The Ghetto, the State, and the New Capitalist Economy

In the two decades since the urban riots of the mid-sixties, the black ghettos of large American cities have undergone a sharp deterioration. The woes of the inner city are the result of profound changes in three interrelated sets of factors: the economic forces that impinge upon the urban core; the internal structure and societal position of the black population; and the public policies that mediate between them and help shape both. The relatively cohesive black community of the 1950s—itself the product of a unified historical experience stamped by the strict and often violent enforcement of a rigid color line—has given way to a deepening division between the relatively secure middle and working classes and an increasingly vulnerabl...