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Book part
Publication date: 22 October 2019

Gabriele Manella

The aim of this chapter is to consider the importance of the Chicago School in urban sociology today, both theoretically and methodologically. I will start by showing some…

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to consider the importance of the Chicago School in urban sociology today, both theoretically and methodologically. I will start by showing some indicators and reflections on its importance in American urban sociology. I will then focus on how this heritage has been used and adapted in Italy. In particular, I will present some theoretical and empirical studies implemented in the Bologna metropolitan area by a group of sociologists who, in the Italian context are probably using the Chicago School tools to study urban change and urban problems most explicitly. My contribution is based on bibliographic research carried out both in Italy and in the United States, as well as on some interviews conducted with American urban sociologists. The main findings show the persistent importance of several key elements of the Chicago School, both in Italy and in the United States: the general theoretical approach (space and place affect people), some specific concepts (community, neighborhood, and natural area), and methodology (combination of qualitative and quantitative tools).

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Urban Ethnography
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78769-033-2

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Article
Publication date: 16 August 2011

Khaled Mohammed Abu‐Asbah and Sibylle Heilbrunn

Drawing upon the disadvantage theory, the purpose of this paper is to investigate patterns of entrepreneurship evolving under conditions of double discrimination characterizing…

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Abstract

Purpose

Drawing upon the disadvantage theory, the purpose of this paper is to investigate patterns of entrepreneurship evolving under conditions of double discrimination characterizing the situation of Arab women entrepreneurs in Israel.

Design/methodology/approach

A comprehensive questionnaire was administered in 2006 to a sample of 405 Arab‐Muslim women entrepreneurs in the northern and southern “triangle” of Israel. The authors used a snowball convenient method, contacting business women in the “triangle” area by word of mouth. Based on data provided by the Center of Fostering Entrepreneurship (in Hebrew “MATI”) in Bakka el Garbia, it was assumed that about 80 percent of all Arab women business owners in this particular area had been reached.

Findings

In line with the literature, it was found that under conditions of double discrimination a rather traditional type of entrepreneurship evolves, but the authors' findings do not confirm that these businesses are necessarily marginal and illegal. Instead the authors found a variety of types; the majority of which the authors would call community‐based traditional micro‐enterprises.

Originality/value

The paper adds to the understanding of entrepreneurial patterns emerging under conditions of discrimination. It is believed to be one of the very first studies directly investigating a large group of Arab women entrepreneurs in Israel; therefore the understanding of the personal and business characteristics of these women is of major importance.

Details

Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, vol. 5 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-6204

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Book part
Publication date: 16 November 2020

Friederike Fleischer and Ivette S. Sepúlveda Sanabria

According to the Colombian Labour Ministry, in 2015, 750,000 persons officially worked as household employees. Ninety-eight per cent of these employees are women who tend to live…

Abstract

According to the Colombian Labour Ministry, in 2015, 750,000 persons officially worked as household employees. Ninety-eight per cent of these employees are women who tend to live in Bogotá’s (southern) urban fringe and travel to the city’s wealthier north on a daily basis. Yet public transportation in the Colombian capital is subject to stratification. Besides overcrowding and delays, petty crime and sexual harassment, fringe areas remain underserved. Based on ethnographic data, in this chapter, the authors discuss findings from a 3-year research project on female household employees’ subjective experience of space. Specifically, the authors explore their capacity (motility) to be mobile. This perspective breaks with the limits of bounded categories such as ‘urban’, ‘neighbourhood’ or ‘class’, to highlight their situational and spatial mutability. Moreover, an investigation of motility includes people’s potential to move as well as their subjective experiences of mobility. The research shows how gender intersects with local labour regimes and infrastructure to negatively affect women’s mobility. Urban stratification is not only a question of locale of residence and access to services, but importantly (re)produced in the household employees’ subjective experience of their daily commute, which they describe as suffering. In their limited spare time, female household employees abstain from travelling, effectively curbing their active appropriation of urban space. The research thus illuminates how spatial, social and economic dimensions mutually interact to impact on the women’s lives and possibilities.

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Urban Mobility and Social Equity in Latin America: Evidence, Concepts, Methods
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78769-009-7

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Book part
Publication date: 7 November 2018

Daniel B. Cornfield, Jonathan S. Coley, Larry W. Isaac and Dennis C. Dickerson

As a site of contestation among job seekers, workers, and managers, the bureaucratic workplace both reproduces and erodes occupational race segregation and racial status…

Abstract

As a site of contestation among job seekers, workers, and managers, the bureaucratic workplace both reproduces and erodes occupational race segregation and racial status hierarchies. Much sociological research has examined the reproduction of racial inequality at work; however, little research has examined how desegregationist forces, including civil rights movement values, enter and permeate bureaucratic workplaces into the broader polity. Our purpose in this chapter is to introduce and typologize what we refer to as “occupational activism,” defined as socially transformative individual and collective action that is conducted and realized through an occupational role or occupational community. We empirically induce and present a typology from our study of the half-century-long, post-mobilization occupational careers of over 60 veterans of the nonviolent Nashville civil rights movement of the early 1960s. The fourfold typology of occupational activism is framed in the “new” sociology of work, which emphasizes the role of worker agency and activism in determining worker life chances, and in the “varieties of activism” perspective, which treats the typology as a coherent regime of activist roles in the dialogical diffusion of civil rights movement values into, within, and out of workplaces. We conclude with a research agenda on how bureaucratic workplaces nurture and stymie occupational activism as a racially desegregationist force at work and in the broader polity.

