explain geographic pattern rather well from the point of view which is based on racial segregation as the fundamental factor of the crisis. One of the major ideas that are proclaimed by the authors put emphasis on the fact that foreclosure crisis that the United States experienced should be seen as a rather logical consequence of the systematic failure that it was living with. On numerous examples the article shows that subprime lending which was based on racial segregation is just the tip of the iceberg of policies that existed for a long time. What is even worse that they were documented prior to the crisis which means that to a certain extent the government was aware of it. Finally, the authors dwell on the implications that their work has for the future. They urge the public to introduce changes into the legal system that it is currently guided by. More specifically, the paper features the need to initiate a federal program that would monitor level of segregation and make sure that they are taken care of. The authors suggest that it can be done rather easily in a market society; so, the government has the power to deal with this phenomenon once and for all. References Rugh, J & Massey, D 2010, ‘Racial Segregation And The American Foreclosure Crisis’, American Sociological Review, vol. 75, no. 5, pp. 629-651. Read More