Cities & Politics

1. I tend to agree with Markusen that class interests provide a better explanation for the separation of the suburban areas from the central cities than does Katznelson's focus on community politics. The emphasis by political leaders in the early industrial cities on ethnic groups as a means of developing and solidifying bases of support tended to deemphasize class differences in a political context. In a social context, however, class differences were always present and they were always well understood by the residents of the cities. Initially, the political leaders in the early industrial cities were able to persuade the non laboring classes that the interests of the non laboring classes were best served through this approach. As time went on, however, the political priorities in the early industrial cities gradually shifted to the laboring classes simply because there were more of those people. Less and less were the political leaders able to provide priority to the needs and wants of the non laboring classes, even though these classes were the source of most of the revenues on which the city governments depended. While it remained true that infrastructure improvements, police protection, and other city services continued to favor the areas inhabited by the non laboring classes, the philosophical outlook of city administrations began to shift perceptibly toward an emphasis on the needs of less economically fortunate in the cities. This shift in polit

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Category: Government - C