Summary Of The Future Of The Ghetto
In chapter eight, “The Future of the Ghetto” in American Apartheid, Nancy Denton and Douglas Massey argue that residential segregation is a threat to society’s well-being because of its social, political, and economic consequences. As a result, the authors call for structural change and the creation of regulations along with the overall understanding that segregation is detrimental to all, to sustain a desegregated society. The authors begin by addressing the problems with how race and class are understood. Consequently, policy centers around these issues are often ineffective. Social and economic issues are interconnected, so understanding the connection between these two concepts is critical in addressing a problem about race or class.
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Private organizations are immensely responsible for helping provide fair housing. They provided aid in filing suits, legal advice, and helped expand the qualification for filing fair housing suits, making the process more accessible, less intimidating, and understandable for individuals. However, the problem is that these are fixes on the individual level and are small successes in relation to the entire housing market. Because of the enormity of the housing market and its extensive influence there needs to be a federal assessment on its entirety. Integration maintenance programs were another method for creating balanced populations but is flawed in many ways. Integrated housing is higher demand for blacks, making it harder to obtain. The lower demand for whites also makes it difficult to sustain the imposed integration. On larger scales, the tactic is geared more towards appealing to whites than raising awareness about these opportunities for black individuals. Expanding this tactic outside of the ghetto also fails due to hostility, political resistance, and racial barriers enforced through regulations like zoning ordinances. It only restricts black choice and manages segregation rather than completely desegregating. The approach of constructing and funding scattered-site units is also ineffective because it only represents two percent of the nation’s total housing stock. In the end, these methods can be seen as band aids, only focusing on solutions that adjust segregation rather than dismantling it
Private organizations are immensely responsible for helping provide fair housing. They provided aid in filing suits, legal advice, and helped expand the qualification for filing fair housing suits, making the process more accessible, less intimidating, and understandable for individuals. However, the problem is that these are fixes on the individual level and are small successes in relation to the entire housing market. Because of the enormity of the housing market and its extensive influence there needs to be a federal assessment on its entirety. Integration maintenance programs were another method for creating balanced populations but is flawed in many ways. Integrated housing is higher demand for blacks, making it harder to obtain. The lower demand for whites also makes it difficult to sustain the imposed integration. On larger scales, the tactic is geared more towards appealing to whites than raising awareness about these opportunities for black individuals. Expanding this tactic outside of the ghetto also fails due to hostility, political resistance, and racial barriers enforced through regulations like zoning ordinances. It only restricts black choice and manages segregation rather than completely desegregating. The approach of constructing and funding scattered-site units is also ineffective because it only represents two percent of the nation’s total housing stock. In the end, these methods can be seen as band aids, only focusing on solutions that adjust segregation rather than dismantling it