How Three Sociological Concepts Apply to Dallas, Tx - Essay Example

Running head: How three sociological concepts apply to Dallas, Tx s 21st April Urban Enclaves and ghettos Ghetto refers to an urban area that is characterized by large population living below the poverty line. Due to the overcrowding situation of the ghetto by a particular racial population or ethnic groups, the crime rate in these areas is high as compared to other places in the cities. In the US, the emergence of ghettos can be attributed to internal urban migration, as well as the wave of immigration that took place in the 19th century. For example, most of the ethnic enclaves in the US cities appeared due to the German and Irish immigrants who inhabited the country in the 19th century. One of the major aspects of a ghetto is that the residents are forced to live there due to social, political and economic pressure. Urban Enclaves, on the other hand, refer to a territory that lies entirely within the boundaries of another territory. A key similarity between the ghetto and the urban enclave is that both are overcrowded. Additionally, the economic condition of the population residing in ghettos and enclaves is poor. However, Tajfel et al (1979) argue that while the community in the ghetto is forced to live there, inhabitants of Urban Enclaves are mostly from the same culture, social and economic status who resides there voluntarily. Ghettos life is known to be undesirable and threatening due to the high crime rate. However, some Urban Enclaves are peaceful places, thus, attracting tourists. Examples of such enclaves are Little Italy and China Town. One of the notable Urban Enclaves in Dallas is West Dallas. Being a neighbor to West Fork, Interstate 30 and Trinity River, the area has a population of more than 32,000 people. The population is made up of various races that includes White people, Native Americans, Asians, Latino, as well African America. Having originated from Dallas, West Dallas residents were sometimes back faced by lack of adequate basic necessities due to the fact that it was located outside the railway lines. The major concern in Dallas is the large number of ghettos that have become security threat, especially for visitors, as well as the city residents. With more that one million Dallas residents residing in the ghettos, the low income earners have continued to face problems in terms of assessing basic commodities. One of the incidences that depict the insecurity within the Dallas ghettos occurred in 2008. The incidence that occurred on 30th July 2008 at Pleasant Village Apartments was instigated by a gun man who fired at the residents forcing them to free their homes. After one of the residents called the police, the gun men went into hiding but later emerged after the police left. The gun men immediately started to shoot again injuring 10 years old boy and two girls aged 4 years and 12 years (John, 2008). Having been built in 1968, Pleasant Village Apartments have been noted to be one of the dangerous places by the residents as well as the police. According to the reports by the Dallas Morning News, Dallas policemen were unconcerned about the security of the residents of Pleasant Village Apartments; a situation that caused the shooting of the children. Due to high population in Pleasant Village Apartments and other ghettos within the city of Dallas, the chance of occurrence of violence among the residents and with the police is always high. This is mostly due to depression and stress caused by low income and poor living conditions. Even though the laxity of police to provide the security is a major cause of increased crimes at Pleasant Village, statistical discrimination has enhanced increased number of black criminals. This is discrimination that occurs when landlords hesitate to rent their houses to black people on the basis that they will use the rooms to sell drugs. This results it high number of idlers, thus, resulting to increased rate of crimes. The major weakness of the concept of Urban Enclaves and ghettos is that it does not provide much information on the living condition of other ghettos and Urban Enclaves. As a result, it is not possible to make a comparison between the social, political and economic situation of the ghetto residents. Segregation and discrimination Segregation refers to the separation of other people on the basis of color, race, social status, religion, origin, nationality, tribe among other grounds. One of the major aspects of segregation is that there is no objective or justification of it. Examples of segregation include geographical segregation, racial segregation, security segregation, religious segregation among others. One of the major countries that experienced high level of segregation was South Africa. The segregation in South Africa was particularly due to the apartheid system that advocated for separate development. For example, the 1950 Population Registration Act separated the South African residents into four groups that included black, white, Indian and colored. Similarly, the Group Areas Act of 1950 ensured that different races were allocated different regions with the white taking the more developed areas in terms of education systems and infrastructure. In the same way, the US experienced a significant level of segregation, especially during the slave trade. Jim Crow Laws were major legislation initiatives that advocated for strict segregation of the people on the basis of their races. Key players who spearheaded the elimination of segregation in the US include Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr and Clarence Mitchell. Fireside (2004) depicts that discrimination is the treatment of a person based on her membership in a certain category or group. This means restricting or excluding members of a particular group from accessing opportunities that are available to another group of persons. For example, if a person decides to donate food to orphan children, but he or she donates less food to black children as compared to white children, he or she would be behaving in a discriminatory way. According to social identity theory, there are three major forms of discrimination that include realistic competition, social competition and consensual discrimination. Realistic competition is propelled by self-interest. This implies that individuals adopting this kind of discrimination favor a specific group in order to obtain resources that include customers, food and workers from the group. On the other hand, persons emulating social competition are aimed at attaining self-esteem and positive social status within their groups. As a result, they favor their group to other groups. Consensual discrimination is whereby a person favors other individuals