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Race, Identity and Work
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78769-501-6

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Book part
Publication date: 10 November 2011

Florian J. Huber

The Karmeliterviertel is an inner-city neighborhood in Vienna, which underwent a significant revitalization and renewal. Since the opinions of Viennese urban researchers differ to…

Abstract

The Karmeliterviertel is an inner-city neighborhood in Vienna, which underwent a significant revitalization and renewal. Since the opinions of Viennese urban researchers differ to a large extent whether gentrification occurs in Vienna at all, this chapter examines the question, whether the revitalization of the Karmeliterviertel can be defined as ‘gentrification.’ This question is elaborated in the context of Vienna's overall ‘soft urban renewal’ strategy. Despite the fact that direct displacement of households from the Karmeliterviertel was prevented by the mechanisms of Vienna's strict tenancy law, also the local coordination office played a certain role. As higher-status groups moved in the neighborhood, the infrastructure and the amenities changed and were adjusted to their demands. This cultural redefinition resulted in the replacement of restaurants, cafes, and bars, which served the needs of longtime residents and low-income groups. The revitalization of the Karmeliterviertel thus has to be termed ‘gentrification,’ as their social spaces were displaced and as they are less visible in the neighborhood. This form of displacement develops a similar dynamic as direct displacement, when social relations, bonds, and networks, which provide options, coping strategies, and sources of a place-based identity, are dissolved. As gentrification results in homogeneity, the main challenge for a city is to maintain spaces of different milieus and thus to preserve authentic places, characterized by heterogeneity and urbanity.

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Everyday Life in the Segmented City
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78052-259-3

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Book part
Publication date: 18 August 2022

Paul Watt

This chapter examines patterns of neighbouring in the small Essex town of ‘Eastside’, located in London’s eastern suburban periphery. Drawing on qualitative interviews, two groups…

Abstract

This chapter examines patterns of neighbouring in the small Essex town of ‘Eastside’, located in London’s eastern suburban periphery. Drawing on qualitative interviews, two groups of resident interviewees are discussed: established, long-term, white British residents who have lived in Eastside for many years, and ethnically diverse newcomers who have recently moved to the area. This chapter focuses on patterns of neighbouring – both positive in the form of ‘neighbourliness’ and negative in terms of ‘unneighbourliness’ – and considers whether neighbouring provided the basis for residents to develop a sense of community. Basic neighbouring activities, such as saying ‘hello’ and the mutual provision of support, were commonplace, although proactive intervention and socialising with neighbours were more limited. Only a minority of both long-term and incoming interviewees identified a sense of community based upon neighbouring. The dominant aspect of the former’s sense of community was a ‘narrative of decline’ in which they lamented the loss of the more intense neighbourliness that they recalled from the past. Unneighbourliness was also evident, for example, in relation to noise, and various reasons for this are analysed including deficiencies within the physical environment, tenure prejudice, and established/newcomer resident tensions.

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Neighbours Around the World: An International Look at the People Next Door
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80043-370-0

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Book part
Publication date: 16 November 2020

Daniel Oviedo and Luis Ángel Guzmán

This chapter presents a critical examination of the interaction between concepts such as equity and accessibility in a framework of sustainable and inclusive urban development…

Abstract

This chapter presents a critical examination of the interaction between concepts such as equity and accessibility in a framework of sustainable and inclusive urban development. The analysis compiles a series of reflections that build on previous research that focusses on the role of transport as enabler of opportunities for material and social capital, healthcare and leisure, which contribute to human development and well-being. The research discusses accessibility metrics for mandatory and non-mandatory travel in the context of current global agendas for social and development policies. It also introduces methodological reflections in relation to the analysis of accessibility indices from an equity perspective highlighting the role of equity metrics such as the Palma ratio and Lorenz curves. The authors link accessibility and urban development seeking to inform current approaches for policy development and assessment in a context of high manifested inequity. The research is set in the context of the Bogotá Metropolitan Region, a paradigmatic case of transport development and policy in the Global South. The findings seek to contribute to present transport policy and practice, providing relevant insights to support actions that redistribute accessibility to opportunities and questioning some of the paradigms of mainstream transport planning in cities like Bogotá, suggesting a more relevant role of transport policy as a potential engine of equity and social development.

