Online First: The African-American Entrepreneur–Crime Drop Relationship Growing African-American Business Ownership and Declining Youth Violence

The African-American Entrepreneur–Crime Drop Relationship

Growing African-American Business Ownership and Declining Youth Violence

1. Karen F. Parker1

1. ¹University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA

1. Karen F. Parker, Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, University of Delaware, 334 Smith Hall, Newark, DE 19716, USA. Email: kparker@udel.edu

Abstract

Although much of the urban violence literature focuses on the link between urban disadvantage and crime rates, in this article we explore the relationship between African-American entrepreneurship and rates of juvenile violence, net of the effects associated with labor market shifts and the concentration of disadvantage within these areas. That is, Black-owned businesses have increased considerably over time but have largely been neglected in the criminological literature. After generating two distinct measures of Black entrepreneurship, we test to see if Black-owned businesses were significant to the documented decline in juvenile violence in larger U.S. cities from 1990 to 2000. We find an inverse relationship between entrepreneurship and juvenile arrests involving violence across multiple cities in 1990 and 2000. Furthermore, when estimating a pooled cross-sectional time-series design, the growing presence of African-American businesses is a significant contributor to the change (decline) in Black youth violence during the period of the 1990 crime drop, while the rate of paid employees in Black firms remained unrelated to Black youth violence. In changing economic times, we discuss the importance of exploring ways to capture the presence of African-Americans in the urban economy.

• urban violence
 
• Black-owned businesses
 
• crime drop debate
• longtidunal models
 
• youth crime

Online First: The Social Construction of a Gentrifying Neighborhood Reifying and Redefining Identity and Boundaries in Inequality

The Social Construction of a Gentrifying Neighborhood

Reifying and Redefining Identity and Boundaries in Inequality

1. Jackelyn Hwang1

1. ¹Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

1. Jackelyn Hwang, Department of Sociology, Harvard University, William James Hall, 33 Kirkland Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Email: jihwang@fas.harvard.edu

Abstract

This study draws upon cognitive maps and interviews with 56 residents living in a gentrifying area to examine how residents socially construct neighborhoods. Most minority respondents, regardless of socioeconomic status and years of residency, defined their neighborhood as a large and inclusive spatial area, using a single name and conventional boundaries, invoking the area’s black cultural history, and often directly responding to the alternative way residents defined their neighborhoods. Both long-term and newer white respondents defined their neighborhood as smaller spatial areas and used a variety of names and unconventional boundaries that excluded areas that they perceived to have lower socioeconomic status and more crime. The large and inclusive socially constructed neighborhood was eventually displaced. These findings shed light on how the internal narratives of neighborhood identity and boundaries are meaningfully tied to a broader structure of inequality and shape how neighborhood identities and boundaries change or remain.

• neighborhoods
 
• gentrification
 
• racial inequality
 
• boundaries
 
• mapping
• Philadelphia

Online First: Reconceiving Military Base Redevelopment Land Use on Mothballed U.S. Bases

Reconceiving Military Base Redevelopment

Land Use on Mothballed U.S. Bases

1. Amanda Johnson Ashley1
2. Michael Touchton1

1. ¹Boise State University, Boise, ID, USA

1. Amanda Johnson Ashley, Boise State University, 1910 University Drive, Boise, ID 83725-1935, USA. Email: amandaashley@boisestate.edu

Abstract

The U.S. Department of Defense has closed 128 domestic bases over the last 30 years through the Base Realignment and Closure Process. Current scholarship describes this process and provides snapshots of transition, yet there is very little systematic knowledge of what follows base closure. We introduce an original data set chronicling military base redevelopment and present evidence suggesting that the variation in the built environment on former military bases stems from considerations somewhat unique to military redevelopment, particularly the presence of federal funding, contamination of redevelopment parcels, and economic output in the surrounding county. Our arguments offer new directions for redevelopment scholarship and a first step for developing best practices to help cities redevelop mothballed bases.

• defense conversion
 
• military base redevelopment
 
• urban revitalization
• base closures
 
• land use