within a group due to their social status. For example, a financial manager may decide to release the salaries of the senior managers before other staff without any justification for his or her action. In its effort to fight discrimination in the work places, the US government implemented Title VII under the Civil Rights Act of 1871 to eliminate unlawful discrimination on the bases of religion, gender, race among others by private and public employers. One of the sectors that have a history of segregation and discrimination in Dallas is education. In his speech in 2010 at Erik Jonsson Library, Michael Phillips, a renowned sociologist based in Dallas, argued that segregation in public schools was a matter of concern in Dallas. For example, in 1961-62 the number of black children who were enrolled in the “white campuses” was only 18. In their efforts to get basic education, more black people took their children to these schools leading to a more integration in the schools. This forced many whites to leave the public schools and look for education institutions in the suburbs. As a result of few numbers of white students in the public schools, Michael Phillips argued that the government reduced its tax subsidies and financial support leading to poor education system for the black children. In addition, the number of schools days for the black was reduced to 60 days for the black children as compared to 100 days for the white children. According to the Texas education agency, only 4.6 percent of students in public schools were white. Race-related segregation in Dallas can also be traced back in 1930s. During this era, the government allocated insignificant funds to cater for black child education. As a result, black children were not able to access quality books they were only given the left over books that were used by white students (Fireside, 2004). On their parts, black teachers were discriminative in that they were more dedicated in teaching black children. However, this was not a solution since it only led to lower illiteracy level for the black people in Dallas. The major weakness in the application of the concept of segregation and discrimination is that it does not cover the current scenario in the political arena, as well as in the hospitality industry. Additionally, the implications of the earlier cases of the segregation in the education sector on the current economic development of Dallas have not been covered by the concept. New urbanism New urbanism refers to a global movement that is focused at improving the living condition for the world population. In order to achieve this goal, new urbanism undertakes reforms in the designs of the buildings to have modern cities, villages, as well as medium towns that offer comfortable living conditions. As stipulated by Duany (2000), new urbanism also involves creation of new towns and cities with modern facilities that meet the needs of their residents. Another objective of new urbanism is to establish social and economic amenities such as shops, parks, schools, trains, railways and airstrips. In order to attain a sustainable economic growth, many developing countries have adopted new urbanism even though developed countries have also embarked on reforming their historic towns. For example, in the US more that 2,000 historic urban centers are being reformed under the policy of new urbanism. Major principles of new urbanism are walkability, connectivity, mixed use and diversity, quality architecture, mixed housing, traditional neighborhood, smart transportation, sustainability, quality of life and increased densities of buildings and other facilities that are essential to cities and town dwellers (Duany, 2000). Dallas has initiated adequate mechanisms to ensure that its residents benefit from new urbanism. For instance, the government has established the North Texas Chapter to initiate neighborhood-based development and to endorse walkable initiatives to achieve economic development. Additionally, the city has established buildings that depict neo-traditional design. This has resulted to comfortable living places for Dallas residents. A good example of new urbanism in Dallas was the establishment of Las Colinas. This is a developed area that was initiated in 1972 by Ben Carpenter, a millionaire who was engaged in cattle ranching. Based on its attractive location and wide range of facilities, Las Colinas has attracted large number of investors. Within the facility, there is a modern multi-storey parking space that has resulted in the expansion of businesses including shops. Some of the major aspects that have made Las Colinas to attract large number of companies and residents are complex apartments, upscale residential area and huge office towers among other facilities. Being established in a 12,000 acres piece of land, the city planners have initiated a modern infrastructure system that has improved the movement of workers, as well affective transport of raw material and final products. Southlake Town Square is another appealing project under new urbanism. Being located approximately 3 kilometers north of DFW runways, it provides ample opportunity for holding corporate functions. Its attractive environment has also made many big companies to open offices in the town. One of the key weaknesses of the concept of New Urbanism in Dallas is that it does not depict the extent to which the government authority has reformed historic buildings and growth of villages. In the same way, the new urbanism has been significantly seen to favor urban dwellers with a little concern for the communities residing in rural areas. Conclusion Based on the above discussion, it is clear that like any other city in the world, Dallas has a challenge of addressing problems its residents face in the ghettos. Due to poor living conditions in the ghettos, there is need for governments to allocate more funds to upgrade the slums. In this way, the social problems that have propelled the high number of crimes will be effectively addressed. In the same way, it is essential for ministries of planning to emulate new urbanism in order to cope up with the high demand of residential houses. References Duany, A., Plater-Zyberk., Elizabeth; & Speck, J. (2000). Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream. New York: North Point Press. Fireside, H. (2004). Separate and Unequal: Homer Plessy and the Supreme Court Decision That Legalized Racism. New York: Carroll & Graf. John, H. (2008). Something went terribly wrong at the Pleasant Village Apartments. New York: Macmillan Publishers. Tajfel, H. & Turner, C. (1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. The social psychology of intergroup relations. Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole. Read More