Details

Urban Mobility and Social Equity in Latin America: Evidence, Concepts, Methods
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78769-009-7

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 April 2016

Hugo Romero and Cristian Albornoz

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the political and economic objectives sought by the government of Chile to understand the characteristics of the reconstruction process for…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the political and economic objectives sought by the government of Chile to understand the characteristics of the reconstruction process for housing damaged by the earthquake and tsunami of 27 February 2010, contrasted with the opinions of the target communities, the instruments that were utilized and the generation of new vulnerabilities.

Design/methodology/approach

The governmental objectives have been compiled from speeches publicized by the press and obtained from interviews with players from the public and community sectors. The areas of reconstruction in the city of Constitución have been represented in a geographical information system. The opinions of the community have been gathered through a survey conducted amongst the new residents.

Findings

Case analysis shows that the political and economic efforts during the reconstruction process were focused on proving the success of the methods used: public-private alliances and consultation with the communities to precede reconstruction of housing and urban infrastructure. However, the results of the reconstruction process do neither reveal good governance nor functionality of the reconstructed areas.

Research limitations/implications

The results cannot be applied to other localities devastated by the 2010 earthquake and tsunami in Chile, nor to other institutional or economic contexts. It is also necessary to observe the process of adaptation of the communities over a longer time period to verify the increase in vulnerability.

Practical implications

The paper constitutes a complete evaluation of the reconstruction process that prompts institutional changes.

Social implications

A contrast is offered between the objectives and actions of the diverse social and political actors, and the contradictions in their speeches and actions are shown.

Originality/value

An unprecedented process is analysed in which a developing country uses its own resources to undertake a reconstruction under a political rhetoric that is not necessarily shared by the local society that must finally assume the additional costs.

Details

Disaster Prevention and Management, vol. 25 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0965-3562

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Article
Publication date: 3 June 2014

Sibylle Heilbrunn, Khaled Abu-Asbeh and Muhammed Abu Nasra

The purpose of this article is to explore the difficulties facing entrepreneurs in three groups of women in Israel: immigrant women from the Former Soviet Union (FSU), women…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to explore the difficulties facing entrepreneurs in three groups of women in Israel: immigrant women from the Former Soviet Union (FSU), women belonging to the Palestinian Israeli minority and Jewish Israeli women belonging to the majority population. Relying on the stratification approach, the authors investigate the extent to which labor market, resource and women-specific disadvantages constrain women's entrepreneurship within these three groups.

Design/methodology/approach

The target research population consisted of 477 women entrepreneurs who operated businesses between 2009 and 2010. Using systematic sampling, the authors surveyed 148 FSU immigrant women business owners, 150 Jewish Israeli women business owners and 170 Palestinian Israeli women business owners, using a comprehensive questionnaire administered in the entrepreneurs' native language.

Findings

The authors found similarities and differences between the three groups as to their ability to handle difficulties deriving from labor market, resource and women-specific disadvantages. Overall, the authors found that Palestinian women entrepreneurs have relatively more difficulties than the other two groups.

Research limitations/implications

Women entrepreneurs' socio-political status within stratified social realities imposes constraints on their economic activities. Further research should investigate policies, which could assist in overcoming these constraints taking into consideration similarities and differences between specific groups.

Originality/value

In addition to shedding light on the impact of socio-political environmental circumstances on women entrepreneurs in a particular country, the authors believe that applying the social stratification approach is especially valuable at the intersection of minority status, gender and entrepreneurship.

Details

International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, vol. 6 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-6266

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Article
Publication date: 9 January 2018

Michael James McCord, Peadar Thomas Davis, Paul Bidanset, William McCluskey, John McCord, Martin Haran and Sean MacIntyre

Understanding the key locational and neighbourhood determinants and their accessibility is a topic of great interest to policymakers, planners and property valuers. In Northern…

Abstract

Purpose

Understanding the key locational and neighbourhood determinants and their accessibility is a topic of great interest to policymakers, planners and property valuers. In Northern Ireland, the high level of market segregation means that it is problematic to understand the nature of the relationship between house prices and the accessibility to services and prominent neighbourhood landmarks and amenities. Therefore, this paper aims to quantify and measure the (dis)amenity effects on house pricing levels within particular geographic housing sub-markets.

Design/methodology/approach

Most hedonic models are estimated using regression techniques which produce one coefficient for the entirety of the pricing distribution, culminating in a single marginal implicit price. This paper uses a quantile regression (QR) approach that provides a “more complete” depiction of the marginal impacts for different quantiles of the price distribution using sales data obtained from 3,780 house sales transactions within the Belfast Housing market over 2014.

Findings

The findings emerging from this research demonstrate that housing and market characteristics are valued differently across the quantile values and that conditional quantiles are asymmetrical. Pertinently, the findings demonstrate that ordinary least squares (OLS) coefficient estimates have a tendency to over or under specify the marginal mean conditional pricing effects because of their inability to adequately capture and comprehend the complex spatial relationships which exist across the pricing distribution.

Originality value

Numerous studies have used OLS regression to measure the impact of key housing market externalities on house prices, providing a single estimate. This paper uses a QR approach to examine the impact of local amenities on house prices across the house price distribution.

Details

International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis, vol. 11 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1753-8270

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11 – 20 of 197